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Driving to Avila/Segovia - better from Toledo, or from Madrid?

Posted by (Seattle, WA, USA ☔️) on

Towards the end of our trip to Spain in early October, we're in Madrid for a few days, then we're doing a quick side trip first to Toledo (one night there in Toledo) before heading up to Avila and Segovia (one night in Segovia), before returning back to Madrid for our flight onward.

I'm planning to take the train from Madrid to Toledo (that's a no-brainer). I'm planning to rent a car for a day to drive to Avila on the way to Segovia. We'll take the train back from Segovia to Madrid. My questions are about getting from Toledo to Avila....

First of all, we're definitely going to rent a car (for one day) for this part of the trip, since we're somewhat tight on time, and our goal is to get to Avila first, spend a few hours there, then drive on to Segovia (a car seems the most efficient way to do all this on a tight schedule).

My first question is: should we begin driving to Avila from Toledo, or would it make more sense to first return to Madrid from Toledo by train, and then drive to Avila from there? I'm assuming there's no real benefit to taking the train back to Madrid before picking up the car (it would just be an extra expense and one more task). Correct?

If (as I assume), it makes more sense to simply drive from Toledo, then I wonder about the best route....

The most obvious/fastest route looks like driving back to (or nearly to) Madrid and heading northwest from there (at least that's the route Google Maps picks..). But there's also a smaller route - N403 - that looks like it's geographically more direct, but it's a smaller, local road, and I'm sure it would take longer to get there. Looks like it goes through some modest mountains. I'm wondering if that route would be more scenic, if there's anything to see along the way, or some other reason to justify taking the back roads. Anyone know this route?

Thanks for any advice!

Posted by
4555 posts

Three hours is more than enough going by the N-403...2 1/2 would probably be closer to the mark. The two hours via Madrid is only if you don't hit any traffic jams on the M-50 around Madrid!

Posted by
4555 posts

David...the only reason you'd want to take the AVE back to Madrid would be to save time, since it's so much faster than driving. But if you want to pick up a vehicle in Toledo, the N-403 would be a good alternative....anything to avoid the ring roads around Madrid, which seem to be busy at every hour of the day! The N-403 is a busy road from Toledo to Maqueda, but about a third of that stretch is four-lane divided highway (the A-40,) so you'll be able to make up some time there. Get off at the last exit before the A-40 swings west, and continue along the N-403 towards Avila (map coordinates 40.026682, -4.340440). You'll run into a couple of double-lane stretches after that, so you'll have a chance to pass any slow moving vehicles. The route runs through the dry flatlands of La Mancha until you reach the mountains at Almorox....but you'll see them looming on the horizon all around. The road through the mountains themselves to Avila is good, although you will be travelling slower than usual...40-50 mph is as fast as you'll likely get. But the scenery thru the mountains is quite nice before you emerge on the higher plains near Avila. You'll enter Avila from the south, and you'll pass by the best spot to get photos of the city. Take a left at the traffic circle onto Avenida de Juan Pablo II (40.648340, -4.704000), then a right onto the N-110 (40.652050, -4.711250), and drive to the overlook on the right (40.66004,-4.711204). Up the highway a bit, on the left, there's a small hotel-restaurant-gas station complex where you can grab a coffee and a bathroom break. Then you can head into town. Have a great trip!

Posted by
6788 posts

Thanks, Norm, that all sounds reasonable. Google Maps estimates the drive time from Toledo to Avila (via the Madrid outer ring road) at about 2 hours. Going via N-403, they say it's about 2.5 hours. I'm always a little skeptical about such estimates, but do you think about 3 hours is a reasonable estimate?
Thanks again.

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