Side trips from Madrid

A short train ride (about an hour if I remember correctly) will get you to a wonderful town - Toledo! Spend the day getting lost in the old town, this was my second favorite place in Spain - first was Granada. See Rick's Spain book.

Toledo!! A great suggestion...25 minutes via the AVE high speed train. As with the other poster, this is a favorite of mine. Easy access, and easy to visit on your own the various sites. From the train station in Toledo you can take a taxi to Plaza Zodocovor, the main starting point, or take the city bus at the sidewalk...from there explore in any direction and get a taxi back late in the afternoon.

Another suggestion: Avila - most complete walled city in Europe...a bit more distant, via bus or train is Zamora -- Likely the best preserved renaissance city in Europe.

Segovia's also a great side trip from Madrid....about a half hour on the high-speed train from Madrid's Chamartin station.

Another suggestion, if you have a car, is the town of Cuenca, about 2 hours from Madrid. The town is built along the side of the gorge, and some of the houses hang out over the edge...not for the faint of heart!

Toleda and Segovia should be your 1..2 as far as side trips from Madrid. But, if you can, consider El Escorial and the Valley of the Fallen. You can pull off this double on the same day. Well worth your time and effort. Super easy by very comfy bus. Avila is OK, but clearly #5 of the aforementioned. Now, my word of advice for Madrid...stay away from the Gran Via between Plaza de Espana and Calle de Fuencarral. And use extreme caution on the top half of Calla de la Montera as well. Unless you enjoy drugs, prostitutes, pickpockets, prostitutes, nasty teen-age gangs, and prostitutes. Besides that, Madrid is fantastic. Have a great time!

Note to self: Go to Calle Montera which seems to be hooker heaven.

Further note to self: Leave wife in tea room.

Additional note to self: Buy the other Ed a Spanish spelling book.

Note that Segovia can be 10 or more degrees cooler than Madrid. A sweater/coat/sweatshirt is advised even if you wouldn't need one for Madrid.

Hi Jim, We just got back from two weeks in Spain and agree with the suggestions listed by the previous posters. We had a car, so driving back from Cordoba to Madrid we took in Consuegra. It might be a little further than you'd like to venture, but if you are a Don Quixote fan and want to take in an old Crusaders' castle and a beautiful windmill laced countryside, this is the place. We really loved it.

Note to fellow posters: As an infrequent poster on the "Travelers Helpline," I thought the purpose was to help with constuctive input. Not be a wise-cracking, know-it-all, putdown artist like "Pensacola Eddie."

Salamanca - Fabulous