A day in the Sierra with your own guide and a hybrid car. A two-hour guided tour inside the Monastery of El Escorial, entrance included, free time in the village and a walk through the Valley of Cuelgamuros to its rock-cut basilica: your guide stays with you throughout, though inside the valley it is not a guided tour. Seven hours, private group of up to three.
- Leave Madrid at 9:30 in a private hybrid car, with your own guide
- Two-hour guided tour inside the Monastery of El Escorial, ticket included
- An hour free on the Plaza del Ayuntamiento, for a coffee or a vermouth
- Valley of Cuelgamuros: an accompanied walk, not a guided tour — rock-cut basilica and a cross some 150 metres high
- Flat price for a group of up to 3: fuel, tolls, parking and both tickets
- Pickup and drop-off at your hotel or apartment in Madrid, at your own pace
| Included |
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| Not included |
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| Duration | 7 Hours |
| Bring along | Comfortable shoes, ID, water and something warm: the Sierra is a good deal colder than Madrid, even in summer. A charged phone so your guide can reach you. |
| Participants | Private group of up to 3 people. Just your own party. |
| Important information |
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Further information
A day in the Sierra, with no coach and no strangers in the group. We leave Madrid at 9:30 and in under an hour you are in the Sierra de Guadarrama, where Philip II built the palace-monastery from which an empire was governed. Just your own party and your guide, in a comfortable hybrid car.
Two guided hours inside the monastery. This is the heart of the day, and the ticket is included. You walk the Courtyard of the Kings, the basilica beneath its great dome, the Hall of Battles with its painted walls, the vaulted library with thousands of manuscripts, and the Pantheon of the Kings, where almost every Spanish monarch since Charles V is buried. Your guide explains how one building was meant to be monastery, palace, library and mausoleum all at once.
Afterwards, an hour free in the village. The Plaza del Ayuntamiento and the streets around it are full of terraces: a good moment for a coffee, a vermouth or a plate of something before the last stop.
The day ends at the Valley of Cuelgamuros, a quarter of an hour away through the pine woods. The basilica is carved into the rock and topped by a cross around 150 metres high. It was built after the Spanish Civil War, in part with the forced labour of political prisoners, and it remains a memorial site under debate in Spain today. This part is not a guided visit: we go in with the ticket included and you see it at your own pace, but your guide stays with you and will answer whatever you want to ask.
About seven hours door to door. We collect you at your hotel or apartment in Madrid and bring you back there. Fuel, tolls, parking and both entrance tickets are covered by the price, and because the group is only yours, so is the pace: tell us what interests you most and we shape the day around it.
Travelling with children? A child seat at no extra cost, just let us know when you book.
