We love taking road trips around Europe and have done quite a few. There is so much history and once outside the main cities we find the people a little friendlier, the prices a little cheaper, and the crowds a little smaller!
It’s also fun to have the flexibility of doing the trip with a car as this allows us to visit harder to reach places such as a beautiful castle perched up on a cliff. Although trains also work very well in Europe.
How it came about
We managed to get ourselves a great deal on tickets to Madrid at a time we could escape for a little over a week. With eight days in late November, we started working on a plan looking for some smaller historic cities where we could see palaces, castles, and cathedrals.
If you open Google Maps and search for castles in Spain, you pretty well get a map filled with hundreds of dots all around Madrid to choose from. Of course, many of the castles are just ruins and not all are really even accessible without hiking up a steep hill (some may even be on private property!) so a little research is required when doing your planning.
We narrowed down our selection basically making a circular route that would give us about 3 hours of driving between major sites with a stop or two along the way. We settled on a couple of historic towns close to Madrid to keep our post-flight driving to a minimum, followed by two interesting main cities: Valencia and Zaragoza. We’d finish with a day in Madrid to revisit some of our favorite spots and enjoy the Christmas decorations.
So, landing early we grabbed the car and headed about an hour north of Madrid to the old city of Segovia.
Segovia, Spain
Segovia is well known for its beautifully restored and preserved Roman Aqueduct which is what really drew our attention to it and made us want to add it to our itinerary.
It is also well known for its Cathedral, as well as its beautiful Alcazar Palace.
Having arrived early, we started with the aqueduct which is open 24-7. It really is an impressive sight!
More on our visit to Segovia in our more detailed post: Segovia, a Gem Just an Hour Outside of Madrid
Having finished up in Segovia we then drove south to another beautiful city, Aranjuez. It’s located about 30 minutes south of Madrid and 90 minutes from Segovia.
Aranjuez, Spain
Just outside of Madrid and easily accessible by car or public transportation is the town of Aranjuez.
This is the site of the beautiful Royal Palace and Gardens of Aranjuez which was the main draw for us and the reason we added it to our itinerary. Being close to Madrid, it also makes a good short distance drive after a flight to start a road trip adventure.
Originally, we had planned to spend the first day here and head off early on our second day. However, we came to realize that the Royal Palace (and just about the whole city including the restaurants) was closed on Mondays! I guess it was meant to be, as this let us add the Segovia visit to our itinerary and we got to see more of Spain.
We ended up arriving in the afternoon and were able to explore some of the vast outdoor gardens of the Royal Palace which are open on Mondays (even though the palace is closed).
Wandering around we also saw that many of the restaurants were closed making the overall experience of visiting Aranjuez on a Monday far from ideal. Fortunately for us we were able to get a meal at our hotel and adjust our itinerary to visit the palace at 10am the next morning when it opened.
Other guests we met at the hotel had fixed plans and had to leave without seeing the palace at all. We’re glad we decided to stay and visit as the Royal Palace was really beautiful.
More on the Aranjuez Palace and our visit in our more detailed post: Royal Palace of Aranjuez, a Must-See Royal Residence Near Madrid, Spain
Between Aranjuez and Valencia we took the main highway A-3, and it was smooth sailing. There were other small roads through the mountains also, which might be scenic, but we didn’t want to risk it at the end of November.
Valencia, Spain
In Valencia, we spent 3 nights so we would have two full days to explore.
We focused on the old city which was a delight and full of attractions. The Valencia Cathedral is said to have a dedicated chapel housing the actual Holy Grail! In another church there is also an ornate ceiling that is compared to the Sistine Chapel in Rome.
Read more about our Valencia visit in our detailed post about Valencia: What to See in Valencia’s Historic Center
Castles along the way
Leaving Valencia, we thought we’d have a look at a castle just a short way out of the city. But, as we approached, we saw an impressive ruin way up on top of a steep hill. Once there, we got lazy not willing to make the hike and just admired it from the side of the road.
Further along the A-23, about an hour out of Valencia we visited Castillo de Mora de Rubielos. It was about a 10-minute detour to see it. This one proved to be interesting and luckily, we made it in just in time to visit as the split hours had it closing at two and last entry was 45 minutes prior.
The castle had a lot of artifacts including projectile throwers and a collection of gruesome Medieval torture instruments. It was surely more enjoyable to see them than wear them!
We got some nice views of the countryside from the top of the castle too. It also made for a nice break along the way to stretch our legs.
Zaragoza, Spain
Then, we made our way north to Zaragoza which was also a wonderful and charming little city about halfway between Valencia on the Mediterranean coast and Bilbao on the Atlantic coast.
Zaragoza was interesting for its two historic cathedrals and its Alcazar fortress. We were also in town for the lighting of the Christmas lights, and all the plazas were nicely decorated.
More about our Zaragoza visit in our post: Zaragoza’s Old Town: One of Spain’s Must-See Historic Places
Madrid, Spain: The final leg of our road trip
Heading back to Madrid to return the car, we also stopped at the Castle of Torija. While nice on the outside, the inside was quirkily transformed into a museum of various facts from plant life, wildlife, and local history. We didn’t spend a lot of time here, but again, were happy to stop and stretch our legs for a bit.
Arriving back in Madrid, we returned our car at the Atocha train station which may have been a mistake. It was an hour of traffic just getting around the station to the hard-to-find rental car counters that were all under construction!
We finished up our trip in style with an amazing upgrade at the Palace Hotel in Madrid. We had ample time to revisit the Royal Palace and enjoy the parks. And savor a few delicious tapas! Yum!
See our post: Where to Go and What to See in Madrid, Spain
Just like in Zaragoza and Valencia, Madrid was also illuminated with Christmas lights and fully packed with people! It was nice to wander around familiar sights and to take our time.
Conclusion
With only 8 days, we opted to return to Madrid from Zaragoza, but one could easily go further north to Bilbao or northeast to Barcelona. For us, we preferred to spend a few days in each town so we could get settled in and roam around at night to see the city monuments all lit up.
This was especially fun at the end of November as we witnessed the lighting of the Christmas lights which is a huge celebration in Spain. We were amazed at the crowds that came out at night to enjoy the festivities. Both tourists and locals alike.
How we got there
We flew AA from Miami to Madrid. It’s an easy 8-hour flight but it’s at an odd time. Unlike the many overnight flights we’ve taken, this one leaves at 3:30pm and arrives at 5:50am. This makes it a little more challenging to sleep on the way, and you must plan for an early check-in or find some activities to fill the early morning upon landing. And, if you arrive on a Monday morning like we did, keep in mind that many attractions are actually closed!
AA lands in Terminal 4 and we found our Sixt rental car right there in the same terminal upon exiting the baggage claim. We decided that we’d drop the car at Atocha train station in Madrid so as not to be encumbered with the car in Madrid where it’s just easier to walk and uber or take public transit.
Some tips for a road trip in Spain
Unlike in the US or Canada, there were very little services along the highways. So be sure to fill up the car and use the bathroom where you can.
- Most places take contactless payments
- There was less daylight in November, but weather was nice
- The Easy Park app was used in all the cities we visited
- Try to say a few words in Spanish it is very much appreciated. The smaller towns often had people that didn’t speak any or very little English or French
- You can use the Google picture translator for signs and menus
- Do take the audio guide, most signs were only in Spanish, and a lot of things were not marked at all and we would have missed some key attractions without it
It was a nice trip, but all good things must come to an end. We also missed our cat, and we were ready to come home! We believe we may be back in Spain again in the future to explore more of this beautiful country.