Madrid: Hotels and Accommodation

The Sierra de Guadarrama offers opportunities for hiking, mountain tours and outdoor activities. Its trails lead through forests, over mountain passes and to natural viewpoints.

For your stay in Madrid, you may want to book a hotel.

Nature

Rutas Verdes is a sustainable recreation programme with hiking and cycling routes that can begin and end at a station on the public transport network. For the Rutas Verdes, the route length, difficulty level, number of accessible stations and route profile are provided; route books are also available for download as PDF and KML files.

Hayedo de Montejo has been recognised by UNESCO as natural heritage and is part of a joint nomination of the European beech forests. Visits to Hayedo de Montejo are always guided by environmental educators and are free of charge.

La Pedriza is described as Europe's largest granite complex.

Culture and History

The Monastery of El Escorial is a UNESCO World Heritage Site and was built in the 16th century on the orders of Philip II. The Monastery of El Escorial complex includes the monastery, church, royal palace, school, seminary and Royal Library. The monastery and grounds of El Escorial are associated with a strict, sparsely ornamented architecture in the Herrerian style, which influenced Spanish architecture for more than half a century.

The Tren de Felipe II is a tourist excursion from Madrid that recreates the historic journey to the Royal Site of El Escorial.

The university and historic district of Alcalá de Henares includes the Colegio Mayor de San Ildefonso and the Monastery of San Bernardo. Alcalá de Henares was designed with the express purpose of being the seat of a university and became a model for university towns in Europe and America. The urban grid and the layout of the University of Alcalá de Henares, the medieval street network with Calle Mayor as its main axis, and the Baroque arcades are in an exemplary state of preservation; most buildings from the university's founding period retain their original use or have regained it.

The Cultural Landscape of Aranjuez extends over 2,047.56 hectares in the south of the Autonomous Community of Madrid. It includes historic kitchen gardens, tree-lined avenues and groves, the palace, ornamental gardens and an 18th-century historic town centre. The ornamental gardens of the Cultural Landscape of Aranjuez continue to be visited for recreation and cultural events.

Regional Cuisine

Cocido madrileño has cultural heritage status as Bien de Interés Cultural as part of the intangible cultural heritage of the Autonomous Community of Madrid. It is prepared with meat, vegetables, cured meats and chickpeas and served in several separate courses known as “vuelcos”.

Regional variants include cocido pradeño in Villa del Prado, cocido corucho in Cenicientos, olla del segador in Navalcarnero, and cocido de taba in Chinchón and Valdemoro.

Wine

The Ruta del Vino de Madrid comprises 12 municipalities: Aldea del Fresno, Brunete, Colmenar de Oreja, Morata de Tajuña, Navalcarnero, Nuevo Baztán, San Martín de Valdeiglesias, Tielmes, Valdelaguna, Valdilecha, Villa del Prado and Villarejo de Salvanés. After passing audits, the Ruta del Vino de Madrid was integrated into the Rutas del Vino de España brand in 2020.

The Madrid Enoturismo portal lists wineries validated by the destination, offering guided tours, wine tastings and experiences that can be booked directly on the website.

Further subregions: Rascafría, Navacerrada, Becerril De La Sierra, Cercedilla, El Boalo.

To the higher-level travel overview: Spain.

More destinations

More places within the same destination:

Asturias, Galicia, Catalonia.