A big change of scene without a long haul. Parque Warner is about 35 minutes by car, Alcalá de Henares 40, and Puy du Fou España 45. Safari Madrid, Chinchón, Aranjuez and El Escorial all sit about 50 minutes out. Out after breakfast, back before dinner. Here's what we checked, from theme parks to royal gardens.
Parque Warner Madrid is a movie theme park in San Martín de la Vega with five areas: Hollywood Boulevard, Cartoon Village, Old West Territory, DC Super Heroes World and Movie World Studios. Young kids spend most of the day in Cartoon Village, with Bugs Bunny's burrow, Tweety and Sylvester's house, small coasters, water rapids and a Flintstones driving school, while older kids head for the big coasters.
Alcalá de Henares is the university town where Miguel de Cervantes, author of Don Quixote, was born in 1547. Kids can sit on the bench with the bronze Don Quixote and Sancho Panza outside his birth house, now a free museum, spot white storks nesting on the church towers, and climb the 109 steps of the Torre de Santa María for a bird's-eye view of Plaza de Cervantes.
Puy du Fou España is a history park in the hills outside Toledo where the day is built around big outdoor shows, not rides. Kids watch knights clash, horses gallop and a sky full of falcons and eagles swoop over the crowd, then wander period villages with farm animals, craftspeople and two playgrounds. On show nights, El Sueño de Toledo replays 1,500 years of Spanish history in 80 minutes.
Safari Madrid is a drive-through wildlife park near Aldea del Fresno. Families drive their own car along a route where giraffes, zebras, rhinos, elephants, bison and lions roam around the vehicles, then park and walk the rest: a petting corner, a reptile house, a crocodile grotto, a mini zoo and the bird of prey show, the first free-flight one in Spain when it began in 1978.
Chinchón's Plaza Mayor is a sloping square closed in by three-story houses with wooden balconies and arcades, used over the centuries as an open-air theater and a bullring. Kids can find the Torre del Reloj, a clock tower that lost its church in the Peninsular War, look up at the ruined Castillo de los Condes above town, and eat lunch on a balcony over the square.
Aranjuez is a royal riverside town on the Tajo, ringed by the palace gardens of the Spanish kings. Kids can run the paths of the Jardín del Príncipe, the biggest of them, see the decorated barges the royal court once sailed in at the Museo de Falúas Reales, take a 45-minute boat trip on the river, or loop the town on the Chiquitren tourist train.
San Lorenzo de El Escorial is a mountain town built around Felipe II's vast 16th-century monastery and palace, where the kings of Spain are buried. Families can solve the free En Busca del Templo de Salomón phone gymkhana, 14 riddles over 2 km, then walk out through the royal La Herrería forest to the Silla de Felipe II, a rock seat with the whole monastery spread out below.
A big change of scene without a long haul. Parque Warner is about 35 minutes by car, Alcalá de Henares 40, and Puy du Fou España 45. Safari Madrid, Chinchón, Aranjuez and El Escorial all sit about 50 minutes out. Out after breakfast, back before dinner. Here's what we checked, from theme parks to royal gardens.
Parque Warner Madrid is a movie theme park in San Martín de la Vega with five areas: Hollywood Boulevard, Cartoon Village, Old West Territory, DC Super Heroes World and Movie World Studios. Young kids spend most of the day in Cartoon Village, with Bugs Bunny's burrow, Tweety and Sylvester's house, small coasters, water rapids and a Flintstones driving school, while older kids head for the big coasters.
Alcalá de Henares is the university town where Miguel de Cervantes, author of Don Quixote, was born in 1547. Kids can sit on the bench with the bronze Don Quixote and Sancho Panza outside his birth house, now a free museum, spot white storks nesting on the church towers, and climb the 109 steps of the Torre de Santa María for a bird's-eye view of Plaza de Cervantes.
Puy du Fou España is a history park in the hills outside Toledo where the day is built around big outdoor shows, not rides. Kids watch knights clash, horses gallop and a sky full of falcons and eagles swoop over the crowd, then wander period villages with farm animals, craftspeople and two playgrounds. On show nights, El Sueño de Toledo replays 1,500 years of Spanish history in 80 minutes.
Safari Madrid is a drive-through wildlife park near Aldea del Fresno. Families drive their own car along a route where giraffes, zebras, rhinos, elephants, bison and lions roam around the vehicles, then park and walk the rest: a petting corner, a reptile house, a crocodile grotto, a mini zoo and the bird of prey show, the first free-flight one in Spain when it began in 1978.
Chinchón's Plaza Mayor is a sloping square closed in by three-story houses with wooden balconies and arcades, used over the centuries as an open-air theater and a bullring. Kids can find the Torre del Reloj, a clock tower that lost its church in the Peninsular War, look up at the ruined Castillo de los Condes above town, and eat lunch on a balcony over the square.
Aranjuez is a royal riverside town on the Tajo, ringed by the palace gardens of the Spanish kings. Kids can run the paths of the Jardín del Príncipe, the biggest of them, see the decorated barges the royal court once sailed in at the Museo de Falúas Reales, take a 45-minute boat trip on the river, or loop the town on the Chiquitren tourist train.
San Lorenzo de El Escorial is a mountain town built around Felipe II's vast 16th-century monastery and palace, where the kings of Spain are buried. Families can solve the free En Busca del Templo de Salomón phone gymkhana, 14 riddles over 2 km, then walk out through the royal La Herrería forest to the Silla de Felipe II, a rock seat with the whole monastery spread out below.