Avila & Segovia Day Trip from Madrid with Monument Tickets

The walls of Ávila

Ávila sits on a high plain about an hour from Madrid, at more than 1,100 metres, and is famous for its granite walls. Built from the end of the eleventh century, they run for about two and a half kilometres and are reinforced by dozens of towers and several gates, making them one of the most complete medieval city walls in Europe.

Your guide walks you around the outside of the walls and explains how the city was fortified during the Reconquista. If you are asking whether Ávila is worth a day trip from Madrid, the answer is yes for anyone who enjoys medieval history, and the town is small enough to see the best of it in a morning.

The Basilica of San Vicente and Saint Teresa's Ávila

Outside the walls stands the Basilica of San Vicente, one of the finest Romanesque churches in Spain, built between the twelfth and fourteenth centuries. Its carved portals and the tomb of the martyrs Vicente, Sabina and Cristeta are its highlights, and your ticket for the basilica is included.

Ávila is also the city of Saint Teresa, the sixteenth-century mystic and reformer. The tour passes the Plaza Mayor and the cathedral and visits the convent church built in her honour on the site traditionally linked to her birthplace. After the guided part you have some free time in Ávila before the coach continues to Segovia.

The Roman aqueduct of Segovia

The aqueduct of Segovia is the symbol of the city and appears on its coat of arms. Built by the Romans around the end of the first century, it carried water to the city for many centuries and is made of granite blocks laid without mortar. Its double tier of arches rises to nearly thirty metres in the Plaza del Azoguejo.

Standing beneath it is the highlight of the Segovia visit for many people, and your guide explains how the Romans engineered such a long channel with such small slopes. It is free to see at any time, which makes it a good stop for anyone asking how to visit Segovia's aqueduct on a day trip.

Segovia Cathedral and Plaza Mayor

From the aqueduct the walk climbs through the old town, past the Casa de los Picos, to the Plaza Mayor and the cathedral of Our Lady of the Assumption and San Frutos. Begun in the sixteenth century, it is one of the last great Gothic cathedrals in Spain, and its elegant proportions have earned it the nickname of the Lady of the Cathedrals.

Your cathedral ticket is included, so you can step inside to see the tall vaults and chapels without queueing for a ticket. Opening hours change by day and season, and the guide adjusts the order of the visit to make the best use of the time available.

The Alcázar of Segovia

The tour ends at the Alcázar, a fortress-palace on a rocky crag between two rivers, with a shape that resembles the prow of a ship. It has been a royal residence for centuries, and is often said to have inspired the fairy-tale castles of animated films.

Inside are richly decorated halls, armour and tapestries, and the view from the tower over the Guadarrama mountains is worth the climb. Your ticket for the Alcázar is included. After the visit you return to the coach for the drive back to Madrid, which takes a little over an hour.