My wife and I will be arriving in Madrid by rail
at the Atoche station. What would be the best way
to reach San Lorenzo del Escorial? We've been lucky enough to be given a 7 day stay at a beautiful villa very near the monastery.

We really don't want to rent a car unless necessary.

We will also be making at least a couple of trips
back to Madrid during that time.

gls858

From Atocha, there are trains to El Escorial every 30 minutes (more or less). The trip takes about one hour.

Thanks for the info. I guess this would be one of
the regional RENFE trains? I tried to find info
on the RENFE site but my Spanish skills are lacking :-) I'll do some more research any links would be helpful.

gls858

The RENFE site is hard to use. The English version is very different from the Spanish version, with very little information.

Here is a link to the Cercanias page. Enter in the following:

RENFE CERCANIAS MADRID

Click Horarios
Origen Atocha
Destino El Escorial
The Date
Then Click Horarios On the line with Todas....Todas

Good Luck....

I had noticed that :-) Thanks for the link.

Thanks Arturo. That got me to a list of times for the train going to El Escorial.
After checking Google Earth (great program) it looks like the train station is a mile or two from
where I need to go. Are there taxis available once
I reach El Escorial. My destination is just a bit north of the monastery. Or would it be better to take a bus? If so, do the buses leave from Atoche as well? Thanks so much for the help.

gls858

No, the buses to El Escorial don't depart from Atocha, but from the Northwest of Madrid (Moncloa). I am not sure about taxi service in El Escorial, but I would bet that it won't be difficult to catch one or call for one at the station. And I think that it'll be easier and cheaper to do that ride than Atocha to Moncloa in Madrid.

Thanks. I think you convinced me to find a way from the train station in El Escorial. I Don't really relish the idea of lugging the bags on the Metro. I think I read elsewhere on this form that Moncloa is closed June to Sept for renovation.

gls858

Yes in you are in Atocha the best way to go to San Lorenzo de El Escorial is by train. It should take about an hour. Then you have to take a bus to the Monastery.

Coincidentally, JUST TODAY I went to the Monastery of San Lorenzo de El Escorial - spent the entire morning there. Wow, what a place! We went by car and the trip took just under an hour. We even parked just along the street facing the main front (although that's not the entrance - but it is the EXIT). We pulled in, found a place easily, and walked into the Monastery. When we came back we had a 48 Euro fine on the window. It was ONLY THEN did we see PARKING METERS. Unfortunately when we parked we apparently parked between two parking meters and there were no signs or blue or green lines on the parking spaces so it never crossed our minds that we'd have to pay to park. OOPS!

I have to say, on the return trip I was surprised with the lack of signage TO MADRID upon leaving El Escorial on the small roads. Lots of signs to Guadarrama - which was the direction we took (or was it Guadalajara??) - and only when we neared the main highway A-6 did we see a tiny sign TO MADRID (there was construction/obras) at the interchange getting onto A-6. I said to the driver, "Imagine a foreigner driving this route back to Madrid! He wouldn't know WHICH way to go because NO SIGNS say "TO MADRID"!!"

Saludos, MadridMan