Hi, epaulino4. I am very glad to help.
The so called "Abono Turistico" or "Tourist Travel Pass" is a very good option. Its validity can be for 1, 2, 3, 5, or 7 days. And there are two different ones depending on the area it covers: zone A(=within Madrid city), and zone T(=within Madrid province, plus Toledo and Guadalajara).
The 2007 fares for the 1-day passes are 3.80 EUR (zone A) and 7.60 (zone T), and for the 2-days, 6.80 and 13.60. Let's do a few calculations:
You intend to go to El Escorial and Toledo, so you can do it in consecutive days to get the advantage of some discount buying the 2-days pass rather than two 1-days. So, you are spending 13.60 EUR. Let's add the equivalent single tickets to go to both places:
1 Metro ticket to go from your hotel to Atocha, 1 EUR + 1 Cercanias ticket to El Escorial, 2.75 EUR = 3.75 EUR (x2 to return=7.50 EUR)
1 Metro ticket to Mendez Alvaro, 1 EUR + 1 bus ticket to Toledo, 4.40 EUR = 5.40 EUR (x2 to return=10.80EUR).
7.50+10.80 = 18.30 EUR. You save 18.30-13.60 = 4.70 EUR by buying the 2-days Tourist Pass. And you can use it to do any other Metro or bus or Cercanias trips inside Madrid you could need during those two days.
All the official information about these passes can be found at the
Madrid Transportation Information System . Due to the way that website is built, I cannot post the direct link to the English Tourist Travel Pass webpage, but it is pretty easy to reach it. Once in the homepage (see link above), click on "English" at the top of the page. Then, you will see the English version of the homepage and you will have to click on the "Tourist Travel Pass" at the center bottom.
Apart of the information there, just three things I think that need to be pointed out:
1. The zone T Pass allows the user to travel within Madrid city, Madrid province, even Toledo and Guadalajara, but in the two latter cases
the regional and high-speed RENFE trains cannot be used, just Cercanias or bus in Gudalajara's case and only bus in Toledo's.
2. The
Madrid Vision buses are not included in the list of buses allowed, as they are a special service.
3. Thank Lord, our prayers were listened and, since a couple weeks ago, the Tourist Passes can be purchased
at any automatic vending machine in the Madrid Metro network. So there is no longer need to go to a ticket booth, or to specific stations.