Chinchón and Aranjuez from Madrid: what to see and how to go in a day

South-east of Madrid, less than an hour away, are two towns that almost nobody from abroad knows and that Madrileños return to every year: Chinchón, with its Plaza Mayor of wooden balconies where bullfights and open-air dinners are still held, and Aranjuez, the city of the royal gardens on the Tagus, a UNESCO Cultural Landscape since 2001. They are 20 kilometres apart and can be seen on the same day.

This guide explains how to get to each from Madrid in 2026, what to see, how much tickets cost, how to combine them and when the organised day trip that joins them with Toledo pays off.

Chinchón: the Plaza Mayor and little else, but what a plaza

Chinchón is a town of 5,000 people 45 kilometres from Madrid that you can walk around in a morning. Everything revolves around the Plaza Mayor, an irregular square from the 15th to 17th centuries enclosed by two- and three-storey houses with 234 green wooden balconies. It has served as a bullring since the 16th century, has hosted countless film shoots and today is, above all, a place to sit on a terrace with a glass of anís and watch.

Around the square are the Church of Nuestra Señora de la Asunción, whose high altar holds an Assumption of the Virgin painted by Goya (his brother Camilo was chaplain here); the Clock Tower, the orphaned bell tower of a church destroyed in the Peninsular War; the 15th-century Castle of the Counts, seen from outside but not open to visitors; and the Augustinian convent turned Parador hotel. Its culinary fame comes from Chinchón anís, with distilleries that run tours, and from garlic. The Anís and Wine Festival takes place in early October.

Getting there: La Veloz bus 337 takes about 55 minutes and costs €3. During the works at the Conde de Casal interchange it leaves, provisionally, from Pavones; check the current stop before you go. By car it is 45-50 minutes via the A-3 and M-404. There is no train.

Aranjuez: the Royal Palace and the gardens

Aranjuez was the spring residence of the kings of Spain from Philip II onwards, and it shows: straight streets, huge squares and a palace by the Tagus surrounded by gardens that cover more ground than the town itself. The Royal Palace opens Tuesday to Sunday, 10:00 to 18:00 from October to March and 10:00 to 19:00 from April to September; it closes on Mondays. General admission is €9 and reduced €4; the guided visit, €17. EU and Latin American citizens enter free on Wednesday and Sunday afternoons (15:00 to 18:00 in winter, 16:00 to 19:00 in summer). Don't miss the Porcelain Room and the Hall of Mirrors.

The gardens are why Aranjuez is a World Heritage Site: the Parterre Garden in front of the palace, the Island Garden between the Tagus and the Ría canal, and the Prince's Garden, a 150-hectare park with the Casa del Labrador at the far end, a small palace of Charles IV visited only with a guide (€10, Friday to Sunday). In 2026 parts of the Prince's Garden are fenced off for works, but the Parterre and the Island are open and free.

Getting there: it is the better connected of the two towns. The Cercanías C-3 leaves from Atocha and Sol and takes 39 to 45 minutes (about €4, zone C2). Samar bus 423 leaves from Estación Sur (Méndez Álvaro) and takes about an hour for €3. By car, 45 minutes along the A-4. And on spring and autumn weekends there is the Strawberry Train, covered below.

The Strawberry Train

The Strawberry Train recreates Spain's second railway line, Madrid to Aranjuez in 1851, with early-20th-century wooden carriages, hostesses in period dress and Aranjuez strawberries handed out on board. In 2026 it runs on Saturdays and Sundays in spring (22 March to 7 June) and autumn (October and November), leaving at 10:00 from the Railway Museum at Delicias and returning to Madrid at 18:54. The basic option, Fresas al Natural, costs €32 per adult and €24 per child; those including Royal Palace admission rise to €43 and €32, and the version with an English-language visit to €53 and €42.

It is a wonderful way to reach Aranjuez if you travel with children or love trains, but two things are worth knowing: it sells out weeks in advance and it fills the whole day in Aranjuez, so it does not combine with Chinchón.

Can you see both in one day on your own?

Yes, but by public transport it is a long day. Bus 430 runs between Chinchón and Aranjuez in about 44 minutes, with few departures and none on Sunday mornings. The logical route is Madrid, Chinchón (337), Aranjuez (430), Madrid (Cercanías C-3), and you need to line up the timetables so the wait in Chinchón does not eat up the morning. By car it is straightforward: 50 minutes to Chinchón, 25 to Aranjuez and 45 back, with easy parking in both.

What you cannot do on your own is add Toledo: it is another 45 kilometres from Aranjuez and the return to Madrid would get complicated. That is what the day trip is for.

Our day trip: Chinchón, Aranjuez and Toledo in one day

The Chinchón, Aranjuez and Toledo day trip leaves on Wednesdays, Fridays and Sundays at 9:00 from the San Bernardo 5 visitor centre, next to Gran Vía. It includes transport, a one-hour guided walk around Chinchón, another one-hour walk around Aranjuez with Royal Palace admission included, a one-hour guided walk around Toledo and four free hours in Toledo for lunch and exploring at your own pace. The coach leaves Toledo at 19:30 and reaches the Neptune Fountain at about 20:30. It costs €69 per adult and €64 for children aged 5 to 15 and over-65s.

It is the only way to see the three places without driving, and Toledo in the late afternoon, once the groups have gone, is a different city. If you would rather devote the whole day to Toledo, see our other Toledo day trips from Madrid.