What To Do In Toledo: A Day Trip from Madrid

Toledo is a charming little city an hour and a half by bus from Madrid, and a worthy day trip if you’re in the capital anyway. With its cobbled streets, gorgeous stone structures, and UNESCO Heritage Site status, who would want to miss out?

Last puente, or long weekend as we normally call it, my friends and I decided to head out of town for the first time and finally explore Toledo. It’s been number one on my Spanish recommendations list for a while, and it was time I found out what it was all about.

But first, watch my Toledo vlog below! 👀

How To Get To Toledo

This was perhaps the most stressful part of the journey, and it was mostly due to the lack of information we could get our hands on. Majority of the available ticket info was in español, and there were multiple transportation providers that we were overall just confused. The Renfe train only takes about 25 minutes from Madrid, but each way costs about 10 euros each, if not more. Buses from Plaza Eliptica in Madrid takes about an hour to two hours, depending on which bus you board.

Our abono joven cards (20 euros per month, for unlimited Metro and bus rides across all Madrid zones) were supposed to cover a Toledo trip, too, but as we were buying tickets for our non-joven friends, we were informed that we couldn’t use our abono for the Renfe train. We ended up going to Plaza Eliptica instead to take the 10:30 AM bus. A one-way ticket to Toledo costs 5.47 Euros.

Don’t make the same mistake we did! If you have the abono joven card, just show that to the bus driver and you should be able to ride for free.

What To Eat

From my very inexperienced point of view, food in Toledo is much more affordable compared to Madrid — but feel free to correct me if I’m wrong. While fancy restaurant quality paella in the capital would cost about 15-25 euros a plate (sometimes much more), we only spent around 12 euros in Toledo. This left us a pretty hefty budget to work with, and so we ordered 2 huge plates of paella — Mar y Monte and Arroz Negro con Alioli, plus a side of croquettas and calamares for four people. Not bad!

Dining in Mercado de San Agustin definitely felt like it was designed for a tourist — 3 floors of varied Spanish cuisine, no less — but it was one tourist trap I would highly recommend. It’s a pretty good way to sample exquisite dishes while also experiencing quality service. They have an English menu as well, and so if you’re not quite confident with your español, you need not worry.

What To Do In Toledo (Our Itinerary)

Okay, time to get into details! Here’s how our day went. Watch my vlog here for more information about the different attractions/destinations. Also linked above!