Classical Cities of Old Castile with Toledo

We loved the walk in the park overlooking Segovia. The hotel Rector in Salamanca was truly lovely and the staff wonderful. The Art Deco museum in Salamanca is a must and the cafe in the museum was good. Momo was a good restaurant/ wine bar in Salamanca. Santa Cruz museum in Toledo was fantastic and the mosque converted to a church was lovely and very interesting.

Here's a tip:- Hotel Catalonia las Cortes provides courtesy snacks and hot drinks throughout the afternoon and until 23:00. Very useful to bridge the gap between a large breakfast and a full dinner. Lovely to be able to get a hot drink any time of day.

Also - take an umbrella - Spain can be wet in mid-October

3 of the 4 hotels provide coffe machines in the room - lovely! You could use them with a tea bag too!

Lovely tour of four great Spanish cities with excellent hotels, but there is a certain sameness to the architechture and we thought in retrospect that doing it as two well spaced, four/five night trips would have been better

This is our 4th self-guided journey by rail and we booked the extension to Toledo and did this part of the journey first followed by Segovia, Salamanca and finally Madrid due to our connecting flight back to Manchester being very early in the morning. We extended our holiday staying 3 nights at Toledo, Salamanca and Madrid and kept to the 2 nights at Segovia.

TOLEDO: We purchased the Toledo wristband which made good value for money on the entry fees and visited all the included sites. We did not follow the Inntravel trail in the order due to the opening and closing times of the sites. However, everything is all within good walking distance of each other. Highlights of the tour were the Monasterio de San Juan de los Reyes, Sinagoga Santa Maria la Blanca and Mezquita del Cristo de la Luz. The most spectacular visit was to the Cathedral and we spent well over 3 hours as there was so much to see. It was amazing. The entrance ticket included a free English audio guide which was excellent and we then followed this up by taking our photographs. Meals – we dined one evening at the Hotel San Juan de los Reyes and suggest you book as the dining room fills with their own hotel guests.

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In Madrid we would add La Mucca de Prado (Calle del Prado 16) and Pizzeria Cervantes (Calle de Leon 8) to the list of recommended restaurants as they are close, both with good food and good value. They are also open throughout the day, so you do not have to wait until late to eat. We also appreciated the free snacks in the Hotel Catalonia Las Cortes in Madrid.

Overall the holiday was good. Perfect weather did of course help. In retrospect, perhaps four cities in 8 days was too much. We found Madrid a difficult city to get a handle on. We planned to do the flea market (El Rastro) and then the Prado on the Sunday, after arriving from Salamanca at lunchtime. By the time we walked to the market it was shutting down and area was rather chaotic and, unusually for me, I felt a little unsafe - certainly not a place to get the iPad out and check directions. We then walked to the Prado hoping to make a quick visit, taking advantage of the free entry after 17:00. By 16:45 however I estimated the queue to be in the many hundreds if not nearer to two / three thousand. We did not wait around but as a result I felt we wasted most of the first half day of a one and a half day visit. I wonder if the holiday would be better without Madrid. My advice to other people on the holiday is to think hard about what you want to do in Madrid - check carefully opening times, and what day things are shut, and be very aware of possible overcrowding and queues particularly around the free sessions. Also, be aware that the museums seem to shut areas off during the free sessions and, frustratingly, give little information out about what is closed off. We therefore spent some time attempting to take a lift to a fourth floor in the Reina Sofia only to be told by a guard - "but it is Sunday you cannot go to the fourth floor on a Sunday".   

This is our second holiday with Inntravel and we will use them again and have already recommended them to friends who like to travel on their own with the ‘structure’ of the holiday arranged. The hotels have all been of a high standard and character-filled. The walking notes are interesting, clear, informative and often amusing. A wonderful holiday!

They were all highlights - Segovia was our favourite, but Salamanca and Toldeo were close behind. We have never been treated as well in a hotel as we were in the Hotel Rector in Salamanca - made us feel like stars!

Keeping closely to your recommended routes would ensure an anxiety-free holiday!

This is good holiday and you see a lot in a reasonably short time. We liked the smaller cities in particular. Madrid is a capital city with all the pluses and minuses that go with it. Watch out for beggars and pickpockets especially in crowded places here.

Audio guides at sites and tourist office (Segovia) generally very good especially Toledo cathedral. Do try 'churros and hot chocolate' in Salamanca (ask the wonderful Teresa at Hotel Rector for recommendations re eating). Four cities in eight days is tiring even in May - we really enjoyed our separately organised rural break in Extremadura afterwards - if you hire a car, do it from Madrid airport thus avoiding all but motorway traffic!

Toledo cathedral was outstanding, unmissable and unforgettable. It was the culmination of a marvellous holiday.

This was a stimulating holiday.  We learnt a lot and had an enjoyable time. It's definitely worth catching the little tourist train in Toledo to get a view of the city from outside (book it from a booth in the main square). Best tapas were at Vinodiaro in Salamanca (Plaza de los Basilios, 1).

Overall it was a very well balanced holiday. The train timings all worked well and the hotels were just a short taxi ride from the station.  

We had a wonderful walk at Toledo starting at the Alcantara Bridge and then climbing steadily along the well engineered footpath beside the road to the Mirador del Valle with its classic view looking across the river to the old town. This can be done in 30 minutes. We then continued onwards, downhill, to the San Martin Bridge (another 40 minutes) where we watched people brave enough to submit themselves to a zipwire crossing of the river. A short climb up into the town and then along to a welcome bar in the Transito Gardens overlooking the river and opposite the El Greco Museum. Nothing too strenuous though probably best not done in the height of summer as there is little shade. Springtime is ideal.

In Toledo we thought Alfileritos 24 in Calle Alfileritos was excellent - both the food and the interior of the building itself.

In Madrid there are a lot of restaurants in the Calle de Ventura de la Vega very near the hotel including the Marina Ventura at no.13 which had a pleasant ambience and a wide choice of menu including fish. The staff were very welcoming and it was good value.

All went like clockwork. We could have chosen a better time of year - it snowed in Salamanca, nevertheless it was a great trip. All the places were fascinating - so much to see and do. As usual Inntravel information/travelpack was accurate and informative. We really enjoyed the trip in spite of the cold weather.

We booked this holiday at the last minute to escape the British winter.  Inntravel dealt with our booking efficiently and we thoroughly enjoyed our holiday, it certainly banished the winter blues! The hotels and their staff were excellent, although The Hacienda del Cardenal was rather like staying at "Fawlty Towers"! The railways were efficient, the cities fascinating and the Inntravel notes accurate and informative. We are looking forward to our next trip...

A very enjoyable holiday with well chosen hotels both in terms of what they provided and where they are situated. Toledo was our jewel in the crown, from the grand cathedral, to the oldest mosque in the western world. 

Highlights:

Art Deco & Art Noveau museum in Salamanca.

Walks below alcazar in Segovia.

Segovia museum.

Reina Sofia - went to excellent English talk on the history & imagery of Guernica.

Park in Madrid. 

Wandering around Toledo- our preferred city, after Madrid.

Salamanca was particularly beautiful. The visit to the Museo de Casa Lis a lovely experience with its beautiful facade and amazing art nouveau and art deco artefacts.

We enjoyed the Visigothic museum in Toledo - it's in an interesting old church, and I don't remember ever seeing anything labelled as visigothic before!

HIGHLIGHTS: Prado, Toledo Cathedral, other extremely interesting sights mentioned in the town guides which were excellent.    

Useful tip......try not to take heavy luggage as Spanish trains are quite difficult to alight with large suitcases.

An excellent introduction to the Spanish Golden Age. One could easily spend five days in the Prado!

We loved Salamanca and Segovia. Using the information desks in the rail stations was very helpful. Santa Pau was the high point of the hike.

INNTRAVEL NOTE: These customers enjoyed two holidays: Classical Cities of Old Castile with Toledo - A Self-Guided Journey by Rail and followed by the Foothills of the Pyrenees - A Self-Guided Walking Holiday

Highlights:

- pretty much everything in Segovia, appreciably the quietest of the three cities we visited.

- in Salamanca, the Museo de Casa Lis, the cathedrals, the monastery of San Esteban and the Plateresque.

- in Toledo, the cathedral, the monastery of Santo Domingo el Antiguo and the garden of the Hacienda del Cardenal.

Spaniards all very friendly - excellent hotels. Segovia and Salamanca lovely old towns - we enjoyed the public holiday celebrations by the river in Salamanca differentiating it from Segovia. Madrid a bit too large for our taste! Hotel helpful. Hotel in city walls novel and convenient walking for city. Escalators useful!

A fantastic holiday with so much to see and so much of interest. But very full on! In retrospect we would have booked a couple of extra days along the way as 'rest days'! In Salamanca, for a special dinner, we would recommend the Restaurante En La Parra which offers a seven-course tasting menu (you need to book which the hotel is happy to do). In Madrid we enjoyed Atlantik Corner, near the hotel in Calle Ventura de al Vega. We also had some wonderful tapas for lunch in the Labricadeharinas restaurante (in the Hotel San Juan de los Reyes) in Calle Reyes Catolicos in Toledo, not far from the El Greco Museum.

Toledo - we highly recommend as a must-do, the Tourist Train departing from Plaza Zocodover that takes visitors for a 40 minute ride out of town and along the road above the Tagus River where there is an amazing view of the valley below Toledo and a spectacular panorama of the town.  

Travel arrangements all worked well, hotels well sited and comfortable, warmth of welcome varied but was never bad, and we liked Hotel Rector best - attentiveness to all aspects of our stay was excellent.  As to the cities, we liked Segovia best.

Best restaurants for us were Jose Maria in Segovia, La Hoja 21 and Valencia in Salamanca and at the hotel in Toledo.  Meals varied in price and value, but all provided very good food with attentive staff.