With the essential information to discover the city in another way: the most basic and the most different. Enter here with the most updated data and tracks, July 2023: What to see and do in Toledo.
Many people visit the city of the Tagus in one day and go to another destination believing that Toledo “can be seen in one day”.
It is a common mistake in the visitor to believe that Toledo is only narrow streets, steep slopes, the Cathedral and some other museum.
The city of El Tajo hides many jewels within its walls, which deserve at least a weekend.
We would start the day looking for or joining some of the guided tours that are organized in groups, through tourist guides, and that offers first hand information about the most common monuments and routes through the city.
In this link you can find more information about guided tours in Toledo.
The most usual price is 12 € per person, but sometimes there are offers (2×1, special days, etc.) and you can always choose a “Free Toledo Tour” in which you put the price.
It is a very correct means of receiving clear and concise information and accessing the main monuments of the city at fairly good prices.
A very good option is to start the visit to Toledo with a very basic route, but that will allow us to get a good idea of what awaits us: a “Free Tour” of Toledo.
Many of the visits to this website come from searches carried out with texts such as “what to see in Toledo”, “what I see in Toledo”, “what to do in Toledo”, etc. In this article we are going to try to give a concise answer to this question, without forgetting that in a few pages it is totally impossible to offer with dignity what Toledo shows to its occasional visitors.
It is very pretentious on our part to write in this modest article what the city has to offer us, and we only allow ourselves to give certain recommendations that may be useful to the tourist who is “passing through”.
Plaza de Zocodover (Toledo), where many of your city tours will begin.
Don’t do “the tourist” in Toledo
What we do not recommend under any circumstances is to visit Toledo in one day, from sun to sun. Toledo offers more for the night than for the day, and spending one or more nights in a city hotel and visiting its streets at dusk, dawn, in darkness…, is a unique experience in Spain, and all over the world.
In this article we will offer you alternatives to spend several days in the city… Why not a weekend in Toledo?
How do I get to Toledo?
Given the proximity to Madrid (it is a mistake to stay in Madrid and come to Toledo for a while), it is easy to get to the city, even by Taxi, if its economy allows it. There are bus routes, and today the “AVE” arrives in just over 20 minutes to almost the heart of Toledo.
If you are travelling without a car (own or rented), the most recommendable option from Madrid is the AVE, and then arrive at the Hotel by Taxi or city bus. If you come by car (be careful with the paid parking, here called “ORA”), parking in Toledo is a complex if your hotel does not have a garage (there are some private ones) -see the article “Parking for free in Toledo“-, and forget to drive through the city, especially the old town.
The best thing is to check with the hotel on how to get there, especially if you are immersed in the tangle of streets inside the walls, where it is practically impossible to get a car to the door (don’t try with the GPS, they don’t work very well up here).
If you are staying in the area known by the Toledans as “casco”, that is, inside the walled area of Toledo, the usual monuments and routes are relatively close, and you can go quietly “on foot” anywhere (from one end of the old town to the other it takes, at most, 20-30 minutes, if you don’t get lost).
Also from the Hotels located outside this area is easy to reach the “helmet”, although you will have to resort to urban transport or taxis.
Information on city buses: www.unauto.es
Website on regulated parking for vehicles: www.toledo-ora.es
- RENFE. High-speed train AVANT or AVE to Toledo (RENFE): www.renfe.es
- Taxis : 925 25 50 50 – 925 22 70 70
- Toledo Bus Station: 925 21 58 50
- Direct Service Madrid – Toledo, consult ALSA services here.
- Ora: works in the helmet on weekdays from 10 to 14 and from 17 to 20, and on Saturdays from 10 to 14. On Sundays the parking is free in the streets of Toledo. There are vending machines (parking meters) located throughout the city.
- Madrid-Toledo toll motorway (AP 41)
- More information on how to get to Toledo in Eight good tips for visiting Toledo for the first time
Accommodation in Toledo: where to sleep.
We are not going to make any recommendations here as the hotels in Toledo are all of fairly good quality, as is the case in almost every city in Spain. I think you will share with me that we well remember the quality of our hotels when we visit other countries…
In few places you will find the hospitality of Spanish and Toledo hotels in particular. You will be able to choose between a very numerous offer that goes from simple hostels, of very good treatment and better price, up to exclusive hotels of luxury, already present in the city. In recent years, also in Toledo, the “tourist apartments“, houses, flats, etc., advertised on well-known booking websites at a wide range of prices have taken centre stage… In this case, the only thing we recommend is to check that they have all the “papers” in order to avoid problems.
Find a hotel in Toledo
Finding a hotel or tourist apartment can be complicated. It is necessary to do it with time, the places are very limited and in certain holidays, weekend or bridges are thousands of people who spend the night in the city.
I recommend to consult the offers that Booking.com offers in this link, you will find the best prices to sleep in Toledo and discover the most magical city, at night.
There are hotels and lodgings of all kinds: hotels with swimming pool, apartments, economic hostels… But reserve with time.
- More information about accommodation, hotels, hostels and tourist apartments in:Where to sleep or stay in Toledo? Hotels, hostels, apartments, hostels, pensions…
What to visit in Toledo? What to see in Toledo.
On your arrival in the city, and after leaving suitcases in the chosen accommodation and taking the most comfortable footwear possible, it is recommended that you visit one of the tourist information offices
I’m sure you’ll also be interested: Puy du Fou Toledo, the theme park that will change everything, by email you can also get more información:infoturismo@toledo.es
After obtaining the information, which in most cases is usually a street planner of the city as the image of the image with schedules and tariffs, we will have several options:
Tourist street map of Toledo 2023 – Toledo City Council
- Click here to download in PDF the Toledo Tourist Plan
We would start the day looking for or joining some of the guided tours that are organized in groups, through tourist guides, and that offers first hand information about the most common monuments and routes through the city.
In this link you can find more information about guided tours in Toledo, the most usual price is 12 € per person, but sometimes there are offers (2×1, special days, etc.) and you can always choose a “Free Tour of Toledo” in which you put the price.
It is a very correct means of receiving clear and concise information and accessing the main monuments of the city at fairly good prices.
A very good option is to start the visit to Toledo with a very basic route, but that will allow us to get a good idea of what awaits us: a “Free Tour” of Toledo. Check here timetables and more information.
Tourist guide starting a Free Tour in Zocodover Square with Tourist Guides of Toledo
As you can see, we have not recommended any particular thematic night route. Everything will depend on the way you want to visit the city, although only with these options you can ensure several days of visit.
If we had to choose, the visits to the main monuments are of rigor and specially, by their curiosities, the one of the “Magic Toledo“, but there are many other options, as you will be able to verify in this link.
Undoubtedly visiting a city with the people who live there is the most recommendable option, and Toledo is a very special case, as knowing the dozens of monuments and thousands of secrets the city keeps is an odyssey if you want to do it alone, without a good guide.
In the tourist services company “Rutas de Toledo” you will also be given with the ticket the download of two digital books about the city to read when you return home and remember your visit to Toledo. You will love it.
Essential monuments on a visit to Toledo
In case you decide to go on your own, you can also use a simple map of the city or the many books or brochures published and you can buy in the city bookstores (or on the Internet) visit the most representative monuments. Here is a list of those not to be missed:
- The Cathedral of Toledo. Price from 10,50 euros, depending on what you want to visit (more information here)
- Mosque of Christ of Light (10th century, only building preserved today prior to the Christian reconquest) Can be visited with the Tourist Bracelet.
- Exterior of Alcázar (you can go up to the Regional Library, from which you can see an impressive view of Toledo.)
- Museum of the Army. Alcázar.
- Museum of Santa Cruz (if you are lucky it is possible that at the time of your visit you will host some great exhibition. If not, the building itself and its contents are reason for a visit)
- Sephardic Museum (Transit Synagogue) One of the most necessary visits to understand Jewish Toledo.
- Church of Santo Tomé (houses “The Burial of the Lord of Orgaz”, a masterpiece by El Greco) Can be visited with the Tourist Bracelet.
- Synagogue of Santa María La Blanca. It can be visited with the Tourist Bracelet.
- San Juan de los Reyes (with an impressive Gothic cloister, initial burial site planned for the Catholic Monarchs) Can be visited with the Tourist Bracelet.
- Saint Dominic the Ancient (11th century Convent)
- Museum of Visigoth Councils and Culture (in the Church of San Román, unavoidable for those interested in the Visigoth world, of which Toledo was the capital)
- Church of the Jesuits (imposing church that today allows you to climb its towers and observe a magnificent view of the ancient caste) It can be visited with the Tourist Bracelet.
- Centro Cultural San Marcos (Toledo Interpretation Center) Hosts exhibitions related -or not- to the city.
- Victorio Macho Museum (located on Tarpeya Rock)
- Doors of Bisagra, del Sol, Alfonso VI, Cambrón… Doors of access to the city. Nor should we miss the impressive walls that made Toledo almost impregnable for centuries.
- Bridges : from San Martín, from Alcántara.
- Museo del Greco (reopened in 2011): price 3 euros. More information on this link.
This is neither a reason nor a place to offer complex and detailed artistic and historical descriptions of these places. Yes, you can consult this other quite interesting article: 20 monuments and essential places to visit in Toledo. If you would like more information (which we hope you will), it is available on the Internet, on this page, and in the numerous books and guides published.
In most monuments there is an entrance fee. A “tourist bracelet” is also available which allows you to visit certain monuments at a total price of 10 euros:
- Iglesia de Santo Tome: Plaza del Conde nº 4, tel. 925 25 60 98
- Monastery of San Juan de los Reyes: C/ Reyes Católicos nº 17, tel. 925 22 38 02
- Santa Maria la Blanca Synagogue: C/ Reyes Católicos nº 4, tel. 925 22 72 57
- Cristo de la Luz Mosque: Cta. De los Carmelitas Descalzos nº 10, tel. 925 25 41 91
- Church of the Jesuits : Plaza Pedro Juan de Maria nº 1, tel. 925 25 15 07
- Iglesia del Salvador: Plaza de Salvador sin número, tel. 925 22 72 57
- Church of the Colegio de Doncellas Nobles.
You can buy this bracelet at the tourist office of “Rutas de Toledo”, which also offers a guided tour with the bracelet to these monuments.
The schedule of visits to these monuments and more information can be found at this link. For access to other monuments, such as the Cathedral or Alcazar, check prices at ticket offices. (The Army Museum in the Alcazar is free on Sunday, Monday closed).
Some guided tour companies get better prices by accessing several monuments on the routes, as they go in groups. Ask for prices.
As you can see from the street map of Toledo that you have downloaded (PDF) or obtained at the tourist information offices, there is a “good walk” between many of these monuments (not so much, from one end to the other of the old town of Toledo can take half an hour, if not lost), through narrow streets also full of history.
And it is not in vain that it is said that in every street of Toledo there is a legend, as you will be able to read in these legends of Toledo in a short version that you are now visiting.
I’m sure you’re also interested: 850 years of the phrase: “Toledo, Toledo, Toledo by King Alfonso VIII”.
Outside the usual route of monuments and guided tours, you can also find in the city small jewels in the form of art galleries, antique shops, bookstores… We leave the discovery of these interesting places to the chance of the reader.
Eating, Dining… In Toledo
If you have not chosen the “full board” option in the Hotel, you will be able to enjoy a wide range of restaurants in the city, which will delight any fine palate.
Toledo is known worldwide for its cuisine, for its sweets, as a wide mixture of tradition and modernity, with intense cultural influences of those who passed through this land.
“La Perdiz a la Toledana”, “el mazapán”, “el venado”, which from the nearby Montes de Toledo comes close to the kitchens of the best restaurants in Toledo, “las migas”… All of these dishes are highly recommended and can be tasted in the dozens of restaurants spread throughout the streets of the city, mainly in the old town.
As we did with the accommodations, we did not venture to recommend any, but in this case there is no doubt that the quality is paid. And in Toledo it is not cheap to eat (although there is everything), therefore, if you want to let yourself be carried away by the good cuisine, undoubtedly visit some of the best known (in the Hotel you will be well informed), and if you only decide to approach the typical Toledo dishes (such as the famous Carcamusas), you can also do it without paying excessive amounts.
On the occasion of the Gastronomic Capital (2016), we wrote a series of articles in which we recommend places to eat “legendary”, or cheap:
- Where to eat or dine on “legend” in Toledo?
- Where to eat cheap in Toledo
- Ten Perfect Places to Eat a Sandwich in Toledo
Anyway, if your visit is of the “backpack”, looking for good prices, as was the case with accommodation, in the city you will find scattered bars and cafes that at a good price offer simple dishes that “we will fill the crop” to continue kicking the city.
A Toledan Night. What to see and do in Toledo at night.
With “La Noche Toledana” being the title of one of the city’s best-known traditions and giving name to an entire popular saying, the night in Toledo could not be less than surprising. Visitors barely scratch the essence of Toledo if they leave at dusk.
One of the new experiences that the city brings to its visitors is to participate in different guided tours, organized by small companies that show the night essence of the city.
In this link you have a good recommendation. In addition they give away the download of two digital books, being one of them “Toledo Insólito” with more than 400 pages.
Walking through the streets of the city you will see dozens of posters on which information is given about these routes, as well as contact telephone numbers, prices and timetables.
You can find out about our company of guided tours and night tours at www.toledospain.click (from the same people who wrote this blog)
And as in any other city in Spain, you can stay until the early hours of the “party”, especially in summer.
You can also, if you wish, print the routes and legends that we offer on this page and, if you have travelled with friends, make a unique experience.
You can’t get lost in Toledo…
Panoramic from the Valley, in Toledo
Visitors cannot leave Toledo without taking a walk along the “Ronda de el Valle”. One of the most typical areas of Toledo and that some companies have to forget for its excessive distance on foot from the helmet.
Leaving by one of the two bridges (Alcántara or San Martín), and returning by the other, we arrive after a magnificent walk of around forty minutes observing one of the most photographed views of the city.
What we observe from “the Valley”, leaving behind the area of “the cigarettes” is shown under great magnificence if we do so at sunset.
A very picturesque view if you stay in the Parador Nacional de Turismo or in some of the hotels that have their home in this interesting area.
We end this article with the healthy intention of having provoked in the reader the need to spend several days in the city.
If you still believe that the city of Toledo does not offer you enough, you can always rent a car and follow the routes along which Cervantes’ immortal work “El Quijote” passes or get close to picturesque villages full of history and very close to the city, such as Consuegra, Illescas, or reach the Montes de Toledo and the Cabañeros National Park…
