El Escorial
- Address: San Lorenzo de El Escorial
- Hours: Open Tues - Sun 10am - 5pm Oct - Mar, 10am - 6pm Apr - Sept
- Admission: Adults: €8
ATTRACTION Keywords:
Cultural Experience,
Must-Do Experience,
Off-the-Beaten Path,
Religious Experience,
Church / Cathedral,
Monastery,
Monument - Historical
El Escorial Reviews
We've found 239 El Escorial reviews from Viator.com travelers and members: what they loved, what they liked and what they think could be improved. It's all here to help you make the most of your next trip.
Review by Erkki A, May 2013
Doing what: El Escorial Monastery and the Valley of the Fallen from Madrid
It was a great tour, but the guide could have been more informative. On the other hand she was quite funny and casual, which was good.
Review by Anthony H, May 2013
Doing what: El Escorial Monastery and the Valley of the Fallen from Madrid
The guide was excellent and it was beautiful weather. The Escorial tour was excellent and the historical royal successions was interesting. The visit to he monastery including the the experience of hearing the boys choir sing was a bit rushed. The memorial to the fallen of which we had read and heard gave us the unique experience of ring in such a picturesque location of historical significance. There is no freedom without the ultimate sacrifice, a lesson our young people should learn and our politicians never forget. The only complaint is that the tour schedule is too rushed and more time should be given for a better coverage.
We recommend a day tour, say 2 hours more, should cover the field well. We are experienced travelers and the writer has travel agency experience.
Review by Hilda H, April 2013
Doing what: Madrid Super Saver: El Escorial Monastery and Toledo Day Trip from Madrid
The tour was incredible! I had been to Toledo before (on my own) but it was well worth taking a tour and getting more insight/knowledge of everything in Toledo. I was pleasantly surprised by everything El Escorial had to offer. The tour guide was great...very glad I took this tour.
Review by Teri J, April 2013
Doing what: El Escorial Monastery and the Valley of the Fallen from Madrid
Valley of the Fallen was awe inspiring.
Review by Janet E, April 2013
Doing what: El Escorial Monastery and the Valley of the Fallen from Madrid
It was very good. The guide, Carmen, was excellent - she gave us lots of information, with a touch of humour, and I enjoyed it very much. My only complaint is that there was not enough time, particularly at El Valle de los Caidos. But I was so pleased to see these places with the benefit of an experienced guide. Thank you.
Review by Julie M, April 2013
Doing what: Madrid Super Saver: El Escorial Monastery and Toledo Day Trip from Madrid
It was nice, but I felt as though I got more out of the Toledo tour which was part of the four day tour to Cordoba, Sevilla, Granada, and Toledo. The four day trip which included Toledo was more informative over all.
Review by Irondana, April 2013
Doing what: El Escorial Monastery and the Valley of the Fallen from Madrid
This is a must do when you are in Madrid. It is so beautiful and gives you another flavor for Madrid. The local tour company were very nice and the guide was kind enough to speak in English for us.
Review by jeffrey newcomb n, April 2013
Doing what: El Escorial Monastery and the Valley of the Fallen from Madrid
chaos at start in dingy little office with lots of tours going out at once and all over spain. madhouse, and no one knows what bus is going where. we left late as our guide spent half an hour once we finally located our bus and tour with some unfortunate fellow tourist who had bought a longer more expensive tour which didn't exist. bad show. so we were at least a half hour late returning - though that didn't inconvenience us as we were not going on any toledo or madrid tour afterwards. all that aside, once we got going the guide was very good, more than adequate, and the tour he gave of the escorial was good and interesting, much better than if we had saved money and did that on our own. and we also got to the valley of the fallen which was interesting. i would recommend this tour in spite of the chaos at the start.
Review by Ricardo P, USA, April 2013
Doing what: Madrid Super Saver: El Escorial Monastery and Toledo Day Trip from Madrid
The tour was informative. It would be nicer to have some extra time to explore more on your own. It felt rushed at times. That being said, the tour was good.
Review by Terry L, April 2013
Doing what: Madrid Super Saver: El Escorial Monastery and Toledo Day Trip from Madrid
It was broken down into two separate tours – El Escorial Monastery and Valley of the Fallen in the morning, then Toledo in the afternoon – which was NOT what I expected. We met at the tour office, but It was hard to know which tour was departing as other tour groups were waiting as well, and there was no clear signage.
After the bus picked us up we then realized we were part of a big tour group ( 50+ pax for sure).
Between the two tours, there’s a 2 hr lunch break (after gotten dropped back at the tour operator). Total waste of time. I’d rather spend that time travelling / eat on the road.
At the end of the Toledo trip, there was a metal shop visit which we were given 20 minutes to “shop”, while not having a single minute at Toledo on our own. What an awful arrangement. The shop was yet another waste of time.
In short, the sights were lovely but due to the poor arrangements, we didn’t get to enjoy any of it.
Review by Francis H, February 2013
Doing what: Madrid Super Saver: El Escorial Monastery and Toledo Day Trip from Madrid
excellent value for money, very well organized, friendly staff at Julia Travel and good guides.
Comfy coaches with a good speaker system, so overall really good, we did see a lot in one day, sure we coud not have done all that on our own.
Review by Teodora N, January 2013
Doing what: Madrid Super Saver: El Escorial Monastery and Toledo Day Trip from Madrid
Excellent tour. I would recommend to reverse the tour order in the winter, Toledo is beautiful and should be seen while still light is on.
Review by Anna W, January 2013
Doing what: El Escorial Monastery and the Valley of the Fallen from Madrid
Best thing I have done in Spain so far!
Review by sueg, January 2013
Doing what: El Escorial Monastery and the Valley of the Fallen from Madrid
We would highly recommend this tour. Both the Monastery and the Valley of the Fallen monument are fabulous - very different eras of history but both fascinating.
We were the only English speakers on our tour - it was a small group - but our tour guide still took the time to explain everything to us
Review by Phillip L, January 2013
Doing what: El Escorial Monastery and the Valley of the Fallen from Madrid
Our trip to El Escorial and Valley of the Fallen was great ... well organized and a very good guide. We also did the p.m. tour of Madrid on the same day ... also well organized but the tour was ruined by taking us to the Hard Rock Cafe for nearly an hour ... certainly not the Madrid we wanted to see
