Getaways from Segovia: day trips and destinations close by.

To the south, the sierra is right above you

To the south, the sierra is right above you. The CL-601 passes Valsaín and climbs to the Navacerrada pass, 35 minutes away; from there you drop to Cercedilla or continue along the M-604 towards Cotos, Valdesquí and the Lozoya valley. The AP-61, or the N-603 via San Rafael, crosses the sierra to the A-6, the way to El Escorial and La Pedriza.

To the north-east, the N-110 leads to Pedraza and the Duratón Gorges, with Sepúlveda as the base village. To the north, the A-601 goes towards Cuéllar and Valladolid, and in that direction lie Peñafiel and the Ribera del Duero. To the south-west, the N-110 crosses the plain to Ávila in an hour, and from Ávila you continue to the Sierra de Gredos and Salamanca.

The train is useful mainly for going far. The Segovia-Guiomar AVE reaches Madrid and Valladolid in about thirty minutes, and Renfe links the city with Burgos, León or Salamanca. For the sierra, Pedraza or the Duratón, however, you need a car.

Sundays without an early start in Guadarrama

Under an hour is almost all of Guadarrama: the Navacerrada pass (35 minutes), Pedraza (41), Valdesquí (45), El Escorial (50) and Peñalara and Rascafría (55). Ávila, at 59, closes the group. These are Sunday plans without an early start.

La Pedriza (60 minutes), Peñafiel (70) and the Duratón (72) are between one and one and a half hours away. The last two also have an overnight version: Peñafiel with two wineries and Sepúlveda and the canyon.

Between an hour and a half and two hours the day stretches: the Laguna Grande de Gredos and Alcalá de Henares (100 minutes), Patones and the Hayedo de Montejo (105) and Salamanca (110). Gredos is better enjoyed with two nights in the sierra, and the Sierra Norte with a weekend between Patones and Buitrago.

Past two hours, the trip is a weekend one: Covarrubias and Silos, at two hours twenty-five; Burgos and Atapuerca, at two and a half, and La Alberca and the Sierra de Francia, at almost three.

Snowshoeing at Navacerrada with no previous experience

In winter the snow is half an hour away. At 35 minutes are the morning snowshoeing at Navacerrada, with no previous experience, and the snow weekend in Cercedilla; at 45, the ski day at Valdesquí. From December to March, with chains in the car. For bad-weather days, Pedraza and its roast, which work all year.

In spring it is the turn of the water and countryside plans: paddling the Duratón between hundred-metre walls and climbing to San Frutos in the afternoon light, or La Pedriza before the heat arrives.

In summer it is best to stay in the sierra. The Peñalara lake has an access quota and fills up early, and the Laguna Grande de Gredos is a five-hour route for June and July. Pedraza, 41 minutes away, holds the Candlelight Concerts on the first two Saturdays of July. La Pedriza and Patones are not recommended in July and August.

In autumn the grape harvest arrives in Peñafiel and the forests change colour on the other side of the pass: the La Herrería and El Castañar forest and the oak woods of Rascafría to the Purgatorio waterfall, both less than an hour away, in October and November.

The Zuloaga castle in the afternoon light

• Forty minutes away: Pedraza. The jail in the morning, the Plaza Mayor, a wood-oven roast and the Zuloaga castle in the afternoon light.
• To the west: Ávila, from the wall to the Cuatro Postes. An hour along the N-110, the wall walk, the cathedral built into the wall, El Barco beans and the wall illuminated at dusk.
• Across the sierra: El Escorial, monastery and Silla de Felipe II. Fifty minutes, the monastery at opening time, Castilian lunch and the view from the Silla in the afternoon.