Getaways from Ciudad Real: day trips and destinations close by.

Via Manzanares, to the A-4 and Ruidera

The routes are almost all by road. To the east, the A-43 leads to Manzanares and the A-4, which is the axis of La Mancha: to the north it climbs to Madrid and passes Consuegra and Aranjuez; from Manzanares, the N-430 continues via La Solana and Alhambra to the Lagunas de Ruidera. To the south, the same A-4 drops via Valdepeñas and Despeñaperros into Andalusia, on the way to Úbeda and Baeza and the Sierra de Cazorla. To the north, the N-401 crosses the Montes de Toledo to Toledo. Almagro is so close, about 25 kilometres, that you do not need to think about the route.

The train mainly serves Madrid: the AVE on the Seville line reaches Atocha in about 50 minutes, and from there there are Cercanías to Aranjuez and Avant to Toledo. For Almagro, Consuegra or Ruidera, the car is the practical option; there is no useful public transport in the Ruidera park.

Almagro fits into an afternoon

Under half an hour is Almagro (25 minutes): the square with its green galleries, the Corral de Comedias, the only Golden Age theatre still intact and in use, and, on the outskirts, the castle-convent of Calatrava la Nueva. It is the most convenient plan from the city, and fits into an afternoon.

Between one and one and a half hours there are three full days. Consuegra (75 minutes), with the Muela castle and the windmills on the hill; Toledo (75), with the Jewish quarter, the cathedral and the zip line over the Tagus, and the Lagunas de Ruidera (85), with fifteen lagoons linked by waterfalls.

Between an hour and a half and two hours is Aranjuez (105 minutes), with the palace, the gardens and the boat on the Tagus, and a night to add Chinchón. To the south are Úbeda and Baeza, about two and a quarter hours away, and to the west Guadalupe, about two and a half hours.

Further away the trip is a weekend one: Riópar and the source of the Río Mundo, about two and a half hours; the Sierra de Cazorla, almost three; the snow weekend at Navacerrada and Cercedilla, a little over three, and Sierra Nevada with two nights in Pradollano, almost four.

For snow you have to go far

In winter what works is what is indoors and close: the Almagro Corral keeps its weekend programme, and Toledo has fewer groups and the clean light of the dry cold. For snow you have to go far: Guadarrama to the north or Sierra Nevada to the south, the latter from December to March.

In spring, La Mancha is green and the Ruidera waterfalls carry more water. It is the best season for Consuegra, for walking in the gardens of Aranjuez and for the Corral's dramatised visit, which runs at weekends from April to June.

When summer arrives, the plain burns. What works best is water: swimming and kayaking at Ruidera, setting out early, because the waterfall route has stretches without shade. In July, the International Classical Theatre Festival fills Almagro with performances and people: book well ahead.

In autumn calm returns to Ruidera, with the water still warm in September and October. On the last weekend of October, Consuegra celebrates the Saffron Rose Festival, with the windmill road closed to traffic.

The 13:00 dramatised visit at the Corral de Comedias

• Next door: Almagro, Corral de Comedias and Calatrava la Nueva. The dramatised visit at 13:00, aubergines and pisto at the Parador and, in the afternoon, the castle-convent.
• Towards the water: the Lagunas de Ruidera, waterfalls and kayaking. The circular route past four lagoons, La Mancha lunch at Hotel Matías and two and a half hours of kayaking on the Colgada lagoon. With one night, the weekend at Ruidera adds the Cueva de Montesinos.
• To the north: Toledo, Jewish quarter, zip line and cathedral, or, at the same hour and a quarter, Consuegra, castle and windmills.