Toledo, the city the Tagus wraps around.

Toledo climbs a rock that the Tagus wraps around on three sides. Inside it fit a Gothic cathedral, two synagogues, a mosque, the paintings of El Greco and a maze of streets closed to cars. It is an hour from Madrid by motorway and 25 minutes by train, so it can be done well in a day; with a night, you also see it without the tour groups and with the stone lit up.

How do you get there from Madrid?

By car, along the A-42: about 70 km and around an hour. By train, the Avant leaves Atocha roughly every hour and takes about 25 minutes; from the station to the centre it is a 20-minute walk, a taxi of about €6 or the city buses 5, 511, 61 and 62 as far as Zocodover. By bus, ALSA leaves Plaza Elíptica every half hour; the direct service takes an hour.

From Ciudad Real and from Guadalajara it takes around an hour and a quarter by car; from Cuenca, the most direct route is about two hours.

Where to park?

Outside. The old town is reserved almost entirely for residents and driving inside it is a miserable experience. There are four free open-air car parks: Paseo de la Rosa (150 spaces), Azarquiel (650), Circo Romano (200) and Santa Teresa (700). From any of them it is a quarter of an hour's walk. The Safont car park is paid, at €0.40 an hour. To get up without breaking a sweat, use the Recaredo escalators, beside the Puerta de Bisagra, or the Safont ones. The street ORA parking charge does not apply on Sundays or public holidays.

If you sleep in the old town, the Hotel Abad has its own garage at €13.50 a day; at the Parador, outside the old town, parking is free.

How much time do you need?

One day covers the essentials: the cathedral, Santo Tomé, the Jewish quarter with El Tránsito and Santa María la Blanca, San Juan de los Reyes and the Mirador del Valle at sunset. With two days you can add the Alcázar, a walk along the Tagus path, the zip line and an unhurried lunch. More time calls for leaving the city: the Montes de Toledo, the lagoons or the windmills of Consuegra.

To save time, the €14 tourist wristband covers several monuments, including Santo Tomé, San Juan de los Reyes and Santa María la Blanca, which cost €4 each separately.

A Sunday in Toledo

Sunday has a catch: the cathedral does not open for cultural visits until 14:00, and the Sephardic Museum closes at 15:00, although it is free that day. So the morning belongs to the Jewish quarter: El Tránsito when it opens at 10:00, Santo Tomé and The Burial of the Count of Orgaz, Santa María la Blanca and San Juan de los Reyes. At midday you go down to the Puente de San Martín and, if you are with children, you can whizz across the Tagus on the zip line, open from 11:00. You have lunch in the old town and at two o'clock you go into the cathedral, which needs a good hour and a half. As the day winds down, head to the Mirador del Valle, on foot or by car.

When to go?

In spring and autumn. In July and August Toledo often tops 35 degrees and there is hardly any shade in the upper streets: start early and leave the walking for the evening. Corpus Christi, in June, fills the city with awnings and crowds; so does Holy Week. In winter the cold is dry, there are fewer groups and the light is very clear.