Primate Cathedral of Toledo

What it is

Toledo's Gothic cathedral, Primate of Spain, is the city's main visit. It was begun in 1226, under Archbishop Ximénez de Rada and in the reign of Ferdinand III the Saint, and was considered finished in 1493; later centuries added chapels and Renaissance and Baroque works. Allow between an hour and a half and two hours.

What you see

The basic ticket covers the church and cloister, the main chapel, the Transparente, the choir, the main chapels and the historic rooms. In the chapter house and the main sacristy is a good part of the painting: the sacristy is presided over by El Greco's El Expolio, and in the picture gallery hang paintings by Goya, Raphael, Titian or Caravaggio, among others. The treasury holds the Arfe monstrance. If you are short of time, prioritise the main chapel, the choir, the Transparente and the sacristy.

Inside you cannot take photographs or film, eat or drink, and you must keep your phone switched off. You are asked to dress decorously, and with the same ticket you cannot re-enter. There is an official app, "Visita Catedral de Toledo", and audio guides in Spanish, French, English, Italian, Portuguese and Russian.

Hours and tickets

Monday to Saturday it is open from 10:00 to 18:30; on Sundays, from 14:00 to 18:30. Entry closes half an hour before. On weekdays, from 8:00 to 9:15, only the naves are open, with free access, for worship. There are days with special hours: on 6 and 23 January, Palm Sunday, Holy Tuesday, Easter Sunday, 1 November and 8 December it opens from 14:00 to 18:30; on Maundy Thursday and Good Friday, from 11:00 to 17:00; Corpus Christi, from 16:30 to 18:30; 15 August, from 16:00 to 18:30, and 24 and 31 December, from 10:00 to 14:00. It is closed on 1 January and 25 December, and on days when a celebration requires it, with advance notice.

The basic ticket costs €12; reduced, €8 (over-65s, youth card, large family, students up to 18 and disability of up to 64%); children's, €6 for ages 8 to 14; under-8s go in free with a family member, as do those born or registered in the city. The ticket is for a specific day and time: buy it online or at the cathedral shop, on Calle Cardenal Cisneros, opposite the Puerta Llana. The visit always starts at the Puerta Llana. Wheelchairs are lent free of charge at the ticket desk. Phone: 925 222 241.

Lumina

At night there is Lumina, a 50-minute route through ten areas of the interior with light, music and video mapping, with limited capacity, for €24.90. The combined day and Lumina ticket costs €33. Days and sessions can be checked on its website.

If you go on a Sunday

In the morning the cathedral is closed to cultural visits. Organise the day the other way round: the Jewish quarter, Santo Tomé and the Tránsito Synagogue in the morning, lunch, and the cathedral from two o'clock. On weekdays, the natural order is the opposite: the cathedral first thing and then the Alcázar, five minutes away. For lunch nearby, Adolfo is next to the cathedral.