Getting there: Cheapest method is Easyjet from Luton or Stansted, BMI from Heathrow; otherwise BA (got any Airmiles?) or Iberia who often have special offers.

Madrid street plan

Driving into Madrid
Don't be afraid to take the car into Madrid!  Arm yourself with a decent street plan and head for the centre.  There are underground car parks under the main plazas at the rate of €0.81 per hour, and handy electronic billboards informing you which are full and which have spaces.  If you're heading in for the evening, you should have no problem parking providing you arrive around 6 pm;  later at around 8 pm you'll struggle to find a space. 

Things to see

Plaza Mayor
The wonderful main square with all its quaint little shops and bars around the perimeter.  A great place to enjoy a drink - but expect main square prices!

Parque Retiro
This is the place to spend a sunny Sunday with the madrilenos and their families. Or, indeed, any sunny afternoon when you fancy a quiet read and a bottle of wine to escape the buzz of the city. 

Cable Car over the Manzanares

The teleferico goes from Pintor de Rosales street up to the Casa de Campo park.  It's well worth it for the views of the city and the Manzanares river.  Why not take a picnic up!

Rastro

The Rastro flea market takes place most mornings, but especially Sundays mornings, along Calle Ribera de Curtadores.  It is the longest-running flea market where all sorts of 'antiques' and just plain old junk can be bought.  It's worth a leisurely wander - but hold onto your valuables.

Prado Museum

Palacio Real

Where to eat
Plenty of tapas on offer but expect prices to be double (or portions to be half - whatever your perspective) those in Seville - especially on the Plaza Mayor, where your G&T will cost you €7!  As soon as you need the services of a waiter (ie you don't stand at the bar), you will pay more.

Casa Botin, at Cuchilleros, 17, just off Plaza Mayor, is reputedly the oldest restaurant in Europe, dating from the 18th century.   Obviously Hemmingway ate there - and it's easy to find as it's next to a place where Hemmingway didn't eat and with a banner to proclaim it!  Prices aren't as expensive as you might imagine and it is the place to have suckling pig, as they still cook it in the original bread ovens. Try to get a seat downstairs in atmospheric cave-like surroundings. 

There is also a marvellous Cantabrian tapas bar - El Manantial -  on c/Tetuan, 30, where the prices are much more like it.  There are cider pourers on the wall (see Northern Spain) and a complimentary tapa with your drink.  Also, as the other bars are closing, try Cerveceria Farras on Callejon de Preciados, 6, just a minute or so from Puerto del Sol  - great, friendly service and made to measure tapas.

Hotels
The Hostal La Macarena, as listed in Alastair Sawday's book, is certainly in a prime position just off Plaza Mayor and although I haven't stayed there, it certainly looks presentable enough from the outside to give it a try.  It's probably one of the cheapest sleeps in Madrid at €42 for a double room.  Hostal La Macarena, Cava de San Miguel s/n, 28005 Madrid.  Tel: 91 3659221 / Fax: 91 3642757.

A bit more up market is the 3* Carlos V, a couple of steps away from El Corte Ingles.  It's a good, business-class Best Western, with a decent buffet breakfast.  Hotel Carlos V, Maestro Victoria 5, 28013 Madrid.  Tel: 91 531 41 00 / Fax: 91 531 37 61.

Further Excursions

Valley of the Fallen
This is the monument Franco erected to the victims of the civil war (1936-39), or rather had the Republican prisoners of war erect to the Nationalist fallen! 

It is certainly a thought-provoking place; a funicular will take you to the cross at the top, said to be the largest in world, passing rocks graffiti-ed by those builders. 

The basilica is actually hewn out of the rock face and is some 800ft long - a candle-lit tunnel of a nave.   Franco is buried here along with General Primo de Rivera, founder of the Falange - a succinct statement about which side the memorial is about.  

If you're not driving, take the train from Madrid's Atocha station to San Lorenzo de Escorial and then either the bus (twice daily) or a taxi.  There is also a bus service from Paseo Moret in Madrid to Escorial, which is more frequent than the train.

Toledo

Take the train from Madrid's Atocha station to Toledo's beautiful mudejar station.  There will be lots of taxis outside: bargain with one of them to drive you around the town's perimeter before taking you across the river into the centre.   Make sure he stops en route for photos with views of the city. 

Toledo street plan

Toledo is a beautiful, wiggly-street town, completely surrounded, island-style by the Tajo river with a plethora of workshops producing the special damascene work which involves inlaying black steel with gold and silver. 

The house of El Greco, the great painter, is here and houses some 16 of his 'long-faced' works.  One of the most visited sights is to see El Greco's Burial of the Count of Orgaz, housed in a small room next to the church of Santo Tome.  I suspect people just get swept along with the crowd, as you follow the queue into the tiny room half-filled with the painting and out the other side! 

There's also the cathedral to visit and lots of souvenir shops.   Oh,  apparently you should try the marzipan - although that's not top of my list of things to consume!

Segovia and Avila

Within easy reach by car or train from Chamartin station, both of these cities are worthy of an 'overnighter' - but if it's one or the other, it has to be Segovia. 

They say that Spain's prettiest towns and cities begin with an S - Santiago, Sevilla, San Sebastian, Santillana del Mar - and Segovia can certainly be added to the list.  A lovely medieval city with the 3 diverse and stunning attractions of a Roman aqueduct, a Gothic cathedral and an originally Moorish, but now almost Bavarian, Alcazar.  As a note, the city is situated  * above sea level and the temperature is noticeably lower; in winter it is cold so bring your scarf!

Approaching Segovia by car on the N110, through the taupe coloured countryside of Castile, you wonder where a city could be hiding; then over the brow of a hill the sight of the cathedral and alcazar hits you full on.  Park in one of the underground car parks around Jardines San Roque (the Pay and Display street parking has a 2-hour maximum stay).

The aqueduct is at its most spectacular as it crosses Plaza Azoguejo almost at the centre of the old town.  For here it is 2 storeys high to maintain the flow of the water along the top as it crosses this dip in the centre of town.  Go up the steps on the right where you will see the aqueduct continuing NW, ever shallower, to get a better idea of the whole construction.   You may spend a while here contemplating the perfect diminishing perspective of the structure, as well as the enormous feat of its building; each huge block of stone still bears the indents used by the block and tackle that hauled it up.  The aqueduct brought water some 15 km from its source, the Rio Frio.

Having admired the aqueduct for so long, make your way up through the narrow, old streets to the Plaza Mayor.  Follow c/Juan Bravo, passing Casa de los Picos which has a striking 'waffle iron' exterior, and several old houses with walls decorated with esgrafiado relief, created by applying a layer of stucco and scraping some away around stencils to form a pattern.  Notice the parking restrictions for carriages on the wall at Plaza *!  At Plaza Mayor, enjoy a drink and tapa at one of its several bar/restaurants, with a view of the pinnacled, semi circular eastern end of the cathedral.

The Alcazar is a 500 m walk from Plaza Mayor and instantly transports you to Bavaria!  The best photographic view of it is from Camino Cuesta de los Hoyos below to the west.  It dates originally from the 12th century, but having spent some time as a royal residence and then as a military school, it was 'restored' to the confection now seen, by an unrecorded architect in the 1880s.  Buy entry tickets in the building on the left before you reach the alcazar; entry is 4 € to the main interior and 1 € to climb the tower (152 steps mostly in a turret).  Unless you particularly like suits of armour, the main interior is fairly uninteresting (apart from the armour, a 4-poster bed, a couple of pretty ceilings, some paintings of old kings and queens).  The torre is worth the climb for the views over Segovia with the Sierra de Guadarrama as the backdrop.

Cuenca

Cuenca is famous for its hanging houses (casas colgadas).   These are houses built on the very edge of a gorge, with their wooden balconies literally overhanging the drop. 

On arriving, make for the centre of town and park the car where you can.  You then need to make your way up to the old town, across the river.  Steep (some extremely), narrow streets wind up to the cathedral square at the top.  (There is a tourist information office here where you can get a town plan - plano de Cuenca - although really you need this in order to find the cathedral square!!) 

Walk down the right-hand side of the cathedral (a Spanish national monument, closed at lunchtimes) and then turn left through a narrow arch.   There is an impressive iron and wooden bridge from which you can get a good shot of the 14th century hanging houses. 

The parador here commands a spectacular view - www.parador.es

La Rioja
  A visit worth doing if you have a car is to northern Rioja (or Rioja Alavesa).  Stay at the Hotel Bodega de Don Cosme de Palacio - part of the bodega producing Gloriosa  and Hermanos Palacio wines. 

Tours of the bodega take place twice a day in the morning and at 1 pm, including a wine tasting at a beautiful old-fashioned tasting table.  The hotel has some 11 rooms, each named after a grape variety, and is very comfortable.  There is a lovely cellar lounge where you can take an aperitif (careful - the G&T comes in a pint pot here!). 

The dining room is an experience: you're given a huge menu ... of wine!  As for food, you get what you're given!  But make no mistake, it's food worth having.  We had a plate of foie gras, followed by some artichokes in olive oil, a plate of artfully arranged roasted peppers, then a steak (mention at this point if you don't eat meat!!) and finally pud.  Did I forget to mention the 3 bottles of rioja?!! 
Tel 941 121195  / email cosme@bodegaspalacio.com    Rooms approx €60.

If you've come this far, then venture a little further south on the trail of dinosaur prints - yes, real ones.  The combination of a soft soil and certain weather conditions meant that footprints were preserved as the ground hardened into rock.  The best place to see them is at Enciso.   Just go there, there are signs pointing you to all the sites.