Segovia: A Day Trip to Remember!

On my last trip to Spain I visited Madrid, which was amazing and I’ll be posting highlights of that trip on the blog soon. However before I left Madrid I was scheduled to do a daylong tour to Toledo and Segovia, which I was very excited about. Unfortunately on the morning of the tour I went to the wrong meet-up spot and missed my bus. L Refusing to be defeated by this turn of events, I decided to pick one of the destinations and venture out on my own to see it. After a little research and some internal debate, I decided to go with Segovia.

Transportation from Madrid to Segovia was surprisingly easy! I’ll try to walk through it for anyone wanting to try this trip on their own. Apparently you can take the bus or the train to Segovia from Madrid. From what I read before going, the train drops you a little far from the City Center in Segovia and isn’t that much faster, so the bus seemed like the way to go. 

To catch the bus, first you want to take the metro to the Moncloa station in Madrid. The metro in Madrid is pretty easy to navigate so this part shouldn’t be too difficult. You can download the metro map app to help with this.  Once there, you want to look for Isla 1, which is the terminal the buses leave out of. After that you’ll go down a floor to the box office or La Sepulvedana, which is where you’ll buy your tickets. I got a round trip ticket for about 15€ and the ride took me about an hour. Not bad at all!

Once you get there the first thing you want to do is stop at the bus depot window and plan your ride back. If you don’t actively select a return time you could get stuck without a ride! After that you’ll want to exit, cross the street in front of the bus station and start heading straight down Carretera Granja. You’ll start to see the famous aqueducts and the tourism office will eventually be on your left. I started in there to get a map and draw out my route. The staff was extremely helpful with this. Now we’re ready to see the sights!

The Aqueducts are the first main site you’ll come across; and since this is the last of the Roman aqueducts in Spain, it’s definitely worth stopping for the awesome photo opp. Take it in from the ground then climb to the top of the stairs for a completely different view.

I loved walking through the streets of Segovia. With all the old medieval architecture and cobble stone roads I felt transported to another place and time which is something I love to feel in my travels to old cities like this. Not to mention some of the prettiest views I’ve seen.

Some of my other favorite places to see in Segovia were the Cathedral, which had some amazing architecture, and Plaza Mayor right next to it which was a great square to grab a bite or do some people watching; another one of my favorite things to do on trips.  I took a break here to grab some lunch from the famous restaurant Jose Maria, which was amazing. (Check the food section for my write up of the restaurant)

I ended my walking tour at Alcázar de Segovia, which is a castle at the edge of the city that is said to have inspired Walt Disney’s vision for the castle in the iconic fairytale, Cinderella. You can actually see the similarities between the two. Though the castle is a lot smaller in person than you would think. I walked it all twice and took pictures in less than 30 minutes.

After that I took a slow stroll back to the bus station through all of the communal squares, which had come to life by that time. The town was pretty quiet when I started my tour so the energy was really great and obvious on my way back. Another thing that stuck out was that even though the streets were full of people by that time, I was still the only tourist of color there that I could see. This didn’t really affect my experience and I guess I shouldn't have been that surprised, but it always still shocks me given this new age of young travelers from every ethnicity. Overall I thought Segovia was a great and relaxing day trip. Perfect if you only have a few hours and want to explore something close and historical. Don't let the lack of melanin deter you though. Check it out!