Excursion indépendante d'une journée à Tolède : transport avec Toledo Card et train à grande vitesse au départ de Madrid

We visited Toledo earlier this month on a day trip from Madrid. The train trip was uneventful as we had become experienced Renfe travelers. The arrival and orientation were less than ideal as the map provided failed to provide the level of detail needed to find your way around the city by walking. These medieval cities defy logical navigation. We were forced to rely on taxis at one point. The tour itself was very informative and interesting. The tour inside the cathedral was fascinating and provided much valuable insight to the history and culture of medieval Toledo. At the end of this part of the tour our guide took a phone call and moved away from the small group he was leading. He never came back! We thought that was quite remarkable and disappointing.

This is a great way to see Toledo! I loved the independence of the tour and being able to do things on our own time table. We determined that each site doesn't really require a tremendous amount of time, so it is completely possible to see all the sites in the time allotted. Loved the town itself, and learning about its history. One note is to mind the train times. The voucher indicated several departure times to choose from, however they actually book on a specific train and, it is listed further down. It's confusing and, of course, I missed it and had to purchase another set of train tickets so as to not miss the day.

Transportation was simple and in hindsight we could have made arrangements for this trip entirely on our own and saved a fair amount of money. There were only two or three restaurants offered as lunch options with the tour. We enjoyed the atmosphere of the restaurant we selected but there was a fixed menu with few choices. We enjoyed Toledo and feel it was worth going to visit but this tour wasn't worth the cost.

Amazing walled city! The train was easy and convenient. It was difficult to find where to pick up the tickets. They tell you it's near the indoor arboretum which is easy to find but it's not in the same space with the plants. You have to go through some doors to another area and pick the tickets up. So hopefully that will help some of you. The woman who gave us the tickets was extremely helpful and laid out the way it works. That being said, spend your time in the cathedral. Wow! We took the English tour and found it very informative and helpful. This tour was the easy button, but you could buy the high speed tickets by themselves and then pay to enter the cathedral separately for less money. But we still recommend this tour. It was great!

The 2 stars is for the tour package, not Toledo. Toledo was wonderful. The tour package was OK, but I felt the description was misleading. First, it says Time is no constraint during your independent exploration as you can travel back to Madrid at a time suited to your schedule. When you book, you select a train time and it is not transferrable to any other times, so there is not flexibility in your schedule. Not a big deal, but you should know. Second the description says Learn about Toledo on a coach tour with an onboard guide and on a hop-on hop-off tour Actually your ticket is for a single ride, not the hop on, hop off tour. The bus takes your around a road on the opposite side of the river with one stop for a picturesque view, then you want to get off at the one stop that is in town. But you can't get back on and to return to the train station on this bus, you will need to take a taxi back to the train station or it is a very long walk after a day of walking. The onboard guide is also a recording with headphones. Third, we got a voucher for the meal, and nowhere does it say the voucher is only good until 4 PM. We went to one of the restaurants at 4:30 and were told the voucher was no good after 4pm. Finally, I knew this was an independent trip and didn't offer a lot of hand holding, but I thought I would be purchasing something that was a little better than the sum of it's parts being packaged together. Maybe there would be at least a package of information about Toledo and a description of the tickets you purchased, information about the restaurants you can choose and the time the restaurant voucher is good for. But the tour is not greater than the sum of it's parts. The parts that the package includes, basically a train ticket, a single bus ride, and a Toledo card are good, but the tour has no added value above these parts.

If you are considering a guided tour for the Cathedral, DO NOT BUY! We booked this tour because of advertisement of a tour guide for the Cathedral who never showed up. I suspect that this is a frequent practice by this tour company. The tour office closed before our evening return to Madrid.