El Escorial & Valley Half Day Trip from Madrid

El Escorial is an amazing place with historical and religious significance. While our guide, Carlos, was obviously knowledgeable, he chose to make fun of the individuals involved in the building of this monastery/palace during our tour. I believe it was an attempt to make the tour light, but it came off as his own political disenchantment. This was set up from the beginning, before we even left Madrid, when the tour guide needed to comment on school children crossing the street on their way to school, mentioning that those are "rich kids". Also, a few moments later, he felt the need to point out the more affluent neighborhood to the north of Madrid, and comment on how rich people leave the hot city to the poor people. I really wish he would have been able to put his politics aside and shared with us the historical facts untainted by his feelings. Later on, when we arrived at the Valley of the Fallen, he refused to go into the Basilica with us, saying there was nothing to see but some white marble on the floor where Franco had once been buried. While the space is wide and open, there were works of art on either side of the nave which would have been interesting to learn about. He said we had 10 minutes and afterward our group were wondering where he had gone to, as we believed him to be outside waiting for us. Since he was not to be found, we headed back to the bus, where he was with the driver. He never told us that this would be where he would meet us. As we approached Madrid, the tour guide went around with a QR code, asking people to review their experience. The way he did this was by asking the visitors to put rate all their "sexual experiences" on their reviews. Most inappropriate! All in all, the places were astounding, but the guide left a lot to be desired. I cannot NOT recommend a visit to El Escorial and the Valley of the Fallen. However, I hope you do not get Carlos as the tour guide.

Pilar is a very good English-language guide. She handled the contentious history of the site with factual explanations and diplomacy. But the time allocated to visiting the Basilica at the Valley of the Fallen needs to be long enough to walk around the site to study its architectural and ecenic context (eg. include the Parade Ground, not just inside the Basilica). Another 30 minutes would be sufficient. The audio-visual equipment issued to customers needs to be checked regularly. Our party encountered reliability problems.

Our guide was Sylvie. The tour was supposed to be in English, but it was in Spanish and English. The guide gave a much more extensive description in Spanish than English throughout the tour. Additionally, the guide spoke much too close to the microphone that for much of the tour there was static on the individual earpieces and it sounded garbled. We were very disappointed with this tour.

Great place. Perfect pace. Knowledgeable and friendly guide. Clear instructions for meeting point. Strongly recommend this tour.

The guide was great. Took time to explain everything. El Escorial was beautiful and the art work extreme. The Valley of the Fallen and the Cross are amazing. Great tour.

Despite the fact we left the hotel with plenty of time , the streets around Calle Feraz were blocked and there was no access by car, and walking wouldn’t be on time. We have sent messages to the provider for rescheduling or reimbursement, and no answer yet. Really disappointing , considering what happened was out of our control.

This was a great tour. The bus was comfortable and the guide easy to understand. The cathedral was beautiful and I felt such a sense of worship there. The valley was interesting and I liked all the information the guide gave.

El Escorial is one of the most historic and beautiful places in Spain, and our guide really made it come alive. Her English was very clear.

Highly recommend this tour if your are interested in Spanish history! Our tour guide Carlos was fantastic and quick witted.

Silvia was a very efficient and knowledgeable guide. The Escorial was amazing and the Valley of the Fallen is a must see. We enjoyed the trip and would do it again.