The verdict
Yes — if "the royal gardens" sounds like your kind of Madrid. A royal palace on the Tagus, UNESCO gardens, and strawberries that got their own train.
Aranjuez is what happens when kings landscape a river valley for three centuries: a Bourbon palace on the Tagus, avenues plotted like a French garden the size of a town, and the UNESCO-listed Cultural Landscape of orchards and groves that fed the court its famous strawberries and asparagus. Rodrigo wrote the Concierto de Aranjuez about these gardens; spring here explains why.
What you would actually come for
Palacio Real de Aranjuez. The Bourbons' spring residence — porcelain room, Farinelli's music salon, and the Tagus curling around the parterre outside.
Jardín del Príncipe. 150 hectares of riverside garden — follow the Tagus to the Casa del Labrador, the most extravagant neoclassical pavilion in Spain (book the interior).
The Tren de la Fresa. The 1851-route strawberry train, pulled by vintage stock with costumed hostesses serving fruit — weekends spring and autumn, from Madrid's Railway Museum.
The practical case
Cercanías C-3 from Atocha every 15–20 minutes (45 min); the station is 10 minutes' walk from the palace through the Príncipe garden's edge. Drivers take the A-4 (45 min). The Tren de la Fresa runs selected weekends April–June and September–October.
Questions, answered
Where to sleep: Aranjuez
See all stays →Curated picks are coming — meanwhile, the live search covers every bookable property at the same price or better.
%2006.jpg?width=960)