Getting there
No railway reaches Chinchón, which is half the reason it kept its looks. Bus 337 leaves Madrid’s Conde de Casal interchange every 30–60 minutes and takes about 50; drivers do the A-3 and M-404 in the same time.
Aim to arrive by 11:00: the plaza with morning light and coffee on a balcony terrace is the show before the show.
The day itself
The Plaza Mayor is the whole argument — an irregular circle of three-storey houses with 234 wooden balconies painted bottle green, which has served as bullring, theatre, film set and market since the 15th century. Take the balcony coffee, then climb: the Iglesia de la Asunción holds a Goya (his brother was chaplain here), and the castle ruin above gives the vega panorama.
The lanes below whitewash their way past anís distillery shops — Chinchón’s liqueur carries the town’s name around Spain — and garlic braids hung like decorations that happen to be dinner.
Lunch, and whether to stay
Lunch is the point of the pilgrimage: cordero asado from wood ovens in the plaza mesones, garlic soup before it, anís after. Sunday lunch is the institution — book, or present yourself at 13:00 sharp and negotiate.
Fourteen small hotels hide in the lanes from around €55; stay and you get the plaza at night, lamplit and emptied, which day-trippers never see. Pair the trip with Aranjuez, 25 minutes west, for the classic vega double.
Questions, answered
Where to sleep: Chinchón
See all stays →Curated picks are coming — meanwhile, the live search covers every bookable property at the same price or better.
