Segovia, Toledo or Ávila on a layover at Madrid airport

If you have a long layover at Barajas, a full day or including a night, and your documents allow you to enter Spain, you can visit Toledo, Segovia or Ávila, three World Heritage cities. The most efficient way is to take a taxi from the airport to the right railway station (Atocha for Toledo, Chamartín for Segovia) and carry on by train. If your layover is shorter, there are equally monumental alternatives within the Madrid region and much closer to the airport: Alcalá de Henares, San Lorenzo de El Escorial and Aranjuez.

• Can you enter Spain? If you are arriving from outside the Schengen area, you will have to go through passport control and meet the entry requirements for your nationality. Check before you travel.
• Where is your luggage? If both your flights are on the same booking, your checked suitcase will normally go straight to your final destination. If not, you will have to collect it and decide what to do with it.
• When do you need to be back? Count backwards from your next flight: 2 hours ahead if it is European and 3 if it is international. That is your real limit, not the take-off time.

As a rough guide, Toledo, Segovia or Ávila make sense on a full-day layover; for a half-day layover, one of the nearby options or a visit to central Madrid is a better bet, as we suggest in Madrid in 24 hours during your layover.

Toledo, the city of three cultures

A former imperial capital, Toledo blends Christian, Jewish and Muslim heritage in an old town perched above the river Tajo. The Cathedral, the Alcázar, the synagogues of the Jewish quarter and the views from the Mirador del Valle are enough to fill a day. Trains leave from Atocha, where a taxi between Atocha and the airport takes you at a fixed fare. If you decide on Toledo, here is what not to miss in Toledo.

Segovia and its aqueduct

The Roman aqueduct, right in the centre, is one of those sights that make the trip worthwhile. Add to it the fairytale outline of the Alcázar and the Cathedral. The high-speed train leaves from Chamartín; bear in mind that Segovia's station is outside the town and you will need a local bus or taxi to the centre. To get to Chamartín from Barajas, there is the taxi between Chamartín and the airport.

Ávila, surrounded by walls

Its medieval walls, parts of which you can walk along, surround a quiet old town that is easy to visit on foot. There are regional trains from Madrid; check the departure station and the day's times with Renfe, because services are less frequent than to the other two cities.

If time is tight, the Madrid region has three World Heritage sites that you can reach by taxi directly from the terminal, with no trains or changes:

• Alcalá de Henares, the closest to the airport, along the A-2: a historic university, the arcaded Calle Mayor and the house where Cervantes was born. We tell you what to see in Alcalá de Henares, and the transfer is on the taxi from Alcalá de Henares to the airport page.
• San Lorenzo de El Escorial, at the foot of the Sierra de Guadarrama: the Royal Monastery from which Philip II ruled an empire. See the taxi between San Lorenzo de El Escorial and Barajas.
• Aranjuez, to the south: the Royal Palace and its gardens beside the Tajo, listed as a cultural landscape. The journey is on the taxi from Aranjuez to the airport page.

In all three cases we work with a fixed fare by zone, the same in both directions, and we can arrange your pickup in advance so you get back to your terminal in time.

When you land, you can take a taxi from the terminal's official taxi rank or have one booked with your flight number so we are waiting for you. From the airport to Atocha or Chamartín, both inside the M-30, the fare is €33. On the way back, book your pickup at the station or at your destination with the time worked out so you reach the terminal as far ahead of your next flight as you need.