Great Tour Guide and Great Tour, well worth the money loved that our Tour guide had patience with the group and also asked if we all spoke Spanish that way she did not repeat more then once the history portion the guide also made sure of making sure her group was together!
Review by: Robert D L, May 2018
Our guide for El Escorial Monastery was very knowledgeable and entertaining. He gave us a wealth of information about the monastery, its contents, and Spanish history. The Valley of the Fallen was a sobering experience and represented an entirely different historical period.. All-in-all, the day left us with a better understanding of Spain and its past.
Review by: Ximena H, May 2018
Great, but thought we could use a little more time.
Review by: jen, April 2018
The Monastery and the Valley were extremely important sites to see. _br/_ I was very interested in them despite the terribly cold and windy and snowy day that we went on the tour. As I read the other reviews for this tour, I saw well organized and well appointed and knowledgeable, and I agree with that. I did, however, feel a sincere lack of heart from our guide. She was very intelligent, and when I had the opportunity to look into her eyes, she would smile back, and I felt engaged, but that was the only time. It could have been the day, the cold, the group size, something personal, but the entire trip was quite cold, and not just because of the weather. If we had not gone on another Viator tour the night before, we perhaps would not have had the idea that this would be an engaging day, but...we did. If you are extremely interested in these sites, DEFINITELY go. If you feel like you MIGHT be interested if your guide is engaging, perhaps our guide would not be the one for you. We lost a member on the tour, he was older and a bit slower walking than the rest of us. Carmen - I believe her name was - was NOT walking fast, but also was not looking back to see if we were all accounted for, nor really paying attention to us at all. If you have ANY issues walking 75 steps in a row, consider a different tour, as some of the older folks on our tour were a bit uncomfortable with all of the walking, and by the time 22 folks get up 75 stairs, the guide was often already two rooms further into the tour. It was not a bad tour, but there was not much personal attention paid at any time to any person. I feel that was an unfortunate oversight. _br/_ I also do not remember seeing much in the way of a walking disclaimer...there were folks with canes coming onto the tour and I wondered how the heck are they going to make it through this place? _br/_ We also happened to be taking the tour as the country of Spain sprung ahead and there was NO mention of that on the website when we booked the trip. As the tour met at 8:45 am in the morning which became 7:45 am with daylights savings time, it would have been extremely helpful to have had that information pop up on the calendar when we were booking the tour. That should not have been very hard to do, and since most of the tours seemed to be stocked by persons from other countries, most would have had no idea while booking that that day was daylights savings... Had we missed the tour we would have had to forfeit 150. I just found the lack of forethought and customer service distressing.
Review by: Laura W, March 2018
Very nice experience in half a day and tour guide was excellent!
Review by: Ana A, March 2018
Love the tour
Review by: HonestIndianReview, March 2018
Very nice tour of the monastery followed by Valley of the Fallen. It is easy to get to the tour office by bus/taxi. They run everything professionally and on time. The tour guide was well-informed. There is a little walking to get to both places from the bus parking lot. So if you are going in winter like we did, be careful of the snow and ice on the footpaths. Other than that, you should have a great time.
Review by: lealenrique, February 2018
Excelente tour. La guía que nos llevó Beatriz nos brindó una magnífica explicación y muchos detalles de ambos lugares. Quedamos muy complacidos de la visita. Muy recomendable.
Review by: Roberto L, January 2018
Very nice and educational tour. We could have a overview of main kings of Spain buried in Escorial! Very impressive!
Review by: Neil F, January 2018
Very well run tour with clear instructions as to where one should be and timings. Coach good quality, language skills of staff faultless, and the technology used for communication worked well. El Escorial very impressive, in terms of its size, artwork, and history. The majority of the Hapsburg and Bourbon royalty are entombed there, and one visits the royal crypt with its intricate marble carvings. King Phillip's rooms, where he may well of reflected on how his Armada was doing, brought home the nature of this man. Paintings by Titian and El Greco, as well as many others, and beautiful frescos, adorn the walls of the cloisters and the church. A simply beautiful alter. The contrast with Spain at the height of empire, El Escorial, and at its lowest ebb, empire lost and subject to facist dictatorship after a bloody civil war, the Valley of the fallen, works well. The memorial is huge in scale, set in a beautiful mountain valley, and is magnificent. The tour guide does not shy away from the controversy of having the tombs of facist leaders so prominent, or that the memorial was effectively a prison work camp for Republicans after the war. In all, beautiful, thought provoking, informative, helped one understand modern Spain, nice to get up into the mountains, and half a day well spent
Review by: Juan G, December 2017
The tour was poorly organized, the intercom system provided by Julia travel was not working, we were rushed through the whole tour, including the valley of the fallen. Actually the tour guide did not accompany us inside the building. I recommend a different tour group for those sites.
Review by: Kerry B, December 2017
Anyone who visits Spain for the first time would not want to miss this attraction. The Monastery is essential to understanding the reign of Philip II and Spain's period as a global power. Going from there to the Valley of Fallen introduces you to the dramatic period of instability and the rise of fascism in Spain and other European nations. We were completely satisfied with this tour and would highly recommend it.
Review by: Justin C, November 2017
The tour ventures into the crypts, the personal study of Philip II, and the chapel, but little else of El Escorial is seen, let alone discussed such as the library. I did not get a good sense of who Philip II was or who I should care from this tour, which is disappointing given that Philip II was a larger-than-life king famous for launching his Armada against Elizabeth I of England in a bid to put a Catholic ruler on the English throne. Not much detail is given during the tour except in the crypts, and most of the history of this place is better seen beforehand online. As for the Valley of the Fallen, we had more free time there and even less explanation from the tour, with a brief allusion to the controversy over Franco's construction of the monument and its religious significance, but little else.
Review by: David F, November 2017
We had Carmen as a guide on our trip, who was excellent very well organised, very well presented tour information. She spoke 1 sentence in Spanish and then in English which kept everyone listening and interested. A very knowledgeable lady who made our trip special. A word about the bus, it seemed to be brand new, very clean, very compfortable and quiet.
Review by: travel, November 2017
would prefer English only tours, otherwise too much time is wasted while listening to the other languages.
Review by: Sam, November 2017
An excellent experience that saved a lot of hassle. The tour guide was great, and the price reasonable. If there was any criticism, it would be that the experience at El Escorial was slightly rushed...
Review by: Frances R, November 2017
A very good trip .these sites are not easy to get to from Madrid so to see them both in5 hours was much easier .guide excellent spoke English well.
Review by: Maryann K, October 2017
Excellent trip and excellent tour guide.
Review by: William M, October 2017
Excellent tour, well managed and led by a very interesting, informative guide. Ideally, we would have liked to spend longer at El Escorial, either being guided or visiting independenty, but what we did see was wonderful. Visiting the sinister Valley of the Fallen was a welcome, if disconcerting bonus.
Review by: LUCILLE R, October 2017
Great tour. Took 3 tours from Madrid handled by Julia tours and have one suggestion for improvement. The drop off point should be clearly stated and provided prior to departure. We were dropped off at different places each time. Although we did finally figure out that all three places were within close proximity to each other, we felt that we were abandoned. For tourists who do not speak the language, this was an uncomfortable feeling especially at the end of the day.
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