Our last full day in Madrid, I decided to visit the Royal Palace of Aranjuez because we hadn’t been there (In fact, we didn’t visit any palaces on our first trip to Madrid because they did not allow photography inside. However, that has changed recently!) and it has direct local trains from Atocha via the C3 line. We purchased the roundtrip ticket from the ticket counter, the staff helped us to get the cheapest option: a packet of 10 tickets and 2 round-trip tickets. The train ride took 45 minutes, and as we were further away from the city, fewer people in the train. By the time we got off the last stop – Aranjuez, there were only 2 other locals with us. Once we got out of the train station, we walked out to the bus stop. According to Google Maps, bus #4 stops the closest to the palace but still requires a 9 min walk. The bus arrived and we asked the bus driver that we are going to the palace, he said (in Spanish) that we should walk instead!
The walk was very straight forward, walk out of the train station and turn left on the main road, all the way down is the palace. The walk was all in shade and looked like a walking trail instead of a sidewalk like this:
Since we had 2 little kids and elders, the walk took 15 minutes, it was all flat so very easy. At the end of the road, we could see the palace!
The ticket office was in the middle so we had to keep walking down the street. The palace opens at 10 AM and we just got there in time for its opening; there were less than 6 people waiting in line in front of us. The admission was €9 for adults, free for kids under 5, and a reduced price of €4 for 5+ and students and over 65 years old. After we purchased our tickets, we took some photos at the front courtyard:
The outside facade is mainly orange and white colors and doesn’t look like a grand palace. However, don’t be fooled by that!!!
The first room to the right is this room filled with head statues:
After that, we went up the stairs to tour the palace; the grand staircase was a beautiful pink hue with a stunning chandelier.
My daughter loved the chandelier and requested to have her own pic with it 😀
The first room we entered, the beautiful artwork on the ceiling caught my eyes:
The colors of the wallpaper and furniture were well coordinated.
My daughter started her piano lesson, so she got excited whenever she saw a piano!
Once again, beautiful ceiling artwork along with stunning chandeliers:
Next, we stepped into the Moorish room and it absolutely blew my mind! I had visited the Alhambra in Granada and saw many Moorish architectures in Morocco, this room still wow’ed me. Even though the room is not large compared to other rooms, the level of detail in each of the mosaic tiles was believable.
The vibrance of the colors of the tiles made the whole room stand out!
This was one of the busiest room so we waited for people to leave so we could have a photo. This was one of the moments that I regretted for not having a wide-angle lens! This photo was taken from Jason’s phone with .6x to capture as much of the room as it could.
After the Moorish room is this room with beautiful window drapes and curtains and of course beautiful chandeliers to accompany that.
I had visited numerous palaces in Europe and I have never seen a palace with curtains this beautiful!
One of the Queen’s rooms with flowery wallpaper and matching curtains.
My daughter loves princesses so this royal palace was one of her favorites!
The Queen’s bedroom:
The next jaw-dropping room was the Porcelain room! Every inch of the room was covered with porcelain tiles and furniture. It was unbelievable to see it in person! This room is very unique that I have never seen a room like this in any of the palaces!
The porcelain chandelier is designed with Chinese elements like the Chinese men holding a fan:
I thought Murano glass chandeliers were detailed; this lamp is on another level above that!
The figures on the ceiling and the wall were 3D! In between the big mirrors were figures in ancient Chinese costumes!
I spent at least 5 minutes standing there admiring every single detail in the room! The next room is an office and once again with beautiful curtains.
The bright red throne room; I couldn’t keep my eyes off the curtains!
Every palace has a chapel:
Another beautiful piano!
After the royal rooms, the last room was a dark room displaying the elegant wedding gowns of the royal family.
My daughter loved the long trains of the gowns!
Then, a chapel tucked in the hallway on the way out to the exit gate.
We spent 1.5 hours in the palace so by the time we finished, it was time for lunch. Instead of finding a restaurant in Aranjuez town, we decided to take the train back to Madrid for more choices. We went to Langzhou Noodles near Gran Via. The noodles were fresh, tasty, and inexpensive. Their “set menu” was less than €13 which included a drink, soup noodle, extra meat, and a marinated egg.
After lunch, we shopped around at Gran Via before heading back to our apartment. Gran Via was super busy!
Overall, our day trip to Aranjuez National Palace was absolutely well worth the trip! I was debating between that and the Royal Palace in Madrid and I am so glad that I chose Aranjuez. It was not crowded at all so I could take the photos without other people in it, easier with kids, and both the Moorish and Porcelain rooms were the highlights! I totally recommend Aranjuez National Palace, it’s one of the hidden gems to avoid crowds! Our 4 nights in Madrid were good except for the heat, which made it hard for our little ones and the elders to be outside for a long time. We couldn’t do as much sightseeing in the city in day time as I liked to. The day trip to Zaragoza was honestly not worth the money and time. We enjoyed Toledo, it’s prettier than the last time we visited and Aranjuez National Palace was amazing!
