El Escorial Library and Basilica, Then the 152-Metre Cross

This one takes the monastery first, with a guide, and goes to the Valley afterwards.

El Escorial is on the UNESCO list and was put up in the 16th century as a statement about who was governing Spain. The Renaissance plan is relentlessly symmetrical, and the guided route works through the parts that matter: the Habsburg Palace, the Chapter House, the Basilica, and the library.

The library is the room to slow down in. Its shelves hold one of the most important collections assembled in 16th-century Europe, the vault above them is painted with the liberal arts, and the whole room was designed by a king who wanted his monastery to hold knowledge as well as bones.

The Valley of the Fallen is nine kilometres away in the Sierra de Guadarrama, and you see it long before you arrive: the cross above it stands 152 metres and is visible from a long way across the mountains. The church itself is cut into the rock underneath.

Check in at the office in central Madrid 15 minutes before departure. The coach is air-conditioned, and the day ends at the Plaza de Oriente underground car park.