palacio real de la granja

I loved seeing the gardens in all the snow. It was a perfect winter day. There was a official there who was quite whistle happy if you were outside the sidewalk walking up to the palace, just to warn you. The gardens close after the palace so plan accordingly with you visit. It was a beautiful sight.

Very interesting - only criticism was that there was too much emphasis on the arts and design etc rather than on the personalities and the history. The audio-guide did not function well throughout - ask them to check batteries and if the machine works properly before you take possession. The gardens were magnificent but the routes were confusing and not well marked out. Very well restored but too much emphasis on art exhibits.

The Palace was both beautiful and interesting. The tour begins with three rooms of tapestries and then gets to the palace rooms. The king and queen's bedroom has the most spectacular view into the gardens. The audio guide is a must in order to get the most out of your visit. Watching people just walk aimlessly from room to room not realizing or understanding what they are seeing is unfortunate for them. My husband even liked this palace better than the Royal Palace of Madrid.

the tapistries alone make the visit worthwhile. forget about the greenish gobelins and abuissons you can find everywhere in the world. here they have 16th century flemish tapistries that have no equals in the world. they hang in a dimly lit immense hall where your eyes need to adjust to the limited light. but what a feast to the eye. the rest of the palace is a pleasant change of images if you have been touring cathedrals and convents and been flooded by religious imagery. then worldly images make a nice change. spend most of your time on the upper floor. the ground floor with casts from classic statues is less interesting. if the weather is nice, go into the gardens. we were there on a misty rainy day which had its own charm when there is no one around. the place was nearly deserted. nice museum shop too.

Just a few miles outside of Segovia or Avila and just about 1 1/2 hours from Madrid. We only visited the gardens, but they were beautiful! It far exceeded our expectations. None of the fountains were active while we were there, but they were still amazing. You could spend several hours walking through the gardens alone.

The Palacio is in fact realy great to visit and also the park. The only thing I didn't liked is the woman at the ticket office who seemed to hate his job. She looked pissed to receive us and almost throw us our money back when we paid our tickets. This is insulting when the most important part of his job is to receive tourists like us.

This is a great place to visit. The gardens and the palace are very big and it has a lot of Spanish history. The different water fountains are very unique!

The palace is the center piece of La Granja, with truly expansive gardens with countless fountains. The palace tour was well done, with many original furnishings and artwork. The gardens were the real treat; be ready to walk and enjoy the sights

This location is only 5km east of Segovia and is an absolute gem. The palace visit itself is wonderful: filled with works of art and sculptures. For me the incredibly huge gardens win the day. Don't pass by.

Nice palace with spectacular decoration, the 15-16th century tapistries on display are alone already worth the visit. The normal entry (9 euros, 4 euros for children 5-16 yrs and 65+) includes the visit of the palace, the extensive gardens and a small church on the side where Felipe V and other royals are buried (well "buried" is not the right term, their bones are actually visible in large glass urns, not from close by though).Took us a while to get in, a large group arrived just in front of us and there are safety procedures (metal detector gate).The gardens are great for wondering through, apparently especially recommendable in autumn, when the trees are with different coloured leaves. In the summer I guess it might be hot, we went in spring and it was actually nice and fresh.PS. Make sure to take your ID-card if you want the 65+ discount.

Aranjuez is my favorite royal palace, and this is my second favorite. I loved the tapestries and the explanations about them in the audio guide was really good. There were more unique elements in this palace than I expected, especially the bottom floor. But that area is really cold and the building isn't heated to plan on keeping warm and keeping your gloves and jacket on! The gardens I'm sure are beautiful, but we went to late in the year to enjoy them. I would recommend to visit it if you have the time, but it is a little out of the way if you're trying to see Segovia too so I would stick with Segovia over making the trek to La Granja. However, if you're headed to La Granja from Segovia or vice versa, there is a bus that will take you there and it comes pretty regularly so make sure to check that to keep from paying expensive taxi fares!

We have been here and it was a nice little surprise.The museum for tapestry it's a little bit overpriced, the good part was that the Gardens of the Palace was included.When we went it was at the time for the "Fountains Show". Don't go frenetic about it. It's nice, you see people waking around from one fountain to the other. Remember to pay attention to the guy with the flag or you might miss it.The best one is left for last. Careful if you're not in the mood for a bath, but I suggest... Get in the spirit and let yourself go.Little children's will live this.

I would have liked to see the fountains in the garden running. I believe the gardens could be better kept, although the palace is very clean and well maintained.

We only visited the gardens (which was free of charge), but they were amazing. The bronze sculptures are ver impressive. Worth a walk right to the lake at the top, which is very calm. Only disappointment was that there is no water pumping around the magnificent fountains... Apparently they only turn the water on a couple of times a year... Still worth seeing though!

My wife and I visited the Palace in July 2013. We took a cab from Segovia and it is about 20 minutes away. This place is beautiful. We went into the Palace first and it was great. Many rooms to see with painitngs, statues, ceilings, walls, fountains. Each room is unique and beautiful. There is a placard in both English and Spanish telling you about each room. There are many rooms so it probably takes an hour to tour. Out to the gardens. Beautiful. The roses were in bloom so lots of color. The gardens/grounds are huge and there are many grand fountains all through the property. Very nice. We spent probably 1.5 hours walking around. Very cool and very pleasant even in July at midday. We were suprised that we did not see any advertisement for this place in Segovia. We came accross it by accident. It was one of our favorite places in our month long trip to Spain. There were little or no crowds. The fountains only run when royalty is in town staying there. The folks at the Palace said it is not realistic to run them on a daily basis due to cost. I can see why they would do that. It does not matter the place is awesome. Don't miss this place. And the little town seemed very nice with Cafe's and a nice square.