How do I get around Segovia?

Your feet are the transit system. Segovia's walled old city sits on a narrow limestone ridge between the Eresma and Clamores valleys, and the full walk from the Aqueduct at Plaza del Azoguejo to the Alcázar at the western tip runs about 1.5 km along Calle Real. That street changes names along its length, from Calle Cervantes near the Aqueduct to Calle Juan Bravo through the commercial center to Calle Isabel la Católica near the Cathedral. Budget 25 minutes at a comfortable pace. The cobblestones are uneven and polished smooth by centuries of foot traffic, so flat shoes with grip matter more than style. On a mid-June morning at 15°C and overcast, the walk is pleasant. You'll catch the smell of roasting cochinillo from restaurant doorways before your legs notice the grade. In July and August, when temperatures reach 35°C, that same stretch turns difficult after 2 pm with almost no shade on Calle Juan Bravo. Cars can't enter most of the pedestrianized core, so driving within the old city is not an option.

Most visitors arrive from Madrid on the AVE high-speed train to Segovia-Guiomar station, a 27-minute ride from Chamartín. The catch is that Guiomar sits about 5 km southwest of the old city. Local bus Line 11 connects the station to Plaza del Azoguejo every 15-20 minutes, takes about 15 minutes, and costs €1.30. A metered taxi from the station rank runs €8-10. The older conventional station, Segovia-Central, sits closer to the center, about a 10-minute walk from the Aqueduct, but it serves slow regional trains that take nearly 2 hours from Madrid. If you're coming by La Sepulvedana bus from Madrid's Moncloa station (about 75 minutes, roughly €8 one way), you'll be dropped at the Estación de Autobuses on Paseo de Ezequiel González, about a 10-minute walk downhill to Plaza del Azoguejo.

Urbanos de Segovia operates about 10 local bus lines within the city, but you'll likely never need one unless you're staying outside the walls or visiting the Monastery of Santa María del Parral (founded 1447) on the north bank of the Eresma. A single ride costs €1.30. Taxis wait at ranks near the Aqueduct and at Plaza Mayor. No Uber, no Bolt, no Cabify. Call Radio Taxi Segovia at 921 44 50 00 if you need a pickup. Fares run on the meter at roughly €3.50 flagfall plus about €1 per km, so most rides within the city land between €5 and €8. Mind you, after 10 pm on weekends the wait at the Aqueduct taxi rank can stretch to 15 minutes.

For the Royal Palace of La Granja de San Ildefonso (1721), about 11 km southeast, La Sepulvedana runs buses from the Segovia bus station roughly every hour. The ride takes 20 minutes and costs around €2. A taxi runs about €15 each way. The Royal Palace of Riofrío (1751) is harder to reach, about 11 km south with no direct bus service. If you want both palaces in one half-day, renting a car from agencies on Calle José Zorrilla beats patching together bus connections. The tren turístico, a rubber-wheeled tourist train, loops from the Aqueduct past the Cathedral (founded 1525) to the Alcázar for about €6, running every 30 minutes from 11 am to 7 pm in summer. That said, the hardest part of this walking city is not distance. It's the steep climb from Plaza del Azoguejo at the foot of the Aqueduct up into the old city at the top of the ridge. Once you're up there, the 1 km along the ridge to Plaza Mayor and the Alcázar is mostly level.