Royal Monastery of San Lorenzo de El Escorial

Why go

Patrimonio Nacional's page says Philip II founded San Lorenzo el Real as a monastery of Hieronymite monks whose church would be the pantheon of Charles V, Isabella of Portugal, Philip II and their successors, with a palace for the king, a college, a seminary and a library; the works followed Juan Bautista de Toledo's design, and the basilica was finished in 1586 and consecrated in 1595. The page says the monastery has been on the World Heritage list since 2 November 1984. It says tickets must be bought beforehand, either on Patrimonio Nacional's official ticket site or at the ticket offices of the Visitor Reception Centre at Avenida de Don Juan de Borbón y Battenberg 4, opposite the north façade. The same page is not consistent about the visitor entrance: one section sends individual visitors in through the west façade (Patio de Reyes) and groups through the north façade, while another gives the north façade as the visitor access. The page says the Casa del Príncipe don Carlos and the Casa del Infante don Gabriel are visited only with a guide; they are not part of this record.