Royal Palace of Aranjuez, Aranjuez

Nice palace, definitely come visit it for free if you can. It's a bit small though, and one would expect the garden to be more well maintained. There are around 10-12 rooms accessible by the public where the Spanish monarchs used to spend their time surrounded by luxury.

Far from the biggest or the best palace I’ve ever seen. The palace has small gardens that need quite a bit of maintenance and uplifting. There are scattered hours in which the fountains are on which would be nicer, I guess, but the gardens aren’t much to write home about. As for the interiors, there are some lovely rooms inside the palace — the most extraordinary being the Moorish-influenced one, which really is stunning. However, there are not many rooms that are accessible to the public via the route given. You can be done with the interiors of the palace within 45 minutes. At a push, you could spend 1.5 hours. The staff are nice enough but this is also yet another palace/museum in the wider Madrid area that does not allow photography inside. Bizarre considering other palaces in Europe allow photography and this palace was quite a bit quieter than others I’ve been to. Facilities inside are also limited. I would suggest to visit if you’re a completist but you’d be better off going to the Royal Seat of San Lorenzo for a day trip.