Things To Do in San Lorenzo de El Escorial

The main site here is the monastery (see our full review below). But if you’re traveling by car, consider taking a 15-minute drive from El Escorial to Valle de Cuelgamuros, a strange and sinister monument to Francoism. Set atop a dramatic crag in the pine-forested Sierra de Guadarrama, its gigantic cross and basilica—built in Neo-Herrerian style into the mountain—are at once bombastic and chilling.

Previously known as Valle de los Caídos (Valley of the Fallen), it was erected following the Spanish Civil War in the 1940s as a memorial to the dead on both sides, thousands of whom are buried here. But the fact that it was built using the forced labor of Republican prisoners, and that the dictators Francisco Franco and Primo de Rivera were also entombed here, meant it quickly became a divisive monument.

After many years of dispute, the government finally ordered that Franco’s body be exhumed and removed in 2019, and Primo de Rivera followed in 2023. Valle de Cuelgamuros remains a potent symbol of a still-raw history and it’s worth experiencing, but avoid visiting around November 20, the anniversary of Franco’s death, when things can get heavy.

The monument is on Carretera de Guadarrama–El Escorial. Admission costs 9€ adults, 4€ seniors and students, free for children under 5. It’s open Tuesday–Sunday 10am–6pm (until 7pm in summer).

No longer the rather sober and restrained place it was during the long Franco era, the town comes alive at night, fueled mainly by the throngs of young people who pack into the bars and taverns, especially those along Calle Rey and Calle Floridablanca.