Day trips from Madrid → Chinchón
Chinchón Day Trip from Madrid
Chinchón is a village 45 km south-east of Madrid built around a circular medieval plaza with wooden balconies on three storeys. Twice a year they close the entrances and hold bullfights in it. The rest of the time it’s ringed with restaurants, and Madrid drives out on Sundays to eat roast lamb in them. It’s a half-day, not a full one.
By Saad Madhoun · Living in Madrid since 2023 · Updated 10 August 2026
| Travel time | ~55 min by bus from Conde de Casal. No train |
|---|---|
| Time needed | 3–4 hours. It’s a village, and lunch is most of it |
| Distance | 45 km (28 miles) south-east |
| Go for | The Plaza Mayor, roast lamb, anise liqueur |
| Sunday lunch without a reservation is not a plan. Half of Madrid has the same idea. | |
| Last checked: 10 August 2026. Bus times and frequencies are approximate — check with the operator before travelling, particularly for the last return. | |
The Plaza Mayor
It’s the reason to come and it’s genuinely unusual. Most Spanish plazas mayores are rectangles of formal architecture built in one go by an architect. Chinchón’s is irregular, roughly circular, and grew — three storeys of green-painted wooden balconies on buildings that were put up at different times by different people, all facing inward onto packed earth.
The balconies are private, belonging to the flats behind them, and they exist because the square has been used as a venue for centuries: bullfights, theatre, markets, executions. Twice a year, in spring and in October, the entrances are closed off with boards and bullfights are held there in one of the oldest working arrangements of its kind in Spain.
The rest of the year it’s terraces. You’ll see it in films too — it stood in for a Mexican village in Around the World in 80 Days, among others.
Plan your afternoon in Chinchón
This is a half-day. The tool will tell you if you’re giving it more time than it needs.
Lunch is the activity
Chinchón is a food destination for Madrid the way Segovia is, and the dish is lechazo or cordero asado — milk-fed lamb roasted in a wood oven. The restaurants under the arcades have been doing it for generations and they fill on Sundays with families who have driven out specifically.
The other local product is anís de Chinchón, an aniseed liqueur made here since the nineteenth century, sold sweet or dry and drunk after lunch. It’s the town’s other export and it’s on every table.
The Goya nobody expects
In the church of the Asunción on the plaza hangs a Goya — The Assumption of the Virgin, painted in 1812. His brother Camilo was the priest here, which is how a village church of this size ended up with one. It’s free to see and most day-trippers walk past the door.
Getting there
There’s no train. Buses run from the Conde de Casal interchange in Madrid and take about 55 minutes. Check the timetable for the last return before you settle into lunch — the service is less frequent than the Cercanías lines serving other destinations, and it thins out in the evening.
By car it’s about 45 minutes down the A-3 and M-311, and driving lets you combine Chinchón with Aranjuez, 25 km away, which is the natural pairing.
Worth booking?
Chinchón alone doesn’t justify a tour — take the bus. The combined trip that adds Aranjuez and Toledo is the only guided option, and at three stops in a day it’s rushed. What you should book is a restaurant table.
Chinchón questions
Is Chinchón worth a day trip from Madrid?
As a half-day, yes — mainly for the circular Plaza Mayor and a long lunch of roast lamb. It’s a village rather than a town, so three to four hours covers it. Pair it with Aranjuez if you want a full day.
How do you get from Madrid to Chinchón?
By bus from the Conde de Casal interchange, about 55 minutes. There’s no train to Chinchón. Check the last return time before lunch — the evening service is sparse.
Do they still hold bullfights in Chinchón’s Plaza Mayor?
Yes, twice a year — in spring and in October. The entrances to the square are boarded up and the balconies of the surrounding houses become the seating, which is one of the oldest arrangements of its kind still in use in Spain.
What should you eat in Chinchón?
Roast lamb — lechazo or cordero asado — from a wood oven, followed by anís de Chinchón, the local aniseed liqueur. Book a table on Sundays; the restaurants fill with people driving out from Madrid.