The one regret that many visitors have expressed to us is that they took one of our walking tours through Old Madrid on their last night in the capital and not the first. We introduce you to many aspects of the old quarter not mentioned in the guide books: cozy taverns and restaurants frequented by locals only, doorways of houses down narrow side streets where many a curious anecdote of its famous (or infamous) owner of centuries past is told, and typical but exceptional tapas to sample.
Choose your tour
Take a look at our our choices including Madrid Walking Tours, Excursions to towns in Central Spain and to the Battlefields of the Peninsular War. Taking any of our tours makes you a member of the Wellington Society of Madrid and entitles you to all the benefits.
Membership
Taking a tour with us includes a 1 year membership in the Wellington Society of Madrid. Beside getting one of our nifty membership cards, Your membership also are entitled to our one of a kind benefits.
- Help in arranging your travel through Spain
- Help line on the Chairman’s cell phone (+34 609 14 32 03), 8 am to midnight 7 days a week.
- Recommended restaurants featuring specific regional foods such as paella, roast lamb, rabo del toro, and vegetarian cuisine in Madrid and in Central Spain.
- Expert advice on interesting Spanish wines to buy, generally unavailable outside the country.
The Chairman has many friends
The Chairman regularly visits his friends who own some of the finest tapas and wine bars and modest eating establishments throughout the Old Quarter.This assures that at every refreshment stop we always receive a warm welcome. You shake the hand of a smiling friendly face, sample local cuisine and drink wine unseen in the general stores. By the end of the tour, you are no longer a tourist in a foreign city, but an honored guest in these establishments.
Making it Easy
Visitors who take one of our day excursions are surprised at the ease in which we travel, tickets are already in hand, buses or trains awaits us with your very own reserved seat. As English is spoken on a somewhat limited basis in Spain, our fluency in the language has helped Society Members ease many awkward situations.
Expect the Unexpected
Although the AVE fast train-line was completed in 2006 it is not easy to get round-trip tickets at Atocha station. First the queues at the AVE ticket office (not the main largo ticket office by the way!) then to find their is a seat available on the all seat-all numbered AVE to Toledo but that all seats are booked up for the return journey: reason? people book on line for the last train home which is early evening…hours wasted for a 20 minute ride!
Transportation
The Spanish transport system is unlike anything Americans or the British have ever experienced before. Some bus and train journeys have seating numbers, others do not. A round trip ticket on the bus is not a round trip ticket until you hand it in at the other end to get your return ticket. Members look on as I speak in fast Castilian and promptly receive what unknowing tourists take an age to obtain, namely our return tickets. “We would never have been able to do it ourselves” say so many members. Wherever we travel on our Society day excursions, there are wonderful, kind Spanish friends ready to fuss over you. It is all part of being a member of the Wellington Society!
Join us!
So join the Wellington Society by taking a tour with us and assure yourself a most pleasant experience in Spain!