Guadalajara is a city around 60 kilometres northeast of Madrid in Castilla–La Mancha. The town has a population of about 86,000 people.
One of the main attractions in Guadalajara is the Pantheon of the Countess of Vega del Pozo. The countess was responsible for financing much of the public works around the town in the late 1800’s. She even organised for work to continue on many projects after her death. This was done to ensure employment for the people of Guadalajara.
Apparently, this was not a popular decision with distant relatives and the local church who hoped to inherit after she died.
The Pantheon is located at one end of a large park. If you follow this park and keep walking away from the tomb, you will come to the heart of the town. Along the way, there are many smaller parks and plazas. In the centre of town is Plaza Mayor, surrounded by lovely old buildings. There are plenty of places around the plaza and nearby to stop and eat or drink.
Continuing down the hill from Plaza Mayor is another interesting building, Palacio del Infantado. The outside is very distinctive and the interior has a beautiful central courtyard.
You can spend a lot of time walking in Guadalajara. Walking and bike paths also extend along and across the river.
The central mercado is not as big as some in many Spanish towns but there are additional markets in the car park outside twice a week. The main town centre and the side streets coming off it have a wide range of interesting shops and a few unique boutiques. There are also a couple of large malls if you need to do some shopping from regular chain stores.
One small tip, I’m not sure why, but the Santa Gloria cafe in the main street of the old town happens to serve one of the best croissants I’ve had in Spain. Santa Gloria is a chain that can be found throughout Spain. I only wish all their croissants were as good as the ones in Guadalajara.
Regular bus connections to Madrid leave every 30 minutes and take about 1 hour.
A train service connects to Madrid and this also takes about an hour.
There is also a high-speed rail station called Yebes, which is a 15 minute drive outside of the city. You can connect to Madrid (35 mins) from here, but you can also use this station if coming from Barcelona.
Driving from Madrid takes about 45 minutes.