Aranjuez is the green oasis of the dry Madrid plain, a royal town built where the Tagus and the Jarama rivers meet and where Spanish kings came every spring to escape the court. The palace, largely an eighteenth-century Bourbon creation, faces broad avenues and formal gardens, and the riverside parks of the Jardín de la Isla and the Jardín del Príncipe stretch for kilometres along the water, with fountains, statues, an artificial island and tall old trees. In 2001 UNESCO listed the whole thing as a cultural landscape, recognising how the kings shaped nature, agriculture and town planning into a single designed whole.
In the Jardín del Príncipe stands the Casa del Labrador, the labourer's cottage, which turns out to be an exquisitely decorated little palace full of silk, porcelain and clocks, and nearby a museum houses royal barges that once carried the court on the Tagus. Joaquín Rodrigo's Concierto de Aranjuez, perhaps the best-known work ever written for guitar, was inspired by these gardens, and on a warm evening by the river you can hear why.
The town's fields also feed Madrid. The fertile vega around the rivers is famous for its strawberries, the fresones of Aranjuez, sold from stalls along the roads in spring, and for asparagus. In season, a strawberry train runs from Madrid as a tourist attraction, with costumed staff handing out fruit.
Riding here is easy and pleasant rather than thrilling. From Madrid you can take the A-4 motorway, but the old N-IV and the smaller roads through Chinchón and Colmenar de Oreja are much nicer, with gentle curves across olive groves and vineyards. Chinchón is worth the detour for its arcaded main square with wooden balconies, one of the most characterful in Spain, and its anise liqueur. Westward, the road to Toledo follows the Tagus across open country, with wide views and long straights that tempt the right hand.
Summer is very hot, and the gardens are the place to be at midday. Spring, with fruit and blossom, is the best time. Aranjuez has fuel and plenty of restaurants, and if you eat here, try the strawberries with cream and the local asparagus. Park in the shade near the palace and take a long walk; you will have earned it after the Madrid ring roads.