A convention in the Sierra de Guadarrama takes the team out of the city an hour from Madrid, with a working room in San Lorenzo de El Escorial and a second day in the Lozoya valley, inside the National Park. It is a two-day programme designed for groups of 30 to 80 people: leadership teams, offsites and small conventions.
Why the mountains for a convention?
Because it changes the conversation. A leadership team or a small sales group that spends two days in the mountains, with walks, long lunches and fewer screens, tends to come away with clearer decisions than after two days in a city hotel meeting room. And it does so without boarding a plane: San Lorenzo de El Escorial is about 50-60 minutes by coach from central Madrid.
The area also has content of its own. The Royal Monastery of San Lorenzo de El Escorial, the Sierra de Guadarrama National Park, designated in 2013, and the Lozoya valley, with the Monastery of El Paular, are enough for a full programme without repeating a setting.
What we set out here is an indicative sample programme. We adapt it to your objective, the size of the group and the season in the proposal we send you within 24 business hours.
The Hotel Victoria Palace as a base
For small groups we propose the Hotel Victoria Palace, on Calle de Juan de Toledo, a few metres from the monastery. According to the Eurostars website, it has 81 bedrooms and seven meeting rooms across more than 500 m². It is a scale that lets the group take over much of the hotel, work without interruptions and walk around the town for lunch and dinner.
San Lorenzo de El Escorial is used to hosting meetings. According to Visit Madrid, the town has more than 2,500 seats in meeting rooms and more than 700 hotel rooms. For larger groups, Escorial Natura Convention & Resort has an auditorium for 480 people and Euroforum Campus Escorial offers 35 rooms with its own accommodation, according to the Madrid Convention Bureau.
How does it scale from 30 to 80 people?
| Group size |
Room |
Day 2 activity |
Transport |
| 30-50 people |
One room for the plenary and two or three for groups |
El Paular, the arboretum and lunch in Rascafría |
One coach |
| 50-80 people |
Combined hotel rooms |
El Paular in two shifts, or the Fuenfría valley |
Two coaches |
| More than 80 |
Escorial Natura or Euroforum |
Activities in shifts |
Several coaches with staggered departures |
With more than 15 people, routes in Peñalara require authorisation and groups of no more than 55, so with mid-sized groups we prefer walks without those restrictions, such as the one in the El Paular valley.
Logistics and transfers
The whole programme runs by coach: Madrid to San Lorenzo on day one, San Lorenzo to the Lozoya valley on day two, and back to Madrid. The mountain road between the two sides of the range is winding and, in winter, can have snow, so we work with experienced drivers and an alternative route along the motorway.
For those making their own way, the Cercanías commuter train links Madrid with El Escorial. In the town, the hotel, the monastery and the restaurants are all within walking distance.
Which days are best?
The Monastery of El Escorial closes on Mondays, according to Patrimonio Nacional, and the Monastery of El Paular opens Wednesday to Sunday. The ideal combination is a first day between Tuesday and Saturday and a second day between Wednesday and Sunday: for example, Wednesday and Thursday. If your date falls early in the week, we swap El Paular for a route in the Fuenfría valley or in Peñalara.
What changes with the season
Spring and early autumn are the best seasons: pleasant temperatures, green valleys and long days. In summer the mountains are a refuge from the Madrid heat, although there are many visitors at weekends. In winter it is cold and can snow: the outdoor programme is shortened, meeting-room time increases and lunch by the fireplace becomes the plan. We cover it in our guide to the best time for events in and around Madrid.
Budget: what it depends on
We do not publish fixed prices. The cost items are accommodation, rooms and AV equipment, lunches and dinner, tickets and guides for the monasteries, the nature guide, coaches and coordination. What moves the cost per person most is the season, the number of coaches and whether meals are exclusive use. We explain it in how much a convention in Madrid costs.
Who organises it
ECM is MC Group's brand for corporate events in and around Madrid, with a team that has more than 20 years of experience in conventions, meetings and incentives. The programme is organised by the Madrid team, with dedicated staff and event planners in the city and more than 100 corporate events organised in Madrid; you will find some under case studies. In the proposal we set out venues, timings and suppliers checked for your dates. If you want to see how we approach working sessions, take a look at meetings and seminars.
If you are looking for mountains with more heritage and a high-speed train, see the convention in Segovia. If you prefer gardens and open plains, the Aranjuez and Chinchón convention. All the options are in convention programmes.
Do the mountains suit your next meeting? Tell us your dates and group size and we will send you a proposal within 24 business hours.
Sources
- Eurostars Hotels: Victoria Palace, San Lorenzo de El Escorial
- Patrimonio Nacional: tickets for the Real Sitio de San Lorenzo de El Escorial
- Patrimonio Nacional: El Escorial service charter
- esMADRID: Monastery of Santa María de El Paular
- Comunidad de Madrid: Sierra de Guadarrama National Park
- Comunidad de Madrid: Valle de El Paular visitor centre leaflet
- Visit Madrid: San Lorenzo de El Escorial, meeting point
- Madrid Convention Bureau: Euroforum Campus Escorial
