La Granja de San Ildefonso is located in the Sierra de Guadarrama mountains in Segovia (Castile-León) and is the site of the Valsaín mountain, one of the largest wooded areas in Spain.

San Ildefonso is well worth a visit to see the Royal Palace and its gardens. Visitors will also enjoy the Glass Museum, housed in what was formerly the Royal Glass Factory of La Granja, with a long-standing tradition and international fame. In addition, a little over 10 kilometres away you'll find the World Heritage City of Segovia, with its imposing aqueduct and Alcázar fortress.

The Royal Palace of La Granja de San Ildefonso, a grand and impressive complex, built on the site of an old hostel run by the Hieronymite monks from the Monasterio del Parral monastery in Segovia.Work began on the palace in 1721. In 1724 Philip V retired there in the hope of creating a royal residence after the style of the court at Versailles. To this end, the following twenty years were spent enlarging the gardens and the palace, which was used as a summer residence by Philip's successors up to the reign of Alfonso XIII.

The palace is surrounded by magnificent gardens containing a wide variety of plants and adorned with statues and 26 fountains, some of the spouts of which produce 40 m high jets, as is the case of those of the La Fama fountain. The site is completed with the La Granja Royal Glass Factory, an 18th century building that is home to a permanent exhibition, as well as other temporary ones, dedicated to the difficult art of glass-making.

The area is home to a wide variety of flora. For example, on the highest part of the mountain there is an abundance of grasslands and low shrubs. In the middle and lower parts you'll find forests of wild pine, oak, holm oak, and typical riverbank vegetation. The fauna in this area includes such emblematic and endangered species as the Iberian imperial eagle, the black stork and the black vulture. Otters are among the mammals to be seen here, and there are trout in the streams.