In front of the local Tourist and Information Office we find the Monastery of San Lorenzo (1), located in the Dehesa (Meadow) de la Herrería, in a raised promontory known as the hill of Blasco Sancho, which in that time was a thick rockrose meadows where the shepherds had the sheep folds and watering troughs.

With the passing of time, the land that bordered it to the north-west was levelled, giving way for a flat area known as the Lonja (2) (marketplace), designed as a grid of granite stone tiles.

Standing in front of the northern façade of the Monastery, to the left we can still observe part of the outline of what was the main entrance: The Paseo de los Olmos (3) (Elm Walk), called "avenue of a thousand steps".

The first acquisition of the Crown in 1562 was the Dehesa de la Herrería (4), which was fenced in for the enjoyment of the religious community and the royal family.

Bordering the Monastery on its principal façade, we go towards the area where the gardens and orchards of the Friars (5) were planted in the part nearest the southern façade. The garden planned by the Prior Juan de Huete, with fruit trees and vegetable produce, was irrigated by a pond (6) designed by Francisco de Mora, adorned on the outside by a balustrade with a beautiful four-branch stairway. In the high part of the garden is found the cachicanía (7) or home of the gardener, who took care of these beautiful grounds. As a background of this beautiful landscape, on one end of the south façade of the Monastery, is the Galería de convalecientes (8) (Convalescent's Hall), conceived as an independent structure to favour the isolation of the infirm to which it was dedicated.

Leaving the grounds of the Monastery, we now go down the Paseo de los Alamillos, coming to, on the right (in front of the Carrero Blanco park), one of the most important buildings outside the convent at the time: the Casa de la Compaña (9) (Company Quarters), (currently the María Cristina University College). It was joined to the convent through a covered passage with seven arches (10), which ends in the Pharmacy (11) building.

Advancing on our walk the Herrería forest is on our left, of which the monumental entrance gates (12) are conserved, one of which we can see if we go around the park towards the Paseo Carlos III. We now take the street Leandro Rubio, until we reach the pretty Escorial quarter of Plantel, which received the name of the planting of different species of trees (holm oak, chestnuts, oaks and hazel trees), that the prior of the Monastery carried out at that time by organising a Plantel (13) (planting) in front of the principal façade of the Monastery.

At the end of the street Leandro Rubio and taking Floridablanca Street, on our left is the building known as the House of Jacometrezo (14), the oldest in the town. Going down the street Floridablanca, we can enjoy a beautiful view of the principal façade of the Monastery if we look through an improvised lookout formed by two windows preserved in the stone wall on our right. We can also see some beautiful ruins covered with vegetation, that go up the enormous chimneys that remained outside what was the Casa de las Pizarras (15) (House of the Slates), located in the vertex of the Lonja (marketplace) and what was the dwelling for the doorman of the King's kitchen, the servants and the maker of esparto articles of the convent.

Finalising our tour though what was San Lorenzo de El Escorial in the 16th century, we arrive at our starting point and we stop before the Primera and Segunda Casa de Oficios (17 and 18) (First and Second House of Trades), occupying the area that in the beginning had held an enormous campground for the labourers. When the work on the Monastery finished in 1584, the construction activity dropped off, producing a great decline in population, and many of the houses were torn down to plan the surrounding area.