Madrid, Spain, top 10 things to do (Wimup travel guide)

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Top 10EuropeSpain

Top 10 Things To Do in Madrid

Country

Spain

Best months

Apr · May · Sep · Oct

Population

3.5M

Language

Spanish

Budget / day

€80–170

Quick answer

Give the first morning to the Prado, then walk it off in the Retiro next door, which is the same UNESCO site. Keep the afternoon for the Royal Palace and the old town, and end at the Templo de Debod for the sunset. Day two is the Reina Sofía and the Thyssen, with dinner on Cava Baja. A third day reaches Toledo or Segovia, both half an hour away by train.

Madrid on Foot

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Madrid sits at about 650 metres on the central meseta, which is why the light is hard and July afternoons pass 35°C. It has no river worth the name and had no cathedral until 1993, so what holds it together is a mile of art between the Prado and the Reina Sofía, a royal palace at one end of the old town, and a habit of eating standing up.

The 10 best things to do in Madrid

Museo Nacional del Prado

Museum· Calle de Ruiz de Alarcón 23, Madrid

The reason most people come, and it earns it. The collection grew out of what the Spanish crown bought and commissioned, so it is deep where other national museums are broad: Velázquez in one room, Goya across two floors, and Bosch's Garden of Earthly Delights. Three hours covers the highlights; a full day does not exhaust it.

Time3 hours

Cost€15

Best atWeekday mornings, at opening

TipOpen Monday to Saturday 10:00 to 20:00 and Sunday and holidays 10:00 to 19:00

↗ Museo del Prado Map

Parque del Buen Retiro

Park· Plaza de la Independencia 7, Madrid

Philip IV's palace gardens, opened to the public in the nineteenth century and now the city's front room: gravel avenues, a boating lake, and a glass pavilion used for one contemporary installation at a time. UNESCO-listed with the Paseo del Prado in 2021, the first World Heritage site inside the city.

Time1 to 2 hours

CostFree

Best atEarly morning or the hour before sunset

TipThe Palacio de Cristal and the Palacio de Velazquez are free

↗ Madrid tourism Map

Palacio Real and the Royal Collections Gallery

Palace· Calle de Bailén s/n, Madrid

Europe's largest royal palace by floor area, built after the old Alcázar burned in 1734. The family has not lived here since 1931, so the state rooms are open: Tiepolo ceilings, a throne room unchanged since Charles III, and the only Stradivarius quintet in the world. The gallery next door is the better building.

Time2 to 3 hours

CostAbout €18 for the palace

Best atWeekday mornings

TipPatrimonio Nacional gives free entry in the last two hours Monday to Thursday

↗ Patrimonio Nacional Map

Plaza Mayor and the old centre

Square· Plaza Mayor, Madrid

Finished in 1619, and it has been a market, a bullring, a stage for royal proclamations and an execution ground. Walk out under the Arco de Cuchilleros into the tavern streets, or east to the Puerta del Sol, where a slab marks kilometre zero of the Spanish road network. The circuit takes an hour and costs nothing.

Time1 hour

CostFree

Best atBefore 10:00, or after dinner

TipSkip the restaurant terraces inside the square itself

↗ Madrid tourism Map

Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía

Museum· Calle de Santa Isabel 52, Madrid

Spain's museum of twentieth-century art, in an eighteenth-century hospital. One room holds Guernica, kept out of Spain until 1981, with the preparatory sketches around it, which is what turns a famous picture back into an argument. Two hours is enough unless a temporary show pulls you in.

Time2 hours

Cost€12, free in the evening

Best atLate afternoon on a weekday

TipClosed on Tuesdays

↗ Museo Reina Sofía Map

Museo Nacional Thyssen-Bornemisza

Museum· Paseo del Prado 8, Madrid

One family's collection, bought by the state in 1993 and hung chronologically from the top floor down, which makes it the most useful of the three: it fills exactly the gaps the other two leave. Italian primitives at the top, then Hopper and Rothko on the way out. Ninety minutes if you are disciplined.

Time1 to 2 hours

Cost€14 for collection and temporary shows

Best atMonday, when it is free

TipFree entry runs Mondays 12:00 to 16:00

↗ Museo Thyssen Map

Templo de Debod at sunset

Monument· Calle de Ferraz 1, Parque del Oeste, Madrid

An Egyptian temple given to Spain in 1968 in return for the work Spanish archaeologists did saving Abu Simbel, rebuilt here in 1972. The reflecting pools face due west over the Casa de Campo, and half the city turns up for the last twenty minutes of light. The interior is small, free and much quieter.

Time45 minutes

CostFree

Best atThe half hour before sunset

TipThe interior opens Tuesday to Sunday

↗ Ayuntamiento de Madrid Map

El Rastro

Market· Calle de la Ribera de Curtidores, Madrid

Sunday morning belongs to the flea market: more than a thousand stalls running downhill through the side streets, selling clothes, vinyl, tools and a great deal of what somebody's grandmother owned. It is pickpocket country at the busiest hour. Finish the way the city does, with vermouth in La Latina.

Time2 hours

CostFree

Best atSundays before 11:00

TipOpen Sundays and public holidays

↗ Ayuntamiento de Madrid Map

Estadio Santiago Bernabéu

Stadium· Avenida de Concha Espina 1, Madrid

Real Madrid's ground since 1947, and after a rebuild it is a steel-clad bowl with a retractable pitch and a 360-degree screen. The self-guided tour goes through the trophy room and out at pitch level. For a match, the club sells in waves a week or two out.

Time1 to 2 hours

CostTour from about €37 online

Best atNon-matchdays

TipBuying at the ticket desk costs a few euros more than booking online

↗ Real Madrid Map

Ermita de San Antonio de la Florida

Chapel· Glorieta de San Antonio de la Florida 5, Madrid

A small chapel by the Manzanares holding the best thing Goya ever painted on a wall: a dome frescoed in 1798 with a Madrid street crowd of gossips, children and thieves rather than saints. Goya lies under the altar, without his skull, which never arrived from Bordeaux. Twenty minutes, free, and almost nobody there.

Time30 minutes

CostFree

Best atWeekday afternoons

TipClosed Mondays

↗ Ayuntamiento de Madrid Map

All 10, mapped

Madrid · 10 spots

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Madrid travel FAQ

How many days do you need in Madrid?+

Three. One for the Prado and the Retiro, one for the Royal Palace, the old centre and Debod at sunset, and one for the Reina Sofía and the Thyssen with an evening in La Latina. A fourth day buys Toledo or Segovia, and a stay that covers a Sunday should keep the morning for El Rastro.

What is the best time of year to visit Madrid?+

April to June and September to October. The city sits high on the meseta, so July and August regularly pass 35°C and much of Madrid leaves for the coast, while January nights drop near freezing. Spring and early autumn give you terrace weather and full opening hours at the same time.

Can you see the big three museums for free?+

Yes, if you plan around the free windows. The Prado is free in the last two hours Monday to Saturday and the last two on Sundays, the Reina Sofía in its final two hours, and the Thyssen on Monday afternoons. Queues start about an hour before, and two hours is not enough for the Prado, so pay for that one.

Do you need a car in Madrid?+

No, and it is a liability. The centre is walkable end to end in about 40 minutes, the metro reaches everything else for €1.50 to €2.00 a trip, and Cercanías trains cover five of the six day trips in this guide. Central Madrid also runs a low emission zone with camera enforcement, so a hire car mostly buys you fines and parking charges.

How do you get from Barajas airport into the city?+

Metro line 8 from any terminal to Nuevos Ministerios takes about 15 minutes, with a €3 airport supplement added to the normal fare. Cercanías C-1 runs from T4 to Chamartín and Atocha. A taxi is a fixed €33 to any address inside the M-30 ring, which is set by the city and does not change with traffic.

Art and collections