The 20 best, in orderBest things to do in Madrid
What to do in Madrid, from the first morning to the last night: the 20 things worth your time, in the order this site would do them, with how long each takes, what it costs and when to go.
- 20
- Things to do, in order
- 6
- Cost nothing
- 10
- Are under a roof, for a wet day
- 6
- Take two hours or less
Best things to do in Madrid
Show
All 20
1Museum
Spend a morning with Velázquez and Goya at the Prado
Museum, Paseo del Prado
The royal collection of the kings of Spain: Velázquez's Las Meninas, Goya's Third of May and his Black Paintings, Bosch's Garden of Earthly Delights, and Titian and Rubens painted for the court.
- Time to allow
- 2.5 to 5 hours
- Cost
- Ticket, free in the last two hours
- Best time
- At opening, or on a weekday afternoon
4.7157,451 Google ratingsFrom €18
Read the guide2Monument
Walk through the state rooms of the Royal Palace
Monument, Ópera
The largest royal palace in Western Europe, built for the Bourbon kings after the old Alcázar burned on Christmas Eve 1734, with Tiepolo's ceiling in the Throne Room and one of the great armouries of the world.
- Time to allow
- 1.5 to 3 hours
- Cost
- Ticket
- Best time
- At opening, or late in the afternoon
4.7134,556 Google ratingsFrom €22
Read the guide3Museum
Stand in front of Guernica at the Reina Sofía
Museum, Atocha
Spain's national museum of twentieth-century art, in an old hospital by Atocha station, with Picasso's Guernica, Dalí, Miró and Juan Gris.
- Time to allow
- 1.5 to 3 hours
- Cost
- Ticket, free in the evenings
- Best time
- Mid-morning on a weekday
4.572,298 Google ratingsFrom €12
Read the guide4Museum
Walk seven centuries of painting at the Thyssen
Museum, Paseo del Prado
A private collection bought by two barons over seventy years and sold to Spain, hung in a palace across from the Prado, with everything the national museums lack: Italian primitives, the Dutch, the Impressionists and the Americans.
- Time to allow
- 2 to 3.5 hours
- Cost
- Ticket, free on Mondays
- Best time
- A weekday morning, or Saturday evening
4.748,499 Google ratingsFrom €14
Read the guide5Garden
Row a boat on the lake in the Retiro
Garden, Retiro
The royal garden of the Habsburg kings, a public park since 1868: the great pond and its rowing boats, the glass Palacio de Cristal, the rose garden and the statue of the Fallen Angel.
- Time to allow
- 1 to 3 hours
- Cost
- Free, boats extra
- Best time
- A Sunday morning, or late afternoon in summer
4.8216,772 Google ratings
Read the guide6Walk
Walk from the Plaza Mayor through Habsburg Madrid
Walk, Madrid de los Austrias
The great arcaded square of the seventeenth century and the steep streets around it, the Madrid of the Habsburg kings: the Arco de Cuchilleros, the Plaza de la Villa and the Mercado de San Miguel.
- Time to allow
- 1 to 2.5 hours
- Cost
- Free
- Best time
- Early morning, or after dark when it is lit
4.6205,184 Google ratings
Read the guide7Walk
Go from bar to bar on the Cava Baja in La Latina
Walk, La Latina
The old streets south of the Plaza Mayor where Madrid goes out to eat standing up: the Cava Baja and its taverns, the Plaza de la Paja and a drink and a small plate in each bar.
- Time to allow
- 1.5 to 3 hours
- Cost
- Pay for what you eat and drink
- Best time
- Sunday after the Rastro, or any evening after eight
From €85
How to do it8Show
See flamenco danced in a tablao
Show, Old centre
The song, guitar and dance of Andalusia, performed close up on a small stage. Madrid has some of the oldest tablaos in Spain, and a show every night of the week.
- Time to allow
- 1 to 2.5 hours
- Cost
- Ticket, with a drink or dinner as you choose
- Best time
- An evening show, booked ahead
From €27.20
How to do it9Monument
Tour Real Madrid's stadium, the Bernabéu
Monument, Chamartín
The home of Real Madrid since 1947, rebuilt by 2024 with a retractable roof: the tour takes you through the trophy rooms, the dressing rooms, the players' tunnel and up to a panoramic view of the bowl.
- Time to allow
- 1.5 to 2.5 hours
- Cost
- Ticket
- Best time
- A weekday morning, away from match days
4.82,355 Google ratingsFrom €37
Read the guide10Monument
Watch the sun set behind the Temple of Debod
Monument, Parque del Oeste
An Egyptian temple of the second century BC, given to Spain for its help in saving the monuments of Nubia and rebuilt on a hill above the Manzanares, with the best sunset in Madrid.
- Time to allow
- 30 to 75 minutes
- Cost
- Free
- Best time
- An hour before sunset
4.470,511 Google ratings
Read the guide11Church
Look up at Goya's frescoes in San Antonio de la Florida
Church, Príncipe Pío
A small royal chapel by the river whose dome Goya painted in 1798 with a crowd of Madrileños watching a miracle. He is buried beneath it.
12Walk
Walk the Gran Vía and stand at Kilometre Zero in the Puerta del Sol
Walk, Sol and Gran Vía
Madrid's great avenue of the early twentieth century, with its cinemas, theatres and domed towers, and the square at the centre of Spain's roads, where the clock rings in the new year.
- Time to allow
- 1 to 2 hours
- Cost
- Free
- Best time
- Early evening, when the lights come on
From €75.65
How to do it13Museum
See a collector's palace at the Lázaro Galdiano Museum
Museum, Salamanca
The house of a publisher who collected everything, left to the nation with its contents: Goya's Witches' Sabbath, El Greco, Bosch, Velázquez, and rooms of jewels, enamels and ivories under painted ceilings.
- Time to allow
- 1.3 to 2.5 hours
- Cost
- Ticket, free for an hour on weekdays
- Best time
- A weekday morning
4.71,662 Google ratingsFrom €17
Read the guide14Museum
Find Goya and Zurbarán at the Real Academia de San Fernando
Museum, Sol
The royal academy of art, founded in 1752, where Goya taught and Picasso and Dalí studied, with a quiet museum of Goya, Zurbarán, Rubens and Arcimboldo a few steps from the Puerta del Sol.
- Time to allow
- 1 to 2 hours
- Cost
- Ticket
- Best time
- A weekday morning
4.64,484 Google ratingsFrom €75
How to do it15Church
Take the guided tour of the Descalzas Reales convent
Church, Sol
A convent of enclosed nuns founded by a daughter of Charles V in the palace where she was born, hidden behind a plain wall near the Puerta del Sol and full of the gifts of the royal women who took the veil there.
- Time to allow
- 1 to 1.5 hours
- Cost
- Ticket
- Best time
- A morning, booked ahead
4.43,644 Google ratings
How to do it16Walk
Hunt for bargains at the Rastro on a Sunday morning
Walk, La Latina and Embajadores
Madrid's open-air flea market, held every Sunday and holiday morning on the steep Ribera de Curtidores, with thousands of stalls of clothes, old books, records, tools and antiques.
- Time to allow
- 1 to 2.5 hours
- Cost
- Free to walk, pay for what you buy
- Best time
- Sunday, before eleven
From €32
How to do it17Monument
Look over Madrid's rooftops from the Círculo de Bellas Artes
Monument, Gran Vía
The roof terrace of Madrid's great arts club, on the corner of the Calle de Alcalá, under its statue of Minerva, with the dome of the Metrópolis building at your feet and the whole city around.
- Time to allow
- 45 to 90 minutes
- Cost
- Ticket for the roof
- Best time
- An hour before sunset
4.434,331 Google ratings
How to do it18Day trip
Take a day trip to Toledo
Day trip, Toledo, 70 km south
The old capital of Castile on its rock in a loop of the Tagus: a Gothic cathedral, El Greco's Burial of the Count of Orgaz, two synagogues and a maze of steep lanes, half an hour from Madrid by train.
- Time to allow
- A full day
- Cost
- Train or tour, tickets for the sights
- Best time
- A weekday, leaving early
4.739,676 Google ratingsFrom €34
How to do it19Day trip
Take a day trip to Segovia and its Roman aqueduct
Day trip, Segovia, 90 km north-west
A walled town on a ridge beyond the Guadarrama: the Roman aqueduct striding through it, the last Gothic cathedral of Spain, and the Alcázar on its rock like a ship's prow.
- Time to allow
- A full day
- Cost
- Train or tour, tickets for the sights
- Best time
- A clear day, leaving early
4.9120,732 Google ratingsFrom €42
How to do it20Day trip
Visit Philip II's monastery-palace at El Escorial
Day trip, San Lorenzo de El Escorial, 45 km north-west
The vast granite monastery, palace and royal tomb that Philip II built in the foothills of the Guadarrama, with a library painted from end to end and the crypt where the kings of Spain are buried.
- Time to allow
- A full day
- Cost
- Train or tour, ticket for the monastery
- Best time
- A weekday, leaving in the morning
4.738,016 Google ratingsFrom €62
How to do it
How long each one takes
The time to allow for each, shortest first, so you can see what fits into a spare hour and what needs a day. These are this site's estimates for an unhurried visit.
- San Antonio de la Florida30 to 60 minutes
- Temple of Debod30 to 75 minutes
- Círculo de Bellas Artes rooftop45 to 90 minutes
- Monasterio de las Descalzas Reales1 to 1.5 hours
- Gran Vía and Puerta del Sol1 to 2 hours
- Real Academia de Bellas Artes de San Fernando1 to 2 hours
- Plaza Mayor and Habsburg Madrid1 to 2.5 hours
- Flamenco show1 to 2.5 hours
- El Rastro1 to 2.5 hours
- Lázaro Galdiano Museum1.3 to 2.5 hours
- Bernabéu Stadium tour1.5 to 2.5 hours
- Retiro Park1 to 3 hours
- Royal Palace of Madrid1.5 to 3 hours
- Reina Sofía Museum1.5 to 3 hours
- Tapas in La Latina1.5 to 3 hours
- Thyssen-Bornemisza Museum2 to 3.5 hours
- Prado Museum2.5 to 5 hours
- El EscorialA full day
- ToledoA full day
- SegoviaA full day
The track is eight hours long. The bar ends at the longest visit, and the line inside it marks the shortest.
What visitors say
Each place's overall rating on Google, and how many people have given one. The longer the bar, the more people have been and said so.
- Retiro Park4.8216,772 Google ratings
- Plaza Mayor and Habsburg Madrid4.6205,184 Google ratings
- Prado Museum4.7157,451 Google ratings
- Royal Palace of Madrid4.7134,556 Google ratings
- Segovia4.9120,732 Google ratings
- Reina Sofía Museum4.572,298 Google ratings
- Temple of Debod4.470,511 Google ratings
- Thyssen-Bornemisza Museum4.748,499 Google ratings
- Toledo4.739,676 Google ratings
- El Escorial4.738,016 Google ratings
- Círculo de Bellas Artes rooftop4.434,331 Google ratings
- Real Academia de Bellas Artes de San Fernando4.64,484 Google ratings
- Monasterio de las Descalzas Reales4.43,644 Google ratings
- San Antonio de la Florida4.73,019 Google ratings
- Bernabéu Stadium tour4.82,355 Google ratings
- Lázaro Galdiano Museum4.71,662 Google ratings
Read on Google Maps. Ratings change, and so will this.
Where they are
Each number is a thing on the list, where it stands in Madrid: the blue band is the river, the green blocks are the parks, gardens and cemeteries. North is up and each square of the grid is one kilometre, so you can see what is next to what and plan a day on foot.
- 1Prado Museum
- 2Royal Palace of Madrid
- 3Reina Sofía Museum
- 4Thyssen-Bornemisza Museum
- 5Retiro Park
- 6Plaza Mayor and Habsburg Madrid
- 7Tapas in La Latina
- 8Flamenco show
- 9Bernabéu Stadium tour
- 10Temple of Debod
- 11San Antonio de la Florida
- 12Gran Vía and Puerta del Sol
- 13Lázaro Galdiano Museum
- 14Real Academia de Bellas Artes de San Fernando
- 15Monasterio de las Descalzas Reales
- 16El Rastro
- 17Círculo de Bellas Artes rooftop
River and green areas: © OpenStreetMap contributors.
Off the map: 18. Toledo, 68.0 km from number 1, 19. Segovia, 69.4 km from number 1, 20. El Escorial, 43.2 km from number 1.
Things to do in Madrid: common questions
- What is the number one thing to do in Madrid?
- On this site's list: spend a morning with Velázquez and Goya at the Prado. Then walk through the state rooms of the Royal Palace, and stand in front of Guernica at the Reina Sofía. The order is this site's own: what a first visit should do first.
- What can you do in Madrid for free?
- 6 of the 20 things on this list cost nothing: Retiro Park, Plaza Mayor and Habsburg Madrid, Temple of Debod, San Antonio de la Florida, Gran Vía and Puerta del Sol and El Rastro.
- What is there to do in Madrid when it rains?
- 10 of the 20 are under a roof: Prado Museum, Royal Palace of Madrid, Reina Sofía Museum, Thyssen-Bornemisza Museum, Flamenco show, San Antonio de la Florida, Lázaro Galdiano Museum, Real Academia de Bellas Artes de San Fernando, Monasterio de las Descalzas Reales and El Escorial.
- What is there to do in Madrid at night?
- Thyssen-Bornemisza Museum, Plaza Mayor and Habsburg Madrid, Tapas in La Latina, Flamenco show, Temple of Debod, Gran Vía and Puerta del Sol and Círculo de Bellas Artes rooftop are all at their best after dark.
- How many days do you need in Madrid?
- The 17 things on this list that are in the city add up to between 21 and 42 hours of visiting, by this site's estimates, without the time to get between them. At about six hours of visiting a day, that is 4 to 7 days for all of them, and three or four days for the first ten.
- What are the best day trips from Madrid?
- Toledo (70 km south), Segovia (90 km north-west) and El Escorial (45 km north-west). Each takes a full day.
Where to eat in Madrid
- Horcher4.6Restaurant, Retiro
- Posada de la Villa4.5Restaurant, La Latina
- Viva Madrid4.5Tavern, Barrio de las Letras
- Antigua Pastelería del Pozo4.5Pastry shop, Puerta del Sol
Where to stay in Madrid
- Mandarin Oriental Ritz, Madrid4.7Five-star hotel, Plaza de la Lealtad
- Wellington Hotel & Spa Madrid4.7Five-star hotel, Calle de Velázquez
- Palacio de los Duques Gran Meliá4.7Five-star hotel, Ópera
- Santo Mauro4.7Five-star hotel, Almagro
How the list is made
The choice and the order are this site's: what a first visit to Madrid should do first. Nobody has paid to be on the list or to be higher on it. The times are estimates for an unhurried visit, not measurements.
Where a row shows a price, it is the lowest price of the ticket or tour its page links to, as its seller showed it on the day the page was checked. The ratings are Google's and change over time.