Museum
Prado Museum
Madrid, Spain
One of the world's great art museums, with Velazquez, Goya and El Greco at the centre of its Spanish collectio...
City · Spain · Community of Madrid
Madrid
Spain's capital: grand museums, royal parks, late-night tapas bars and a street life that never seems to sleep.
about 5 h
For storytellers
Why Madrid matters
Madrid is a capital that lives outdoors. In the morning you can stand in front of Velazquez and Goya at the Prado, by lunchtime you are wandering through a royal park, and by midnight the bars and plazas are only getting started. It is a city of grand boulevards, intimate neighbourhoods and a famously relaxed attitude to bedtime. Eat a little at a time, move from bar to bar, and let the evening unfold the way locals do.
Talking points
- Three world-class art museums sit within a short walk of each other along the Paseo del Prado.
- Madrid is the highest capital in the European Union, which gives it its bright, clear light.
- Locals go out late: dinner after nine, drinks well after midnight.
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What to see in Madrid
Square
Plaza Mayor, Madrid
Madrid, Spain
A grand enclosed seventeenth-century square surrounded by arcades, cafes and painted facades.
Museum
Reina Sofia Museum
Madrid, Spain
Modern and contemporary art museum, home of Picasso's Guernica.
Park · UNESCO
Retiro Park
Madrid, Spain
Madrid's beloved green lung, with a boating lake, a glass palace and shady avenues for strolling.
Palace
Royal Palace of Madrid
Madrid, Spain
A vast eighteenth-century royal palace with over a thousand rooms, used today for state ceremonies.
Square
Puerta del Sol
Madrid, Spain
The symbolic heart of Spain, where the clock chimes ring in the New Year with twelve grapes.
Museum
Thyssen-Bornemisza Museum
Madrid, Spain
A private collection that takes you from medieval painting to Pop Art in one walk.
Monument
Cibeles Fountain
Madrid, Spain
The goddess in a lion-drawn chariot at one of Madrid's grandest crossroads.
Palace · UNESCO
El Escorial Monastery
Madrid, Spain
A severe, majestic sixteenth-century monastery-palace in the foothills of the Sierra de Guadarrama.
Market
El Rastro Market and La Latina
Madrid, Spain
Madrid's Sunday flea market and the tapas bars of La Latina next door.
Shopping
Gran Via
Madrid, Spain
Madrid's great avenue of theatres, early-twentieth-century facades, cinemas and shops.
Market
Mercado de San Miguel
Madrid, Spain
A glass-and-iron food hall near the Plaza Mayor, ideal for a quick tapas crawl.
Monument
Templo de Debod
Madrid, Spain
An authentic ancient Egyptian temple, rebuilt stone by stone in a Madrid park.
Church, mosque or temple
Almudena Cathedral
Madrid, Spain
Madrid's cathedral, finished only in the late twentieth century, standing across from the Royal Palace.
Neighbourhood
Malasana
Madrid, Spain
Madrid's hip neighbourhood of vintage shops, indie bars and street art.
Also nearby
Within about 40 km, closest first.