Madrid travel guide: how many days and where to stay
Late on a summer evening, when the heat finally lifts off the plateau, Madrid moves outdoors. Café tables spread across the small squares of La Latina, families stroll along Calle Mayor, and over the Plaza de Oriente the sky turns pink behind the long pale front of the Royal Palace. By day this is a city of broad avenues and great paintings, with Velázquez and Goya hanging a few minutes' walk from the rowing boats of the Retiro. This guide helps you share out your days between the old town, the museums and the parks, and suggests where to stay and what to do when the weather turns.
Getting your bearings in Madrid
Madrid sits on a high plateau in the middle of Spain, at about 650 metres, which explains its cold winter mornings and the clear, dry light. The centre is compact and easy to walk, and almost everything a first-time visitor wants to see lies within three or four kilometres of Puerta del Sol, the square at the heart of the old town.
West of Sol is the Madrid of the Habsburgs: Plaza Mayor, the crooked lanes of La Latina and, on the edge of the ridge above the Manzanares valley, the Royal Palace with the cathedral beside it. South of Sol lie the old working-class streets of Lavapiés. To the east, the Barrio de las Letras runs down to the Paseo del Prado, the tree-lined boulevard that links Cibeles with Atocha station and carries the three great art museums, the Prado, the Thyssen-Bornemisza and the Reina Sofía. Behind it spreads the Retiro park.
North of Sol, Gran Vía cuts across the centre from Cibeles to Plaza de España. Beyond it are Malasaña and Chueca, two lively districts of small bars and shops, and to the north-east the orderly grid of the Salamanca district, with its smart boutiques. Paseo de la Castellana, the long axis of modern Madrid, continues north past the Bernabéu stadium to the skyscrapers of the business district.
How many days do you need in Madrid?
- Two days are enough for the core: one for the old town and the Royal Palace, one for the Prado and the Retiro. You will have to choose between the Reina Sofía and the Thyssen, or leave both for next time.
- Three days suit a first visit best. The third day leaves room for Picasso's Guernica at the Reina Sofía, Gran Vía and its neighbourhoods, and the Bernabéu stadium or an evening of tapas without watching the clock.
- Four days let you add a day trip. The fast trains to Toledo and Segovia take well under an hour, and you are back in time for dinner, which in Madrid starts late anyway.
Madrid in three days
Day one: Sol, Plaza Mayor and the Royal Palace
Begin at Puerta del Sol before the crowds, then walk a few minutes to Plaza Mayor, which is at its calmest in the morning. Follow Calle Mayor west to the Royal Palace and go in soon after it opens; the state rooms take most of the morning. Almudena Cathedral faces the palace across the parade ground, so look inside on your way out. Have lunch in La Latina, where the bars of Cava Baja are busiest at weekends. In the afternoon walk through the Plaza de Oriente and the Sabatini Gardens to the Temple of Debod, and stay there for sunset.
Day two: the Prado and an afternoon in the Retiro
Give the morning to the Prado. Go with a short list rather than trying to see everything: Velázquez, Goya, El Greco and Bosch fill three hours on their own. Afterwards cross to the Retiro, rent a rowing boat on the great pond if you like, and walk on to the Palacio de Velázquez. On the way back, go up the tower of the Palacio de Cibeles, then spend the evening in the Barrio de las Letras, between Plaza de Santa Ana and Calle de las Huertas.
Day three: Guernica, Gran Vía and the Bernabéu
If it is a Sunday, start at the Rastro flea market below La Latina, which runs through the morning. Otherwise begin at the Reina Sofía with Guernica, remembering that the museum is closed on Tuesdays, or at the Thyssen, whose collection runs from the early Italians to Pop Art. In the afternoon walk the length of Gran Vía from the Metrópolis building to Plaza de España, and turn off into Malasaña and Chueca. Football fans can end the day with the stadium tour at the Bernabéu, reached on foot up the Castellana from Nuevos Ministerios.
Rain, or too hot to be outside
Madrid is a dry city, and rain usually arrives in spring and autumn as a day or two of showers rather than weeks of grey sky. In July and August the problem is the opposite: the sun is fierce by late morning and stays that way until evening. Either way, do the walking early or late and put the big indoor sights in the middle of the day.
The museums along the Paseo del Prado are large enough to absorb a whole wet day, and each has free hours, given with the sights. A free slot sounds tempting, but queues build up just before it begins, so pay for the visit when time is short.
- Morning: the Royal Palace, where the state rooms are entirely under cover, or the Prado as soon as the doors open.
- Afternoon: the Thyssen-Bornemisza or the Reina Sofía, both across the road from the Prado.
- Evening: the late opening of the Reina Sofía, or the Thyssen on a Saturday, when it stays open well into the night.
- Any time: the Bernabéu stadium tour, or the exhibitions in the Palacio de Cibeles followed by the tower view if the cloud lifts.
Where to stay in Madrid
- Sol and Habsburg Madrid
- The most central choice: the palace, Plaza Mayor and Gran Vía all on foot, and several Metro lines at Sol. Streets around Sol are crowded day and night; a room on a side street towards the palace is quieter.
- Barrio de las Letras
- Between Sol and the Paseo del Prado, five minutes from the museums. Pedestrian streets, old taverns and Plaza de Santa Ana; lively in the evening, especially at weekends.
- Malasaña and Chueca
- Young, informal districts north of Gran Vía, full of bars, cafés and small shops. Good for an evening out and close to the centre; noisy on Friday and Saturday nights.
- Salamanca
- Wide, calm streets, elegant apartment blocks and the city's smartest shopping, beside the Retiro. Hotels are pricier and the old town is a Metro ride away.
- La Latina and Lavapiés
- The tapas bars of La Latina and multicultural Lavapiés, south of the centre. Often better value, with a very local feel; some streets are steep and the area is busy on Sundays around the Rastro.
- Atocha and the Retiro
- Next to the Reina Sofía and the park, and practical for day trips, since trains for Toledo and the Cercanías to Aranjuez leave from Atocha. Quieter at night than the old town.