When the democratic era began in Spain, Madrid was affirmed as the Spanish Capital by the constitution in 1978. As a result of increased growth from the 1980s onward, Madrid continued proving to everyone why it was the capital by becoming a major European center of education, culture, industry, technology and economy.
Considering its illustrious history, well-maintained monuments and superb landmarks, Madrid has more than just culture to offer.
Here are top things to do while in the Spanish capital.
1. Take a front seat with a drink and people-watch, Plaza Mayor
Initially referred to as Plaza del Arrabal in the 15th century, Plaza Mayor has remained a marketing town of the city since its construction. When the Plaza became a part of the wider city of Madrid, it received vital remodeling commissioned by King Philip II with the work starting around 1617 up to 1619.
After suffering three main fires in 1631, 1670 and 1790 the Plaza was reconstructed each time with the current architecture mostly credited to the architect who spearheaded the final fire reconstruction in 1790, Juan de Villanueva. Plaza Mayor has hosted all manner of events in its history, from public executions, seasonal markets and soccer games to bullfights, among others. Now a critical part of Spanish culture tourists love the area considered largely the de-facto must-experience sight in Madrid and not so much an iconic one.
Adjacent to the Plaza, check out the Restaurante Botin along the Arco de Cuchilleros Street, essentially the world’s oldest eatery. Do find a seat along the extensive Plaza and watch as throngs of people go about their duties. The Plaza gets busier as day turns to night and a beehive of fun and merry during holidays. Lots of souvenir shops, restaurants and great atmosphere are draws to the Mayor while a guided walking tour offers a better way to learn the history of the place.
Take a photo by King Philip II’s bronze statue made in 1616 but placed in the Plaza Mayor square by 1848 following a request by Queen Isabel II to have it moved to the square from its previous location, the Casa de Campo.
2. Pay homage to the human spirit of tolerance, Toledo
Madrid has lots of sights and offers so much beyond its historical disposition. For a different yet critical experience in a world where intolerance seems to display its ugly head time to time, travel to the city of Toledo for some historical immersion into acceptance. You can hire a ride or take an affordable guided tour to Toledo about half-an-hour from Madrid. Famous as the three-culture city the place itself is breathtaking, its history humbling and architecture famous globally with superb places to take a memorable photo of your time there.
Toledo’s history goes back to the Roman era and has remained one of the holiest Spanish cities even after having been led by Jews, Muslims and Christians making it a major city where tolerance is evident to date, such as through the Santa Maria la Blanca Synagogue, constructed by Muslim architects during a Christian reign for Jews.
3. View some exceptional Spanish and European modern art in Madrid, Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía (El Reina)
While most historical art museums in Madrid like in other major European cities are centuries old, the Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía is a twentieth century conception and one of the best three museums in the capital together with Museo Thyssen Bornemisza and Museo del Prado. You’ll enjoy viewing over 21K pieces of contemporary and modern art where famous artists’ works are on display, such as Joan Miro and Salvador Dali.
Tip: You can pre-book the Madrid Reina Sofía ticket online with this Skip-the-Line Madrid Reina Sofía Museum Entrance Ticket. Alternatively, if you are going to visit more museums, check this Madrid Art Walk Pass: Prado, Reina Sofia, & Thyssen Museums ticket which gives you access to the three museums.
Make sure you move to the second floor where some of the most iconic art pieces are held such as Pablo Picasso’s crowning masterpiece, Guernica. Those who love modern art and its bold expression will love what the art center of Queen Sofia offers and much more. Even so, if you would love to try something different yet still artistic in Madrid the Thyssen-Bornemisza or the Museo del Prado are great places to explore.
4. Feast your eyes on the grandeur of a Spanish palace, Palacio Real (Royal Palace of Madrid)
With over 3,400 rooms and a floor space of 135,000 square meters, the Palacio Real de Madrid has royalty written all-around it. Europe’s largest palace in terms of floor space and still in use, the Royal Palace of Madrid tells the remarkable architectural capability of the Umayyad and subsequent rulers who ruled Spain. In 860-880 AD, Muhammad I, the Cordoba Emir was the first to build the iconic palace, edging it into royalty right from its conception.
With the fall of Toledo and departure of Moors, the castle remained a critical defensive structure; a number of towers were constructed by Henry II of Castile fortifying it further before it became the royal residence of Henry III’s son, John II. Palacio Real only has a single surviving old drawing of the expansive palace by Cornelius Vermeyen going back to 1534.
Renovations and extensions of the castle continued, such as in 1537 by Charles V. Philip II also improved the castle after his transformation of Madrid as the capital around 1561, which included diverse renovations of the palace, such as lengthening the southern façade around 1610-36.
In 1700, the royal apartments were also refurbished greatly by Philip V of Bourbon. By 1760, a Sicilian architect with heavy neoclassic tastes, Francesco Sabatini was mandated with the transformation and enlargement of the castle by Charles III before the King moved in by 1764.
The royal palace wasn’t spared with the eruption of the Spanish Civil War and suffered some damage that was later repaired. In May 22nd 2004, Palacio Real was the venue of a royal wedding feast as Letizia Ortiz married Prince Felipe.
While the castle might not be a royal home per se, it’s still an official residence of the royal family with some of its grounds and rooms open to visitors and the Spanish populace, including the royal pharmacy and armory. Visiting the palace allows you to immerse yourself in royal grandeur in its most luxuriousness and exquisiteness.
Due to the popularity of the palace there’re always long queues as people wait to enter. Arrive very early if you intend to get ahead of the crowd. Make sure you’ve a minimum of two hours to about half-day to effectively explore the grounds and spaces open to the public.
5. Walk by the heartbeat of the city, Puerta del Sol
With a title that translates into the “Gate of the Sun”, the free-to-access Puerta del Sol is arguably Madrid’s popular, busiest and well-known public square. Puerta evolved from being one of the city wall gates surrounding the city since the fifteenth century. As Madrid suburbs grew beyond the wall it started taking the functions it has naturally been known for today.
The “gate of the sun” comes from the fact that Puerta faces the direction of the rising sun that fell on the gateway throwing in a plush of marvelous solar display. With the building of the Post Office House by Jacques Marquet, a French architect from 1766 to 1768, the area became a haven of activity as couriers from all over Spain and internationally brought news and more. Those after news from outside Madrid gladly flocked into the Puerta to be informed.
In Francoist Spain, the Post Office House hosted the State Security and Interior Ministry before being transformed today into being the place hosting the seat of the Madrid community Presidency.
The Puerta del Sol usually gets a life of its own at night but usually crowded all the time; perfect for anyone looking for crowds and life, restaurants to grab something to eat, shops, night clubs, spurting fountains and uniquely Madrid bars. Even if you intend to go for a quiet dinner elsewhere in the city, the temptation to pass through the square at night will be way too much.
Street performers are immense too and offer an enthralling opportunity to people-watch or enjoy a unique Times Square-like celebration of New Year if you find yourself in Madrid by January 31st.
6. Enjoy perfect Spanish tranquility, playground and green gardens in Madrid, Parque del Buen Retiro
Spread over 350 acres at the edge of Madrid city center with the Museo del Prado close by and an earshot from Puerta de Alcala, the exquisite lovely Parque del Buen Retiro hasn’t always been a green park with lovely lakes, playgrounds and gardens open to the public as it’s known today, but started as a park for the Spanish royalty. With a history that goes back to 1505, the moving of the Spanish court by King Philip II around 1561 had a huge effect on El Retiro.
The King commissioned an architect known as Bautista de Toledo to enlarge the park an exercise that added tree-lined avenues. The Count-Duke of Olivares, Gaspar de Guzman then expanded the gardens around 1620s and in 1630s commissioned a designer to bring up the El Retiro into high-end levels to rival that of Grand Duke of Tuscany’s Boboli Gardens. As a result, water became a critical character of the garden park from the beginning where great ponds such as Estanque del Retiro became theaters of mock-naval-assault displays.
Lots of aquatic extras were added, including bellflower and chamfered pond and narrow channels among others, which made Buen Retiro an artistic wonder in the seventeenth century. Before Queen Isabella II was overthrown, the Retiro was improved after years of neglect with the planting of fruit trees and landscaping of areas that had lain bare. In 1868, as Isabella was overthrown El Retiro was made a public park culminating in it hosting the Exposicion Nacional de Mineria in 1883.
At the turn of the twentieth century, Jose Grases Riera’s designed Alfonso XII of Spain’s monument was added closer to the park’s pond, including additional memorial monuments, superb fountains and diverse statues throughout the gardens.
Stopping by the Parque del Buen Retiro is a chance to treat yourself to the best possible park amusement and tranquil escapades, such as free music concerts around midday on Sundays, a book fair every year, cultural and holiday events, firework displays and concerts. You’ll also see adults and the young keeping fit with peculiar exercise equipment while puppet shows, fortune tellers and other street glee takes place around the Retiro Pond.
At the Estanque you can rent yourself a rowboat or hire a horse-drawn carriage to explore the park. Sport courts offer sport-inclined locals and visitors a chance to enjoy themselves thoroughly while the various walkways and main paths are perfect for adults and children roller bladders, bikers, runners or romantic walks.
7. Immerse yourself in a famous global and Madrid club’s stadium, Estadio Santiago Bernabéu
Santiago Bernabéu Stadium
Just off the metro station of Santiago Bernabéu is arguably one of Europe, world and Spain’s top soccer team stadiums, Estadio Santiago Bernabéu. Seating at least 81,044 fans, Bernabéu, initially known as Estadio Real Madrid de Futbol up to 1955, has been Real Madrid C.F.’s home for decades. In terms of capacity, it’s the second largest in Spain, but the largest soccer stadium within the Madrid region.
Construction of the stadium started on October 27th 1944, completed in 1947 and inaugurated on December 14th with a match between Os Belenenses from Portugal and the host, Real Madrid; Sabino Barinaga is credited as the first ever player to score the first goal in the newly opened stadium in 1947.
Bernabéu has hosted UEFA Champions League finals four times, formerly the European Cup finals, first in 1957(won by Real Madrid against Italian champions, Fiorentina), 1969 (AC Milan of Italy won 4-1 to Netherlands’ Ajax), 1980 (English side Nottingham Forest won their second European title by scoring 1-0 against Germany champions, Hamburg SV) and 2010 (Now the UEFA Champions League won by Italy’s Internazionale who defeated Germany’s Bayern Munich by two goals to nothing).
Bernabéu is also the first ever European stadium to host both UEFA Euro final (the European Nations’ Cup of 1964) where the host, Spain worn 2-1 to the Soviet Union and the final of a FIFA World Cup (1982 World Cup where Italy beat West Germany by 3 goals to 1 to clinch the World Cup title after 44 years).
Spanish life is heavily characterized by football and Real Madrid’s stadium stands as a great testament to that. Don’t miss a tour around the historic Bernabéu for a few euros available for both adults and kids. With a little extra you can get yourself an audio guided tour, which most travelers have come to really recommend. Considering the immensity of the stadium and things to watch, you need at least two hours for the entire visit.
8. Take a few hours in Spain’s most important museum of art, Museo del Prado
Formally referred to as the Museo Nacional del Prado, the museum is hosted in a building designed by architect Juan de Villanueva in 1785 commissioned by Charles III with the aim of hosting natural history artifacts. However, it took Ferdinand VII, Charles III’s grandson to make the decision to transform the building into a new museum for royal sculptures and paintings.
In 1819, the National Museum of Painting and Sculpture later renamed the Museo Nacional del Prado was availed to the wider public and sought to display the Spanish Crown’s artistic pieces and show the quality and merit of Spanish art vis-à-vis any other out there. On the 19th of November 2019, Museo Nacional del Prado celebrated its 200th birthday, which was also picked up by Google Doodle.
The museum contains a huge collection of diverse classic sculptures and paintings, including gothic altarpieces and murals from the Romanesque style, including lots of renaissance period and classical arts from Flemish paintings of 15th century to Italian renaissance art. Possibly one of the most magnificent paintings anywhere are held in Museo Nacional del Prado’s Velazquez Rooms where Felipe IV’s state portraits come alive encompassing lots of details and noted for their complex realisms and viewpoint interchange.
The museum also dedicates considerable art pieces to Goya more than any other artist. In total, Museo Nacional del Prado holds over 700 unique sculptures and more than 8,600 paintings.
Due to the huge number of visitors to the museum whenever the doors open you might not see all the famous art pieces by El Greco, Goya, Velazquez, among others unless you arrive very early. Do look for comfortable shoes in case you need to walk around the museum for hours and be ready to pay a small admission fee for adults; it’s free to enter for students and young people below 25 years of age.
In case you’ve no money and want to view the art works for free, do look into Museo Nacional del Prado’s free hours, around 120 minutes before closure for the day. However, for the best possible experience do make time to spend about half day there to take up the sheer splendor and grandeur of the art museum.
9. Take home a memorable keepsake at the oldest market street, El Rastro
El Rastro market
If there’s a market to visit before you leave Madrid it has to be El Rastro, famous as one of the most unique street markets and the oldest around. Apart from trying to grab some authentic Spanish delicacies El Rastro has lots of special keepsakes to purchase and take home. As the iconic flea market in Madrid, it’s described as the last frontier market between Europe and Africa where people of all ethnicities, races and nationalities congregate and find something special to buy or even sell. For a better experience, visitors are requested to arrive around 11am or 9-10am if they intend to bargain and haggle over prices.
Around midday the crowd begins to shrink and by 3-4pm, depending on whether its winter or summer, the market slowly comes to an end. Around the market are bars where people from the market flock for some cold drinks and some delicious tapas. Traditionally, El Rastro offer diverse wares you cannot get in any mall, shop or store out there, including curiosities, rare items and antiques.
Feeling overwhelmed? Don’t worry … If you have no time, you can visit most of the attractions listed above in one day!
Check this Madrid in a Day Tour. The tour was very organized, well planned, not over crowded (Max 15 participants) and the guide was very professional.
Want to book a room in Madrid? Check out these hotel options:
- Hotel Villa Magna, the best luxury hotel in Madrid.
- Hotel Life Gran Via for the best budget hotels in Madrid.
- Hotel Moderno, or Hotel Petit Palace Puerta del Sol, or Hotel Petit Palace Tres Cruces for the best location in Madrid center.
- Hotel 7 Islas Hotel is one of the best rated hotel by people at booking.com
- For those of you who prefer Hostels: Far Home Atocha (Budget), The Hat Madrid (Location), Atocha Almudena Martin (Best Rated)
- You can also check our other articles on The Best Luxury Hotels in Madrid, The Best Budget Hotels in Madrid, and the best Hostels in Madrid.
Want to book a tour in Madrid? Check out these tour companies that we personally use:
- Walks of Madrid: Madrid walking tours
- Get Your Guide: Madrid tours
- Viator: Madrid tours
- Tour Radar: Madrid multi-day tours
- G Adventures: Madrid multi-day tours
- You can also check our other articles on The Best Tours in Madrid, and The Best One Day Trips from Madrid
Want to read more about Madrid? Check out these great guides:
- Madrid guide: for a detailed guide on Madrid
- Pocket Madrid: for a concise and easy to use guide of Madrid that fits into your pocket!
- Madrid pocket map: I do use Google Maps on my phone to be honest; however, this durable, easy-to-fold and waterproof map is the best for those who still prefer to use an actual printed map!
- Spain travel guide: for a detailed guide on Spain, including Madrid.
Travel related services? We have personally used all of these services on and off!
- World Nomads for travel insurance
- Booking.com to book the best hotel deals
- Rental Cars for the best deals on car rentals
- Get Your Guide or Viator for day tours in your destionation
- Tour Radar or G Adventures for guided multi-day tours
- AirTreks for multi city airline tickets
- Kayak for the cheapest airlines tickets you can find online
- Omio for the best online train ticket reservation platrom. Also include bus and ferries reservations!
- Lonely Planet for well written travel guides
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