The Good 3 Days in Madrid Itinerary for First-Timers in Spain

I really made three journeys to Spain earlier than ever visiting the capital metropolis of Madrid. For no matter motive, different elements of Spain (like Barcelona and Seville and the Pyrenees) referred to as to me extra.

However after I lastly did make it to Madrid? I positively regretted not visiting sooner!

Madrid is a superb European capital city. It is stuffed with good meals, fairly structure, and distinctive tradition, and is extraordinarily simple to get round. It is easy to get *to* as nicely, and is the right dimension in the event you solely have a handful of days to discover.

I spent about 5 days in Madrid wandering by means of fairly plazas and parks, marveling at artwork in world-class museums, and occurring presumably the perfect meals tour I’ve ever taken anyplace on this planet.

And now I am able to share my excellent Madrid itinerary with you!

When to go to Madrid

The “greatest” time to go to Madrid goes to be subjective. Excessive season in Madrid is through the summer season months (particularly July and August), when each temperatures and customer numbers soar. Nevertheless, these are horrible months to go to in the event you, for instance, hate the warmth (like me), or need to watch Actual Madrid play, because the European soccer season normally runs from mid-August by means of Could.

The most cost effective time to go to Madrid is through the winter (November-February), however that is additionally when the climate tends to be chilly and wet.

In my view, the perfect instances to go to Madrid are within the shoulder seasons: March-Could, and September-October, particularly. Throughout these months, the climate shall be delicate (presumably even a bit chilly in March!) however usually sunny.

All of the images on this publish had been taken on a go to in late February, which was chilly however principally sunny! It was quiet in Madrid throughout this time, which means I had no hassle doing all of the issues I wished to do.

3 days in Madrid itinerary

This itinerary is written based mostly by myself private experiences in Madrid. I’ve distilled it down to three days within the metropolis, as I feel 3 days in Madrid is the right size of time for a primary go to!

This 3-day Madrid itinerary goes to incorporate highlights like:

• The BEST Spanish meals tour
• Touring the Royal Palace
• Exploring Madrid’s nice artwork museums
• Going to a flamenco present
• Seeing a Crystal Palace and an Egyptian temple
• And extra!

So let’s go to Madrid!

Day 1: Let’s EAT

Madrid, like many cities in Spain, is a superb metropolis in the event you love meals (and, I imply, who would not like meals once they journey?). So right this moment we’ll give attention to a number of the glorious meals experiences to have right here.

Morning: Meals tour

Begin your day with an actual spotlight: a Spanish meals tour round Madrid with Devour Excursions. This firm by no means goes flawed with its local-led meals excursions, and this specific one in Madrid is without doubt one of the greatest meals excursions I’ve ever been on!

The “Final Spanish Delicacies Tour” covers a lot meals, historical past, and meals historical past about Madrid in roughly 3.5 hours. You may strive churros and chocolate, go to an area market, eat recent fried calamari sandwiches, and even find out about vermouth! This tour consists of 15+ totally different tastings at 6+ totally different native spots, and can simply cowl each breakfast and lunch for you.

(I will not give away every thing about this tour, however it’s severely nice. You can book it here, and be aware that it does are inclined to promote out!)

Should you do not need to spend cash on a meals tour, then listed here are some distinctive meals experiences you’ll be able to have by yourself this morning/afternoon which can be thought-about musts in Madrid:

• Get churros with chocolate – Essentially the most well-known spot is at Chocolatería San Ginés, which at all times has a line however is nicely price it.
• Strive vermouth – Vermouth is mostly a pre-lunch aperitif in Madrid, so give it a strive.
• Eat a Bocadillo de Calamares – Fried squid sandwiches are probably the most well-known sandwiches to come back from Madrid! (I used to be stunned to be taught this, too.) Strive a standard one at La Campana, on a aspect road close to Plaza Mayor.
• Strive Gambas al Ajillo – One other must-try for seafood lovers is that this garlic shrimp dish. The preferred place to strive it’s at La Casa del Abuelo, which invented it!

Afternoon: Plaza Mayor

After your meals tour, you might really feel the urge to stroll off a few of these energy! You may go to Plaza Mayor in your meals tour, however you may wish to return by yourself time to admire the structure, or maybe seize a drink at one of many cafes and do some folks watching (simply be sure you keep watch over your individual belongings!).

Non-compulsory: Purchase nun cookies

A enjoyable additional aspect quest you’ll be able to go on not removed from Plaza Mayor is to purchase some cookies from the cloistered nuns on the Monastery of Corpus Christi las Carboneras. The nuns bake recent conventional cookies right here each week, and you may enter and purchase some from them – if you realize the place to seek out them!

You may search for the massive brown doorways on Calle de Puñonrostro, about half a block down from the doorway to the Corpus Christi Church. There’s normally an indication on or close to these doorways as of late that claims “Venta de Dulces,” together with a the buzzer close to the signal. You may ring the highest buzzer button, and the doorways will open.

As soon as contained in the convent, observe the arrows and indicators to a tiny, darkish room with a Lazy Susan-style flip desk and a cookie menu taped to the wall. The nuns who dwell listed here are cloistered, which means they will not present themselves to strangers. However a nun is behind the flip desk and you will simply order verbally from her (I do not consider they communicate a lot English, however simply say the identify of the cookies you need, or have Google Translate assist you!).

It is a cash-only transaction. You may put your cash on the flip desk, after which a nun will bag up your cookies first, and offer you any change you are owed second. It is a enjoyable Madrid expertise!

Night: Mercado de San Miguel

IF you might be hungry in any respect for dinner (you truthfully may not be after all of the meals you have had right this moment), I like to recommend heading over to Mercado de San Miguel. This lined market is stuffed with stylish recent meals stands, the place you’ll be able to eat as a lot or as little as you want.

Day 2: Get historic

As we speak we’ll give attention to a number of the wealthy and attention-grabbing historical past in and round Madrid, which incorporates visits to palaces, temples, parks, and extra.

Morning: Royal Palace

Begin off right this moment with a go to to Madrid’s unbelievable Palacio Actual de Madrid (Royal Palace), which is the biggest royal palace in Europe! The palace continues to be an official residence of the Spanish royal household, although right this moment it is principally solely used for ceremonial occasions – which means you’ll be able to tour elements of it!

You possibly can go to the Royal Palace by yourself with an audioguide, however I actually do advocate a guided tour right here, as there’s simply a lot to see and find out about. I booked this tour of the palace, which additionally consists of entry to gardens (and you may improve to additionally embody the Royal Collections in order for you).

A tour of the Royal Palace consists of greater than 1,000 years of historical past, from when the Alcázar of Madrid was constructed right here within the ninth century, to the 1700s when the present palace was constructed, right through to present-day. You may find out about Spanish royalty, and go to the throne room, banquet halls, non-public royal flats, and extra. Only a tiny proportion of the 3400+ rooms right here!

Afterwards, you’ll be able to discover the Sabatini Gardens hooked up to the palace, or the 20 acres of the Campo del Moro gardens.

(Book a skip the line ticket here | Book a guided tour here)

Late morning: Almudena Cathedral

After your go to to the Royal Palace, cross the Plaza de la Armería to go to the Catedral de Santa María la Actual de la Almudena. The Almudena Cathedral took over 100 years to construct (from 1883-1993), and was the primary cathedral exterior of Rome to be consecrated by a pope (Pope John Paul II consecrated this one in 1993).

You possibly can enter the Cathedral totally free, however there’s a small price if you wish to go to the museum and crypts inside.

Earlier than leaving, be sure you additionally cross the road and stroll as much as the Mirador de la Catedral for a superb view of the Cathedral from exterior.

Early afternoon: Temple of Debod

After your go to to the Royal Palace and Almudena Cathedral, make your approach on foot to Parque de la Montaña, up on a hill overlooking the Royal Palace and far of Madrid. (The stroll takes about quarter-hour with out stops.)

Alongside the way in which, you’ll be able to stroll by means of Plaza de Oriente to see the Teatro Actual opera home, and the attractive Plaza de España with its large column and statues.

In Parque de la Montaña, there are a number of viewpoints or miradouros providing up glorious views of Madrid. However the primary attraction right here is the Temple of Debod, an historic Egyptian temple that was transported to Madrid all the way in which from Aswan, Egypt.

The temple itself dates all the way in which again to the 2nd century, when it was constructed to the Egyptian god Amun and the goddess Isis. Within the Nineteen Sixties, when Egypt was making ready to construct the Excessive Dam in Aswan, the nation requested for worldwide assist to avoid wasting lots of its historic temples just like the grand Abu Simbel. Spain was one among many international locations that provided financial help.

To thank the nation, Egypt gifted the entire Temple of Debod to town of Madrid.

They dismantled and moved all the Temple of Debod from Egypt to Madrid within the Nineteen Seventies, and right this moment you’ll be able to go inside it and see the traditional reliefs and different structure. It is one of many solely still-standing historic Egyptian monuments that may be seen exterior of Egypt, so it is actually distinctive!

Visiting is free, however you may need to reserve a time to visit online upfront so you’ll be able to keep away from lengthy strains.

Late afternoon: Cerralbo Museum or Liria Palace

After visiting a little bit of historic Egypt in Spain, you may need to go to a historic Spanish constructing subsequent. Not removed from the park that homes the Temple of Debod yow will discover two glorious choices:

• Cerralbo Museum – Linked to the Ministry of Tradition, the Cerralbo Museum homes the gathering of Enrique de Aguilera y Gamboa, Marquis of Cerralbo. The gathering is inside a historic mansion which in itself is beautiful, and consists of 50,000 objects on show, together with work, sculptures, tapestry, furnishings, clocks, armor, and extra.
• Liria Palace – This neoclassical palace is the Madrid residence of the Dukes of Alba, and homes their massive (and precious) assortment of artwork and historic objects.

Night: Discover the Literary Quarter

Madrid’s Barrio de las Letras, or Literary Quarter, is one among my favorites, and is nicely price a little bit of exploring in night. This neighborhood was as soon as residence to a few of Spain’s biggest writers like Lope de Vega and Cervantes, and right this moment is understood for its cobbled lanes, cafes, tapas bars, boutiques, and its general vibe.

Stroll down Calle Huertas (a pedestrian-only road), order a beer and tapas at Cervecería Alemana (visited by Hemingway), and do some people-watching on Plaza de Santa Ana.

Day 3: Embrace the humanities

You have eaten your approach round Madrid and gotten a style of its historical past – so right this moment it is time to get extra of a style of this metropolis’s wealthy arts and tradition scene.

Morning: Museo Nacional del Prado

The Museo del Prado is the foremost nationwide artwork museum in Spain, being residence to tens of 1000’s of items of European artwork, together with what’s extensively considered the perfect assortment of Spanish artwork on this planet. Right here yow will discover works by the likes of Goya, Velázquez, Bosch, El Greco, Titian, Rubens, and extra.

Well-known works you may discover right here embody the Backyard of Earthly Delights by Bosch, Las meninas by Diego Velázquez, Goya’s Black Work (together with Saturn Devouring His Son), and The Cardinal by Raphael.

And whereas this artwork museum is not an awesome dimension, I might nonetheless advocate reserving a guided tour with a view to get probably the most out of it. This skip-the-line ticket includes a guided tour (go for the small-group possibility!), whereas this morning tour will get you into the museum early earlier than it will get crowded.

Non-compulsory late morning: Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía

If one artwork museum is not sufficient, you would additionally go to the Reina Sofia Museum right this moment, which is near the Prado. Whereas the Prado showcases the works of Spanish and different European masters, the Reina Sofia focuses on extra up to date artwork from the twentieth century onwards.

Essentially the most well-known work housed within the Reina Sofia is Picasso’s Guernica, alongside different works by Picasso, Dalí, Gris, Miró, and extra. This museum is just barely smaller than the Prado, so once more you may need to go for a guided go to right here.

Wish to go to each the Prado and Reina Sofia in a single morning? This combo guided tour is superb worth.

Afternoon: Parque de El Retiro

This afternoon, let’s head open air to Madrid’s massive metropolis park, El Retiro. El Retiro Park is a big city park relationship again to the nineteenth century, when it was authentic constructed by the Spanish royal household. It is now a public park overlaying 350 acres, and has options like a boating lake, gardens, sculptures, and the attractive Palacio de Cristal, or Crystal Palace.

The Crystal Palace is a part of the Reina Sofía Museum right this moment, and is free to go to. (There’s generally a line to get inside, however it’s price it to attend and see the virtually all-glass construction from each inside and outdoors.)

Bonus: You possibly can stroll by means of the Actual Jardín Botánico, a beautiful botanical backyard with strolling trails and greater than 5000 varieties of dwell vegetation, in your option to El Retiro.

Night: Flamenco present

This night, you’ll be able to expertise the artwork of flamenco music and dancing. Flamenco originated in southern Spain, however in the event you’re not heading there on this journey, then Madrid is a good spot to get a style of this passionate model of music and dance, as there have been flamenco venues working right here for greater than 100 years.

Flamenco options passionate (and generally unhappy) songs accompanied by guitar and a dance model punctuated by stomping, clapping, and whirling skirts. It is breathtaking to look at!

There are a number of locations to see flamenco in Madrid, with a number of the greatest being Corral de la Moreria, Tablao las Carboneras, Cardomomo, Teatro Flamenco Madrid, and Tablao Flamenco 1911.

You may positively need to e book forward for this:

When you’ve got extra time…

Should you’re in Madrid for longer than simply 3 days (or in the event you don’t love a few of my strategies), listed here are a pair different issues I might additionally advocate:

• Tapas & Wine Tour – In case one meals tour is not sufficient, you’ll be able to take this evening food tour to get a way of Madrid’s tapas and wine tradition. (That is one other tour by Devour, and you may’t go flawed with any of their excursions!)
• Actual Madrid – Should you’re a soccer (soccer) fan, then you definitely’ve in all probability heard of Spain’s most well-known soccer crew, Actual Madrid. They play in La Liga, and play 38 video games (half at residence) from August to Could. So in the event you occur to be visiting throughout a house match, you may need to get tickets! In any other case, you can even go to/tour Santiago Bernabéu Stadium (get a ticket here).

The place to remain in Madrid

Any resorts in central Madrid are a very good possibility location-wise. However listed here are my picks:

Gran Lodge Inglés

The Gran Hotel Ingles is positioned in Madrid’s stylish and historic Literary Quarter. It is a luxurious boutique lodge with lovely rooms and glorious service. It is the top-rated lodge in Madrid on TripAdvisor, and that is the place I stayed – and I liked it! I may stroll to in all places I wanted to get in Madrid, and my room was tremendous snug.

Different Madrid resorts

If the Gran Lodge Ingles is not fairly best for you, listed here are another Madrid choices I’d fortunately keep at:

Methods to get round in Madrid

Madrid is a really flat and pretty compact metropolis; I acquired across the metropolis heart simply on foot, and by no means walked greater than perhaps 20 minutes at a time.

Nevertheless, there are many different methods to get round, too, together with by utilizing the metro system or rideshare applications like Uber. Should you suppose you may use a lot of public transit whereas on the town, you should purchase a tourist travel pass at any metro machine.

Who’s able to plan a visit to Madrid?

Amanda Williams is the award-winning blogger behind A Harmful Enterprise Journey Weblog. She has traveled to greater than 60 international locations on 6 continents from her residence base in Ohio, specializing in experiential and considerate journey by means of the US, Europe, and remainder of the world. Amanda solely shares ideas based mostly on her private experiences and locations she’s really traveled!