What to Do in Madrid: My Favorite Places, From the Prado to the Rastro

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Written by Inbal Cabiri
Last updated date - October 23, 2026
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Somehow it took us more than five years of living in Spain to make it to Madrid as a family. We’d each been before, separately, but this was our first time there with the kids. Since then I’ve been back again and again – with the family, on my own and on press trips – and this is my list of unique things to do in Madrid – the one I’d send a friend.

It works whether you’re traveling with children or without them. Need a place to stay first? Here are my favorite hotels in Madrid.

Prefer pictures? Every trip is saved in my Instagram highlights.
Not following me yet? Come say hi

Where to stay in Madrid?

Four hotels I’ve stayed in and would happily book again: 7 Islas Hotel, Vincci The Mint (my kids’ favorite), Catalonia Plaza Mayor and Catalonia Gran Vía. For more options by neighborhood and budget, see my full guide to the best hotels in Madrid.

Prefer an apartment? Here are my picks for vacation rentals in Madrid.

Looking for a hotel in Madrid?

My tried-and-tested picks, by neighborhood and budget.

See my favorites

When to visit Madrid

Summers are scorching and winters are cold, so spring and autumn are the sweet spot. On my July trip we had one sticky 35°C (95°F) day; the rest hovered around 30°C (86°F) and were perfectly bearable.

Update: I went back in January and it was freezing – just a few degrees above zero. It didn’t spoil the fun, even for a sun-seeker like me, but dress for it: a good long coat, thermal socks and shoes that aren’t made of fabric.

Day trips and where to go next

Madrid is a good base for the rest of Spain: the Pyrenees, San Sebastián, Bilbao, the Picos de Europa and southern Spain.

Closer in, there are beautiful day trips just outside the city, and the Castilla y León region – hint: wonderful wild mushrooms and one of Spain’s great wine regions are hiding there.

Getting around in Madrid

Metro and buses are efficient and noticeably cheaper than in Barcelona. Buy a rechargeable card at any metro station and top it up as you go.

Taxis and ride-hailing: Uber worked well for us. Traffic can be heavy, though, and walking is often faster.

Local tip: City buses 001 and 002 (not lines 1 and 2) are free for everyone, residents and visitors alike. Tell the driver how many of you there are, take the free tickets and keep them until you get

Food in Madrid

Like any European capital, Madrid has it all, from market bars to Michelin-starred restaurants. Food deserves its own post, so I wrote one: where to eat in Madrid, with picks for vegetarians like me and for everyone else.

Best unique experiences to do in Madrid

On one July weekend I finally completed Madrid’s “Golden Triangle” of art: the Prado, the Reina Sofía and the Thyssen-Bornemisza. What a treat. Only have time for one? Honestly, you can’t go wrong – each is a world of its own.

Prado Museum

I’ll start with the classics. You don’t need to be an art lover to enjoy the Prado. The paintings are an open window onto centuries of Spanish history, religion and court life.

This is the home of Velázquez, Goya and El Greco, alongside Titian, Rubens and Bosch’s The Garden of Earthly Delights. The collection runs to thousands of works, so set aside at least a few hours.

The neoclassical building is a beauty in itself, flooded with natural light. The gardens around it are a lovely place to sit afterwards and let the masterpieces sink in. Don’t miss it.

Address: C. de Ruiz de Alarcón, 23, 28014 Madrid

Coffee first? Plenti Cafe is a few minutes’ walk away: a pleasant place to sit, friendly service and good light meals.

Reina Sofia Museum

The Museo Reina Sofía is Spain’s national museum of modern and contemporary art, and one of the most important in the world. It’s named after Queen Sofía, but she never lived here. The main building was once Madrid’s 18th-century General Hospital, and its glass elevator towers were added when it became a museum.

The collection covers the 20th and 21st centuries, with Picasso, Dalí and Miró at its heart.

The star is Picasso’s Guernica (1937), his response to the bombing of the Basque town during the Spanish Civil War. Nothing prepares you for how enormous it is. Picasso painted it in about five weeks, and photos of the work in progress hang on the wall opposite – worth a look. Photography is banned in the whole room, so you won’t find my pictures here.

My advice: take a guided tour or an audio guide, or at least read up before you go. Knowing the story adds a whole extra layer.

The museum is big, and you can easily spend half a day here. The inner courtyard with its kinetic sculpture is gorgeous – I’d happily come back just to sit there with a book. There’s also a small but lovely shop.

Address: C. de Sta. Isabel, 52, 28012 Madrid – steps from Atocha station.

Thyssen-Bornemisza Museum

The Thyssen fills the gaps the other two leave. It grew out of the private collection of Baron Hans Heinrich Thyssen-Bornemisza, which Spain acquired in the early 1990s. His wife, Carmen Cervera, later added her own.

The result is a walk through seven centuries of European art in one building: early Renaissance masters such as Ghirlandaio, Impressionists like Monet, Van Gogh, and on to Kandinsky and Mondrian. It also runs strong temporary exhibitions.

Address: Paseo del Prado, 8, 28014 Madrid

El Rastro Flea Market

A slow wander through a flea market is my idea of the perfect weekend morning, ideally right after a good breakfast. You get a peek into other people’s lives, conversations you’d never have anywhere else and mountains of old treasures I’d happily load onto a truck. (Technically I could. But there’s peace at home to consider.)

El Rastro is one of the largest open-air markets in Europe. Every Sunday, from morning until mid-afternoon, it spills across several streets of La Latina.

It’s more than a market – it’s a social ritual. Locals haggle, tourists browse cautiously, a street musician strums his guitar. To me, that’s the real Madrid: lively, mixed and unapologetically passionate. A little rough around the edges, like a cake that’s slightly burnt – and that’s exactly the charm.

Address: Plaza del Campillo del Mundo Nuevo, 3B, 28005 Madrid

Retiro Park

A hit on our first trip, and again on the second – and the perfect place to cool off in summer.

Parque del Buen Retiro, “the Park of the Pleasant Retreat,” lives up to its name. Its 125 hectares (about 300 acres) of green sit right in the middle of the city, a calm escape from Madrid’s pace.

Don’t miss:

La Rosaleda, the fragrant rose garden
Palacio de Cristal, a glass-and-iron marvel
Palacio de Velázquez and its rotating exhibitions
A rowing boat on the Great Pond, with the monument to King Alfonso XII as your backdrop
Bikes and pedal karts, rented just outside the park’s northeast corner from Diverbikes or Retiro Magic. We loved the pedal karts.

Like Middle Eastern pastries? Stock up at Pastelería SHAM and eat them in the park.

Book a guided walk of Retiro Park · Or see it by Segway

Royal Palace - Palacio Real

Yes, Spain has a king – and, one day, a queen. Felipe VI’s elder daughter, Princess Leonor (born 2005), is heir to the throne.

I ended up at the Royal Palace almost by chance, as part of a private history tour I’d been invited on, and I’m so glad I did. The palace is vast and dazzling: room after room of gold, antique tapestries and extraordinary furniture, plus the Royal Armory and an impressive art collection. The gardens make for a lovely stroll with views over the city. Time it right and you’ll catch the Changing of the Guard.

I strongly recommend a guided tour – without one, it’s hard to know what you’re looking at.

Santiago Bernabéu Stadium tour

A friend of mine says the Bernabéu isn’t just a stadium – it’s a space station for souls who believe in football. Even if you’re not a die-hard Real Madrid fan, he insists, there’s nothing quite like it.

The tour takes you deep into the club’s inner sanctum: the dressing rooms, the grand halls and giant screens replaying historic moments that make your heart skip a beat. And walking the same path Ronaldo took before a big match? Goosebumps.

The whole thing feels like a cross between a high-tech museum and a modern temple, and every corner drops you into another unforgettable moment in the club’s history. Even if you only come for the photos, you’ll leave a convert. Let me know how it goes.

I recently sent a family delegation, who reported back that the renovated stadium is seriously impressive – there are even heaters in the roof for winter games.

The rooftop at Círculo de Bellas Artes

Nothing says Madrid summer like a rooftop. We found a great one – with a front-row view of the Pride parade passing below. It’s at the end of Gran Vía, just before Plaza de Cibeles.

The Círculo de Bellas Artes (CBA) is a private, non-profit cultural center and one of the most important in Europe. Its program spans visual arts, literature, science, philosophy, film and performance.

At the entrance, tell the guard you’re heading to the Azotea, pay the small entrance fee and take the elevator to the roof. Up top: a 360-degree view, a bar and a restaurant. Take it from me: come for the view, eat elsewhere.

Address: C. de Alcalá, 42, 28014 Madrid

Street art tour in Lavapiés

I love street art – not tags, but the murals and pieces made for the public, often carrying unconventional, protest or underground messages. My first street art tour was in Shoreditch, London, about a decade ago, and it hooked me. Since then I’ve done others in Athens and Barcelona.

This one, which I was invited on, was led by the lovely Santi. More than anything, it was an invitation to really look at public space. Look up and around and so much is revealed – but without a guide, it’s hard to understand what’s behind it.

I liked the company’s sustainable approach. Groups are capped at 15 people so as not to disturb residents, and Santi made time for a wonderful community garden that had nothing to do with street art. He took us through every corner of Lavapiés, a neighborhood I’d walked through before without noticing the staggering amount of art. We even bumped into the artist Tetoux, minutes after seeing some of his work.

Two things I learned on the tour:

Every year, the neighborhood holds a tapas festival called Tapapiés.
It also hosts C.A.L.L.E., an annual street art festival where around 50 artists paint the neighborhood’s walls and shopfronts. Look for the square signs that mark the festival’s works.

They also run hands-on tours for kids, which sadly weren’t on the day we were there. All the details are on the Cool Tour Spain website.

I also wrote about the neighborhood in a feature on Madrid for seasoned travelers for El Al’s Atmosfera magazine – see my published work.

Calle de la Cava Baja

A tip from a local: head to this street and its neighbor, Calle de la Cava Alta.

Looking for tapas? This is the place. The street is lined with taverns and bodegas serving patatas bravas, pimientos de Padrón, seafood bites, cheeses and local wines. The charm is its old-world feel, which is the whole story of La Latina – pastel-colored houses and vintage shop signs.

Every August, the area gets even livelier during the Fiestas de La Paloma, one of Madrid’s biggest street parties, with music, street performers and plenty of food.

WOW Concept Store

If you’ve been to Madrid, you’ve probably walked past this store on Gran Vía and decided not to go in. I get it. The ground floor looks like a tourist trap you could find in central Amsterdam, London or Berlin – an odd mix of cosmetics, sneakers and gadgets.

What pulled us in, besides the striking sculptures at the entrance, were the Polaroid cameras the kids suddenly had to have. Out of curiosity, we kept going up. It was a real surprise.

Fashion floors: hipster, avant-garde and retro pieces. Not my style, so we kept climbing.
Fifth floor: beautiful homeware, including a small Hay collection and a few pieces from Vitra, the Swiss brand I’m hopelessly in love with.
Sixth floor: a restaurant with seriously cool design, packed with people, and a rooftop terrace. We didn’t eat, but it’s worth going up just to sit in that space.
Basement: electronics. The kids test-drove every new gadget and found a PlayStation room (I seriously considered leaving them there – they’d never have noticed). I was thrilled by the record players and retro arcade machines, and almost bought sunglasses with built-in speakers.

A great find. I really liked it.

Address: Gran Vía, 18, 28013 Madrid. There’s a second branch in Salamanca (C. de Serrano, 52), which I haven’t tried yet.

Crazy Mary Librería & Co

Pearl Jam meets the Barrio de las Letras at Crazy Mary, a bookstore named after the band’s song. Its founders, María and Alfredo, have curated a lovely mix of new titles, reissued classics and hidden gems from independent publishers. Grab a coffee, find a seat and let the jazz in the background do the rest.

Address: Calle de Echegaray, 32, 28014 Madrid

Pearl Jam and Madrid’s Las Letras neighborhood intersect at the new bookstore, Crazy Mary, named after the band’s song and album. Founded by book lovers Maria and Alfredo, their bookstore is a haven for book lovers. It has a selection of new titles, reissued classics, and hidden gems from independent publishers, all carefully curated. You can sit there with a cup of coffee and enjoy jazz music playing in the background.

Address Calle de Echegaray, 32, 28014 Madrid, Spain

Librería Desnivel

A bookstore devoted to mountains and climbing – and so much more. Don’t skip it even if you’re afraid of heights. There’s a huge selection of travel books and guides, a whole floor of magazines and a wonderful corner of beautiful, unusual children’s books. A real pleasure to browse.

Address: Pl. de Matute, 6, 28012 Madrid

Mercado de San Miguel

A beautiful iron-and-glass market hall that launched the gourmet-market trend. It’s mostly visitors, and the stalls sell what may be the most dressed-up tapas I’ve ever seen. If you’re vegetarian, there’s not much for you here – and if you’re after authentic local food, it’s probably not your place either.

Prefer an authentic market? Head to Mercado de Antón Martín or Mercado de la Paz instead.

A flamenco show

Yes, flamenco was born in Andalusia, in the south – but that’s no reason to skip a show in Madrid, with some of the best dancers and guitarists around. (Come to think of it, I’ve never come across a female flamenco guitarist.) It’s a lovely evening out, and even my kids didn’t complain much. Friends loved this show in Madrid.

Madrid with Kids and Teens

National Museum of Natural Sciences

Not huge and not especially hands-on, but enjoyable. The museum dates back to 1771 and holds millions of specimens, from fossils and taxidermied wildlife to giant dinosaur skeletons.

We arrived just as a workshop that looked great was wrapping up, so check the schedule before you go. Best for kids who love animals; less so for budding scientists or kids who want activities.

IKONO

A fun, very Instagrammable space that filled a half-hour gap in our day (though not cheaply).

It’s one of those immersive experiences. The founders were inspired by Kyoto’s Arashiyama Bamboo Forest and wanted to recreate the thrill of discovering a new place and capturing it on camera. Fifteen rooms across 600 square meters invite you to use your senses and take pictures. The highlight, without a doubt, was the blue ball pit.

Sweet Space

An interactive museum devoted entirely to candy – another immersive experience, so to speak. Each of its six rooms explores a different side of sweets. If someone in your family is a dentist, good news. If not, decide in advance how much sugar your crew is allowed.

The best bits: the spiral slide and the giant fridge where you can lock up your little monkeys – just for the photo, of course.

Not cheap, not long. Keep your expectations low.

OXO Video Game Museum

I was thrilled to discover that this brilliant place has opened a Madrid branch. We found the original in Málaga a few years ago and loved it.

It’s an interactive museum that tells the story of video games over more than 70 years, from the very first consoles to the latest tech and VR adventures. You can dig into gaming history, play on classic and new consoles, catch rotating exhibitions, join workshops and see how gaming became a cultural phenomenon. For nostalgic types like me, it’s a must.

Address: Calle Postigo de San Martín, 8 (by Plaza del Callao), 28013 Madrid

The Robot Museum

A little deflated after Sweet Space, we stumbled on this one, then in the same tucked-away mall, one floor up. It wasn’t cheap either, but it was genuinely interesting.

Our guide was fascinating and charming, and kept the kids’ full attention for 40 minutes – no small feat. Even I, whose closest brush with robots is Star Trek, loved it. We saw robots from movies, Sony’s robot pets and machines from the past three decades. At the end there’s a play area with toy robots, which you can also buy in the shop.

Update: the museum has since moved out of the city center to The Dreamland Proÿect, C. Aeronáutica, 33, 28923 Alcorcón.

One to skip: Velázquez Tech Museum

I rarely write negative reviews, but this place crossed a line. We paid over €30 for the three of us and spent 25 minutes inside, much of it waiting for a hologram video to start. To me, it cheapens the whole digital-art trend. Been there? I’d love to hear what you thought.

Parque Warner Madrid

One of Spain’s biggest theme parks, built around Warner Bros. movies and characters. It’s in San Martín de la Vega, about 40 minutes’ drive from central Madrid.

The park is split into themed areas, including Hollywood Boulevard, Old West Territory, Cartoon Village and DC Super Heroes World. Thrill-seekers should head for the Superman coaster, which hits around 100 km/h (62 mph), and Batman: La Fuga, an inverted coaster where your feet dangle. Younger kids have gentler rides like Tom & Jerry and Scooby-Doo, plus live shows with Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck and friends.

It gets very busy in high season and on holidays, so buy tickets ahead, arrive early and check the show times.

Getting there: by car, by public bus, or with a ticket that includes round-trip transport.

When: the park opens on a seasonal calendar, roughly spring to winter. Check the official schedule before you go.

Warner Beach

Madrid summers are hot, and this water park next to Parque Warner is the perfect way to cool off. Expect water slides, a wave pool, a lazy river and splash areas for little ones, plus food stands, lockers and changing rooms. Open in summer only, roughly June to September.

More things to do in Madrid

Tours, museums, day trips out of the city – it’s all here.

What’s missing from my list? Tell me about the places you loved in Madrid. And if you use my tips, tag me on Instagram – I love seeing where you end up.

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