Madrid, Spain
Madrid packs its essentials into a remarkably small area: the Habsburg old town, the Royal Palace, and the three great art museums all sit within a 30-minute walk of Puerta del Sol. This itinerary uses that density, giving day one to royal and medieval Madrid west of Sol, day two to the Paseo del Arte museum axis and Retiro Park on the east side, and day three to the livelier neighborhoods north and the best sunset in the city at the Templo de Debod.
Two pieces of local timing matter more than any booking. First, the free museum windows: the Prado opens free every evening (18:00 to 20:00 Monday to Saturday, 17:00 to 19:00 Sunday) and the Reina Sofia has its own free evening hours, which can save a couple over 50 EUR if you sequence the days right. Second, the meal clock runs late: lunch at 14:00-15:30 is the main event, and kitchens that matter do not fill for dinner until 21:00, so fight the jet lag and eat on Madrid time.
All of old Madrid west of Puerta del Sol, walked in a compact loop: the arcaded squares in the morning, the palace at midday, and the evening finishing two streets south in La Latina, the tapas heartland.
Puerta del Sol and Plaza MayorFree
Start at Kilometre Zero, the plaque all Spanish roads measure from, then walk five minutes into the arcaded Plaza Mayor. Coffee and a squeezed orange juice at a bar off the square costs half what the terraces on it charge.
Mercado de San Miguel5-15 EUR pp
The 1916 iron-and-glass market beside Plaza Mayor, now a gourmet tapas hall. It is touristy and priced accordingly, but as a grazing stop (a 3 EUR tortilla pincho, some olives, a vermouth) it earns its fame.
Royal Palace14 EUR; free EU-citizen evening window Mon-Thu
The largest royal palace in western Europe by floor area, over 3,000 rooms with about 50 on the visit route: the Throne Room, the Royal Armoury, and Sabatini staircase are the highlights. Book a timed slot online; EU citizens enter free in the final two opening hours Monday to Thursday.
Almudena Cathedral and the palace viewpointsFree, 1 EUR donation suggested
The cathedral facing the palace is free (a small donation is requested) and its neo-Gothic interior is strikingly colorful. Then loop the Sabatini Gardens and the Plaza de Oriente for the classic palace photos.
Proper Madrid lunch15-30 EUR pp
This is the main meal. La Bola on Calle de la Bola has cooked cocido madrileno, the chickpea and meat stew, in clay pots over oak since 1870 (about 27 EUR, book ahead); a lighter option is anywhere with a menu del dia, three courses with wine for 13-16 EUR.
San Francisco el Grande and La Latina lanes5 EUR basilica entry
Walk south through the old Moorish quarter to the basilica with one of the largest domes in Christendom and an early Goya inside, then wander Plaza de la Paja as the evening light comes in.
Tapas crawl on Calle Cava Baja25-35 EUR pp
The single best tapas street in Madrid: Casa Lucio for huevos rotos (the famous broken eggs over fried potatoes), Txirimiri for Basque pintxos, La Perejila for atmosphere. One or two dishes and a cana (small beer, about 2.50 EUR) per stop, then move on.
The museum day, kept sane by geography and free-hour timing: all three great collections sit on one kilometer of the Paseo del Prado, with Retiro Park directly behind for the mid-afternoon reset before an evening Guernica visit.
Prado Museum15 EUR; free 18:00-20:00 Mon-Sat, 17:00-19:00 Sun
Book the opening slot online and go straight to the core: Velazquez's Las Meninas, Goya's Third of May and the Black Paintings, Bosch's Garden of Earthly Delights. Three focused hours beats six exhausted ones; the collection is over 8,000 paintings.
Royal Botanical Garden or CaixaForumGarden 4 EUR; vertical garden free
Decompress next door: the 18th-century botanical garden flanks the Prado, and the CaixaForum vertical garden wall is a two-minute detour up the Paseo.
Lunch in Barrio de las Letras14-25 EUR pp
Ten minutes up into the literary quarter. Cervecería Cervantes near Plaza de Jesus for classic seafood raciones, or a 14 EUR menu del dia on Calle de las Huertas; Casa Alberto (1827) does a famous vermouth on tap from the barrel.
Retiro ParkFree; rowboat 6-9 EUR
Enter by the Puerta de Felipe IV and make for the boating lake below the Alfonso XII colonnade (rowboats about 6 EUR for 45 minutes), then the Crystal Palace, a glass pavilion from 1887 hosting free Reina Sofia installations.
Thyssen-Bornemisza Museum14 EUR
Optional third museum for the committed, back down on the Paseo: the collection fills the gaps the other two leave, from Italian primitives through Hopper and Rothko. Skip without guilt if two museums is your limit.
Reina Sofia and Guernica12 EUR; free evening hours from 19:00 most days
Time your visit to the free evening window and head directly to room 205.10 for Picasso's Guernica, flanked by his preparatory sketches and the war photography that contextualizes it. The Dali and Miro rooms are one floor away.
Dinner around Plaza de Santa Ana20-35 EUR pp
Back into Las Letras for a late dinner Madrid-style: La Sanabresa for honest local cooking, or tapas standing at Casa Gonzalez, a 1931 deli-turned-wine-bar on Calle del Leon.
North and west of Sol today: the early 20th-century boulevard, the neighborhoods where Madrid actually hangs out, and a finale at the Egyptian temple viewpoint, all connected in one westward drift.
Churros at San Gines5-7 EUR pp
The 1894 chocolateria in its alley off Calle Arenal, open since forever and around the clock: an order of churros with thick drinking chocolate is about 6 EUR and is the correct Madrid breakfast at least once.
Gran Via walkFree
Madrid's Broadway, cut through the city between 1910 and 1929: look up at the Metropolis dome, the Telefonica tower (once Europe's tallest building), and the rooftop-bar crowns. Walk it end to end from Alcala toward Plaza de Espana, about 25 minutes.
Malasana3-6 EUR coffee
Duck north into the neighborhood that birthed the Movida counterculture: Plaza del Dos de Mayo, vintage shopping on Calle Velarde, specialty coffee at HanSo Cafe or Toma Cafe on Calle de la Palma.
Lunch in Malasana or Conde Duque12-20 EUR pp
The menu del dia is at its best here: 13-16 EUR for three courses at neighborhood spots. Casa Julio on Calle de la Madera is a decades-old croquetas institution (a mixed half-dozen around 7 EUR).
Plaza de Espana and the Cervantes monumentFree
Drift west to the renovated square where Don Quixote and Sancho Panza ride in bronze below the Cervantes memorial, with the 1950s Torre de Madrid behind.
Templo de Debod at sunsetFree
A genuine 2nd-century-BC Egyptian temple, gifted to Spain in 1968 for helping rescue the Abu Simbel monuments, rebuilt in a hilltop park five minutes from Plaza de Espana. The west-facing terrace is Madrid's best sunset spot; arrive 45 minutes before sundown for a good position.
Farewell dinner and vermut25-45 EUR pp
Choose your closer: Bodega de la Ardosa in Malasana (since 1892, celebrated tortilla and vermouth on tap), or book a table at Casa Botin near Plaza Mayor, certified by Guinness as the world's oldest restaurant (1725), for roast suckling pig at about 30 EUR.
Central Madrid is genuinely walkable: Sol to the Prado is 20 minutes, Sol to the Royal Palace 15. For everything else the Metro is excellent, cheap, and air-conditioned; buy a rechargeable Multi Card (2.50 EUR, shareable for sequential rides) and load a 10-trip ticket for about 12.20 EUR, which covers your whole stay. From Barajas airport, Metro line 8 reaches the center in about 30 minutes with a 3 EUR airport supplement on top of the fare, the Cercanias C1 train runs to Atocha, and the yellow Airport Express bus is 5 EUR, running 24 hours to Cibeles and Atocha. Official taxis charge a flat 30 EUR from the airport to the center.
Barrio de las Letras (Huertas)
The old literary quarter between Sol and the Prado: you can walk to all three big museums in under 15 minutes, and Plaza de Santa Ana is ringed with tapas bars. The most convenient base for this exact itinerary.
Malasana
Madrid's indie neighborhood: vintage shops, third-wave coffee on Calle del Espiritu Santo, and the densest bar scene in the city. Noisy on weekend nights, ideal if that is a feature rather than a bug.
La Latina
Medieval street plan, the famous tapas run along Calle Cava Baja, and the El Rastro flea market on its doorstep on Sundays. Quieter midweek and still only ten minutes on foot from Sol.
Sequence the free museum windows: the Prado is free 18:00-20:00 Monday to Saturday (17:00-19:00 Sunday) and the Reina Sofia has free evening hours too, but free-entry lines form 45 minutes early and you get less time, so pay for the museum you care most about and use the free window for the other.
Eat on the Spanish clock: lunch 14:00-15:30 and dinner from 21:00. The menu del dia (weekday lunch, three courses with a drink for 13-16 EUR) is the best food value in western Europe; restaurants serving dinner at 19:00 are serving tourists.
A cana (small draft beer, 2-3 EUR) almost always arrives with a free tapa; order canas rather than pints and you can graze your way through an evening for the price of the drinks.
The Metro Multi Card is shareable for sequential trips, but the 10-ride ticket is per-tap; note the 3 EUR airport supplement each way on line 8, which the standard 10-trip credit does not include.
El Rastro flea market runs Sunday mornings along Ribera de Curtidores in La Latina; go before 11:00, watch your bag in the crush, and follow the locals into the surrounding bars for a post-market vermut at noon.
August is the trap month: temperatures top 35 C, and a noticeable share of family-run bars and restaurants close for two to four weeks of holidays. If you must come in summer, do museums in the afternoon heat and streets in the morning and evening.
Madrid tap water, piped from the Sierra de Guadarrama, is excellent and a point of local pride; any bar will fill your bottle, and ordering agua del grifo in restaurants is normal and free.
Yes. Three days covers the Royal Palace and old town, the full Paseo del Arte museum row with Retiro Park, and a proper dose of the Malasana and La Latina neighborhood life, all within a compact center. What it does not allow is a day trip: Toledo (33 minutes by AVE) and Segovia (28 minutes) each deserve a full day, so add a fourth day rather than gutting one of these.
Madrid is the cheapest western European capital on this list: plan 50-95 EUR per person per day on the ground. Entries are modest (Prado 15 EUR, Royal Palace 14 EUR, Reina Sofia 12 EUR, and free evening windows can cut that), food runs 30-55 EUR a day with a menu del dia lunch at 13-16 EUR doing the heavy lifting, and a 10-trip Metro ticket is about 12.20 EUR. Decent central doubles start around 90-120 EUR a night, well under Paris or Rome rates.
Book both online a few days ahead for convenience, but neither has Colosseum-style scarcity. The Prado sells timed tickets (15 EUR) and the opening 09:00 slot is worth reserving; walk-up lines at midday can reach 30-45 minutes in high season. The Royal Palace (14 EUR) sells out occasionally on holiday weekends; note it closes to visitors during official ceremonies, which are announced on the Patrimonio Nacional site.
Four things to hunt down: cocido madrileno, the chickpea stew, done canonically at La Bola (about 27 EUR); huevos rotos at Casa Lucio on Cava Baja; a tortilla and vermouth at Bodega de la Ardosa in Malasana; and churros con chocolate at San Gines for about 6 EUR. Add a bocadillo de calamares (fried squid roll, 4-5 EUR) from the bars around Plaza Mayor, the city's unofficial street food.
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