I actually made three trips to Spain before ever visiting the capital city of Madrid. For whatever reason, other parts of Spain (like Barcelona and Seville and the Pyrenees) called to me more.

But when I finally did make it to Madrid? I definitely regretted not visiting sooner!

Madrid is an excellent European capital city. It's filled with good food, pretty architecture, and unique culture, and is extremely easy to get around. It's easy to get *to* as well, and is the perfect size if you only have a handful of days to explore.

I spent about 5 days in Madrid wandering through pretty plazas and parks, marveling at art in world-class museums, and going on possibly the best food tour I have ever taken anywhere in the world.

And now I'm ready to share my perfect Madrid itinerary with you!

When to visit Madrid

The “best” time to visit Madrid is going to be subjective. High season in Madrid is during the summer months (especially July and August), when both temperatures and visitor numbers soar. However, those are terrible months to visit if you, for example, hate the heat (like me), or want to watch Real Madrid play, as the European football season usually runs from mid-August through May.

The cheapest time to visit Madrid is during the winter (November-February), but this is also when the weather tends to be cold and rainy.

In my opinion, the best times to visit Madrid are in the shoulder seasons: March-May, and September-October, specifically. During these months, the weather will be mild (possibly even a bit cold in March!) but generally sunny.

All the photos in this post were taken on a visit in late February, which was chilly but mostly sunny! It was quiet in Madrid during this time, meaning I had no trouble doing all the things I wanted to do.

3 days in Madrid itinerary

This itinerary is written based on my own personal experiences in Madrid. I've distilled it down to 3 days in the city, as I think 3 days in Madrid is the perfect length of time for a first visit!

This 3-day Madrid itinerary is going to include highlights like:

• The BEST Spanish food tour
• Touring the Royal Palace
• Exploring Madrid's great art museums
• Going to a flamenco show
• Seeing a Crystal Palace and an Egyptian temple
• And more!

So let's go to Madrid!

Day 1: Let's EAT

Madrid, like many cities in Spain, is an excellent city if you love food (and, I mean, who doesn't like food when they travel?). So today we're going to focus on some of the excellent food experiences to have here.

Morning: Food tour

Start your day with a real highlight: a Spanish food tour around Madrid with Devour Tours. This company never goes wrong with its local-led food tours, and this specific one in Madrid is one of the best food tours I've ever been on!

The “Ultimate Spanish Cuisine Tour” covers so much food, history, and food history about Madrid in roughly 3.5 hours. You'll try churros and chocolate, visit a local market, eat fresh fried calamari sandwiches, and even learn about vermouth! This tour includes 15+ different tastings at 6+ different local spots, and will easily cover both breakfast and lunch for you.

(I won't give away everything about this tour, but it's seriously great. You can book it here, and note that it does tend to sell out!)

If you don't want to spend money on a food tour, then here are some unique food experiences you can have on your own this morning/afternoon that are considered musts in Madrid:

• Get churros with chocolate – The most famous spot is at Chocolatería San Ginés, which always has a line but is well worth it.
• Try vermouth – Vermouth is most commonly a pre-lunch aperitif in Madrid, so give it a try.
• Eat a Bocadillo de Calamares – Fried squid sandwiches are the most famous sandwiches to come from Madrid! (I was surprised to learn this, too.) Try a traditional one at La Campana, on a side street near Plaza Mayor.
• Try Gambas al Ajillo – Another must-try for seafood lovers is this garlic shrimp dish. The most popular place to try it is at La Casa del Abuelo, which invented it!

Afternoon: Plaza Mayor

After your food tour, you may feel the urge to walk off some of those calories! You'll visit Plaza Mayor on your food tour, but you might like to return on your own time to admire the architecture, or perhaps grab a drink at one of the cafes and do some people watching (just be sure to keep an eye on your own belongings!).

Optional: Buy nun cookies

A fun extra side quest you can go on not far from Plaza Mayor is to buy some cookies from the cloistered nuns at the Monastery of Corpus Christi las Carboneras. The nuns bake fresh traditional cookies here every week, and you can enter and buy some from them – if you know where to find them!

You'll look for the large brown doors on Calle de Puñonrostro, about half a block down from the entrance to the Corpus Christi Church. There's usually a sign on or near these doors these days that says “Venta de Dulces,” along with a the buzzer near the sign. You'll ring the top buzzer button, and the doors will open.

Once inside the convent, follow the arrows and signs to a tiny, dark room with a Lazy Susan-style turn table and a cookie menu taped to the wall. The nuns who live here are cloistered, meaning they won't show themselves to strangers. But a nun is behind the turn table and you'll just order verbally from her (I don't believe they speak much English, but just say the name of the cookies you want, or have Google Translate help you!).

This is a cash-only transaction. You'll put your money on the turn table, and then a nun will bag up your cookies first, and give you any change you're owed second. It's a fun Madrid experience!

Evening: Mercado de San Miguel

IF you are hungry at all for dinner (you honestly might not be after all the food you've had today), I recommend heading over to Mercado de San Miguel. This covered market is filled with trendy fresh food stands, where you can eat as much or as little as you'd like.

Day 2: Get historical

Today we're going to focus on some of the rich and interesting history in and around Madrid, which includes visits to palaces, temples, parks, and more.

Morning: Royal Palace

Start off today with a visit to Madrid's incredible Palacio Real de Madrid (Royal Palace), which is the largest royal palace in Europe! The palace is still an official residence of the Spanish royal family, though today it's mostly only used for ceremonial events – meaning you can tour parts of it!

You can visit the Royal Palace on your own with an audioguide, but I really do recommend a guided tour here, as there's just so much to see and learn about. I booked this tour of the palace, which also includes access to gardens (and you can upgrade to also include the Royal Collections if you want).

A tour of the Royal Palace includes more than 1,000 years of history, from when the Alcázar of Madrid was built here in the 9th century, to the 1700s when the current palace was built, all the way through to present-day. You'll learn about Spanish royalty, and visit the throne room, banquet halls, private royal apartments, and more. Just a tiny percentage of the 3400+ rooms here!

Afterwards, you can explore the Sabatini Gardens attached 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 visit to the Royal Palace, cross the Plaza de la Armería to visit the Catedral de Santa María la Real de la Almudena. The Almudena Cathedral took over 100 years to build (from 1883-1993), and was the first cathedral outside of Rome to be consecrated by a pope (Pope John Paul II consecrated this one in 1993).

You can enter the Cathedral for free, but there is a small fee if you want to visit the museum and crypts inside.

Before leaving, be sure to also cross the street and walk up to the Mirador de la Catedral for an excellent view of the Cathedral from outside.

Early afternoon: Temple of Debod

After your visit to the Royal Palace and Almudena Cathedral, make your way on foot to Parque de la Montaña, up on a hill overlooking the Royal Palace and much of Madrid. (The walk takes about 15 minutes without stops.)

Along the way, you can walk through Plaza de Oriente to see the Teatro Real opera house, and the beautiful Plaza de España with its huge column and statues.

In Parque de la Montaña, there are several viewpoints or miradouros offering up excellent views of Madrid. But the main attraction here is the Temple of Debod, an ancient Egyptian temple that was transported to Madrid all the way from Aswan, Egypt.

The temple itself dates all the way back to the 2nd century, when it was built to the Egyptian god Amun and the goddess Isis. In the 1960s, when Egypt was preparing to build the High Dam in Aswan, the country asked for international help to save many of its ancient temples like the grand Abu Simbel. Spain was one of many countries that offered monetary aid.

To thank the country, Egypt gifted the whole Temple of Debod to the city of Madrid.

They dismantled and moved the entire Temple of Debod from Egypt to Madrid in the 1970s, and today you can go inside it and see the ancient reliefs and other architecture. It's one of the only still-standing ancient Egyptian monuments that can be seen outside of Egypt, so it's really unique!

Visiting is free, but you might want to reserve a time to visit online in advance so you can avoid long lines.

Late afternoon: Cerralbo Museum or Liria Palace

After visiting a bit of ancient Egypt in Spain, you might want to visit a historical Spanish building next. Not far from the park that houses the Temple of Debod you can find two excellent options:

• Cerralbo Museum – Connected to the Ministry of Culture, the Cerralbo Museum houses the collection of Enrique de Aguilera y Gamboa, Marquis of Cerralbo. The collection is inside a historic mansion which in itself is stunning, and includes 50,000 objects on display, including paintings, sculptures, tapestry, furniture, clocks, armor, and more.
• Liria Palace – This neoclassical palace is the Madrid residence of the Dukes of Alba, and houses their large (and valuable) collection of art and historical objects.

Evening: Explore the Literary Quarter

Madrid's Barrio de las Letras, or Literary Quarter, is one of my favorites, and is well worth a bit of exploring in evening. This neighborhood was once home to some of Spain's greatest writers like Lope de Vega and Cervantes, and today is known for its cobbled lanes, cafes, tapas bars, boutiques, and its overall vibe.

Stroll down Calle Huertas (a pedestrian-only street), 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 arts

You've eaten your way around Madrid and gotten a taste of its history – so today it's time to get more of a taste of this city's rich arts and culture scene.

Morning: Museo Nacional del Prado

The Museo del Prado is the major national art museum in Spain, being home to tens of thousands of pieces of European art, along with what is widely regarded as the best collection of Spanish art in the world. Here you can find works by the likes of Goya, Velázquez, Bosch, El Greco, Titian, Rubens, and more.

Famous works you'll find here include the Garden of Earthly Delights by Bosch, Las meninas by Diego Velázquez, Goya's Black Paintings (including Saturn Devouring His Son), and The Cardinal by Raphael.

And while this art museum isn't an overwhelming size, I'd still recommend booking a guided tour in order to get the most out of it. This skip-the-line ticket includes a guided tour (opt for the small-group option!), while this morning tour gets you into the museum early before it gets crowded.

Optional late morning: Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía

If one art museum isn't enough, you could also visit the Reina Sofia Museum today, which is close to the Prado. While the Prado showcases the works of Spanish and other European masters, the Reina Sofia focuses on more contemporary art from the 20th century onwards.

The most famous work housed in the Reina Sofia is Picasso's Guernica, alongside other works by Picasso, Dalí, Gris, Miró, and more. This museum is only slightly smaller than the Prado, so again you might want to opt for a guided visit here.

Want to visit both the Prado and Reina Sofia in one morning? This combo guided tour is excellent value.

Afternoon: Parque de El Retiro

This afternoon, let's head outdoors to Madrid's large city park, El Retiro. El Retiro Park is a large urban park dating back to the 19th century, when it was original built by the Spanish royal family. It's now a public park covering 350 acres, and has features like a boating lake, gardens, sculptures, and the beautiful Palacio de Cristal, or Crystal Palace.

The Crystal Palace is part of the Reina Sofía Museum today, and is free to visit. (There's sometimes a line to get inside, but it's worth it to wait and see the almost all-glass structure from both inside and outside.)

Bonus: You can walk through the Real Jardín Botánico, a lovely botanical garden with walking trails and more than 5000 types of live plants, on your way to El Retiro.

Evening: Flamenco show

This evening, you can experience the art of flamenco music and dancing. Flamenco originated in southern Spain, but if you're not heading there on this trip, then Madrid is a great spot to get a taste of this passionate style of music and dance, as there have been flamenco venues operating here for more than 100 years.

Flamenco features passionate (and sometimes sad) songs accompanied by guitar and a dance style punctuated by stomping, clapping, and whirling skirts. It's breathtaking to watch!

There are several places to see flamenco in Madrid, with some of the best being Corral de la Moreria, Tablao las Carboneras, Cardomomo, Teatro Flamenco Madrid, and Tablao Flamenco 1911.

You'll definitely want to book ahead for this:

• Madrid: “Emociones” Live Flamenco Performance (Teatro Flamenco Madrid)
• Madrid: Live Flamenco Show with Food and Drinks Options (Tablao Torres Bermejas)
• Madrid: La Cueva de Lola Flamenco Show Tickets with Drink

If you have more time…

If you're in Madrid for longer than just 3 days (or if you don't like some of my suggestions), here are a couple other things I'd also recommend:

• Tapas & Wine Tour – In case one food tour isn't enough, you can take this evening food tour to get a sense of Madrid's tapas and wine culture. (This is another tour by Devour, and you can't go wrong with any of their tours!)
• Real Madrid – If you're a football (soccer) fan, then you've probably heard of Spain's most famous football team, Real Madrid. They play in La Liga, and play 38 games (half at home) from August to May. So if you happen to be visiting during a home match, you might want to get tickets! Otherwise, you can also visit/tour Santiago Bernabéu Stadium (get a ticket here).

Where to stay in Madrid

Any hotels in central Madrid are a good option location-wise. But here are my picks:

Gran Hotel Inglés

The Gran Hotel Ingles is located in Madrid's trendy and historic Literary Quarter. It's a luxurious boutique hotel with beautiful rooms and excellent service. It's the top-rated hotel in Madrid on TripAdvisor, and this is where I stayed – and I loved it! I could walk to everywhere I needed to get in Madrid, and my room was super comfortable.

Other Madrid hotels

If the Gran Hotel Ingles isn't quite right for you, here are some other Madrid options I would happily stay at:

• SLEEP'N Atocha – A great option near the art museums that focuses on sustainability.
• Pestana Plaza Mayor Madrid – Near all the action around Plaza Mayor.
• Only YOU Boutique Hotel Madrid – Another good boutique hotel option that's centrally located.
• Petit Palace Arenal – Located on a pedestrian street in Puerta del Sol, this is a good mid-range/budget option.

How to get around in Madrid

Madrid is a very flat and fairly compact city; I got around the city center just on foot, and never walked more than maybe 20 minutes at a time.

However, there are lots of other ways to get around, too, including by using the metro system or rideshare programs like Uber. If you think you'll use lots of public transit while in town, you can buy a tourist travel pass at any metro machine.

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Who's ready to plan a trip to Madrid?