Getting around Madrid

3-day Madrid itinerary

So here it is, the MexicoCassie 3-day Madrid itinerary. It’s designed to give you the best the city has to offer, to steer you away from the over-touristed spots, preferring authentic experience and learning over hype. I hope you love it.

⭐️ This does assume you have 3 full days in the city.

☕️ It also assumes you’ll be eating breakfast in your hotel or in a cafe near your hotel. I don’t make breakfast restaurant recommendations but I do know that Chocolatería San Ginés reputedly serves excellent churros. I’m a bread and tomato for breakfast kinda-person myself, which is unlikely to be bad wherever you go.

Day 1 in Madrid

Lunch

Leave by 2pm so you can have a nice leisurely Spanish lunch.

Afternoon activity

🌳 ⛲️ Parque El Retiro

After a busy morning you’ll want to relax so I recommend heading to El Retiro Park, the gorgeous urban park in central Madrid. Stroll through the trees in this UNESCO World Heritage Site park, and don’t miss

Evening activity

Flamenco show

Day 2 in Madrid

Morning activity

🔎 Museum time

Now you’ve seen the most important of all the galleries in the city (the Prado, obv), it’s time to choose which of the museums/galleries you want to see next.

Palacio Real de Madrid – this 18th century royal palace (pictured with Stich above) is the biggest palace in Western Europe. It is an enormous baroque building with over 3,000 rooms holding works by artists such as Caravaggio, Velázquez & Goya. Don’t miss the throne room.

→ Book entrance tickets in advance to prevent morning frustrations

Reina Sofia Museum – if modern art is more your thing then the Reina Sofia Museum will wow you right off your feet. If you want to see Picasso’s iconic and extremely moving Guernica, this is where you’ll find yourself heading. I saw a tile replica in the small town of Guernica in the Basque Country but it really doesn’t compare.

You’ll also find works by Salvador Dalí, Joan Miró, Juan Gris and more here as you journey around the Spanish modern art scene and its commentary on the political and socio-economic events of the 20th century.

→ Book book tickets in advance

Thyssen-Bornemisza Museum – smaller than El Prado, this is a more manageable museum than the Prado, it won’t exhaust you on you second museum day. Here you’ll follow European art from the middle ages to the modern day. Look out for Van Gogh, Picasso,  Lichtenstein, Gauguin, Hopper, Dalí and more.

→ Buy skip-the-line and guided tour Thyssen tickets now

Museo de América – this is a fabulous collection of pre-hispanic art and artefacts. In a country that doesn’t always hold its hand up and say, ‘yeah, sorry our colonialism wasn’t/isn’t great’, it’s good that this museum exists. It looks at pre-hispanic cultures with respect (while, obviously, holding their artefacts). I highly recommend visiting here.

→ This is a quieter and less visited museum so no need to book in advance

National Archaeological Museum – while maybe not on everyone’s list of top museums to visit, I am a huge fan of Madrid’s incredible Archaeology Museum. I chose to explore every floor (and therefore level of history) but if you’re short on time, just pick a culture and head to the correct area.

→ No need to buy tickets in advance, it’s rarely too crowded and tickets are only €3 / pp

Lunch

Afternoon activity

My recommendation is to get high this afternoon 😉. You know I mean ‘find a mirador’, right? There are CBD shops in the city so you could get high-high if you wanted but that’s not what I’m actually suggesting.

So, mirador recommendations:

Palacio de Cibeles mirador

From here the views over the city are phenomenal (€3 a ticket). You can buy the tickets online or from the information desk when you go in. Be aware that this mirador closes when the weather is bad. On the ground floor you’ll find a good cafe/restaurant, sofas for relaxing (not in the cafe) and a lovely souvenir shop.

This is a good option if the weather is good and you want to spend time exploring Gran Vía and Madrid centro after.

What else is nearby: Puerta del Sol (where you’ll find KM 0 and the iconic statue of the bear in the tree), the Plaza Mayor & the Plaza de España, Banco de España (which sometimes hosts free exhibitions).

Hidden gems: Espacio Fundación Telefónica – a really interesting free exhibition space.

Circulo de Bellas Artes

From this cultural centre you get great views over to the Palacio de Ciebeles (€5 a ticket).

This is just down the road from the Palacio de Cibeles. Its benefits are that you get views of the Palacio, which is a magnificent building (it’s my favourite in all of Madrid). The ‘mirador’ here is not actually a mirador, it’s a really nice rooftop terrace bar with incredible views.

What else is nearby: Puerta del Sol (where you’ll find KM 0 and the iconic statue of the bear in the tree), the Plaza Mayor & the Plaza de España, Banco de España (which sometimes hosts free exhibitions).

Hidden gems: Espacio Fundación Telefónica – a really interesting free exhibition space

Faro de Moncloa

From the top of this 92 metre tower you can really see the whole city (€4 a ticket) but it is not located in the centre of town.

Choose this option if it’s bad weather as it’s indoors. Also a good option if you’ve gone to the Museo de América in the morning as it’s right next door.

Evening activity

Let’s just go out for supper and a few drinks tonight. I don’t have a specific recommendation for you because the city is too big and I don’t know where you’ll be staying. I guarantee you’ll find something excellent though because Madrid’s food scene is truly and seductively wonderful.

Day 3 in Madrid

Morning activity

This morning I recommend handing over control to someone else for a few hours. It’s always nice to properly relax and let someone else look after you, right? So let’s take a fun tour.

👣 Whether you want to take a walking tour, a tuk-tuk tour or a cooking tour/class there’s definitely something for you. I recently took a cooking class in Madrid and loved every second of it because not only did I get to learn about local food, I also just got to hang out, relax, eat & drink and learn about Madrid with a lovely group of people.

These are my suggestions:

👨🏽‍🎤 Street art tour – take a guided tour around some of the coolest districts of Madrid with a ‘graffiti hunter’, learning about Spain’s street art culture while checking out some of the most iconic graffiti in town.

→ Reserve your spot now

🥘 If you have any interest in learning about traditional Spanish food this mercado & paella class will be a great option for you. After a visit to a neighbourhood market where you’ll learn how to buy local products, the group heads to a nearby professional restaurant kitchen to learn how to make paella, a variety of tapas dishes and a traditional dessert all while laughing, drinking vermouth (maybe that’s why you’ll laugh so much), and eating.

→ Reserve your spot now

🛺 I haven’t taken a tuk tuk tour myself but I’ve seen them around and I like the look of them because 1) they get deep inside Madrid in a way the tour buses can’t, and 2) the drivers/guides always seem to have happy, smiling people in their tuk tuks.

→ Reserve your tuk tuk guide now

Lunch

🍝 If you took a cooking class, I guarantee you won’t be eating for around 18 hours but if you didn’t and you do want to eat something, I recommend Pizzaiolo in Chueca, one of the best Italian meals I’ve ever had outside of Italy.

Afternoon activity

Since I’ve just sent you into Chueca for lunch, have a wander around the area. It’s a delight (and yes, it’s the queer district of Madrid). If you don’t want to just stroll around, head to the Museo de Historia de Madrid or the Museo de Romanticismo, both of which are nearby and very interesting.

And that’s a wrap on your 3 excellent days exploring Madrid! I hope you have a brilliant time and I’d love to know if you use my itinerary.

→ And for your next visit, use my bigger guides to Madrid – “5 days in Madrid” and “Is Madrid worth visiting?” to find even more exciting activities, sites and day trips from the city.

¡Buen viaje!