Is One Day in Madrid Enough?
“Is one day in Madrid enough?,” I wondered as we checked our travel plans to move onto the next city. The culture is the main attraction here. But how long do you need to experience the city of Madrid?
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Is One Day in Madrid Enough?
The beauty of Madrid is its location, which provides easy access to other cities. Thus my answer to this question is somewhat vague, though my immediate response would be: “Yes, one day is enough if it's a full 24 hours.”
Now that we've been to Madrid several times (including living there for four glorious weeks), we can confidently say it's a city where people live and work, where you can truly be a part of the culture. It's a thriving culture at that, with awesome cuisine and lots of delicious Spanish wine to go along with it.
Sites are not overwhelming in Madrid; we imagine most people have one to four things on their “wish list” when visiting, as we did. Ideally, however, you could spend two nights and at least one complete day in the city to see all the best Madrid offers, including an evening there.
If you're including Madrid on a trip itinerary, we suggest making it your home base for three to four days. This would allow you one day dedicated to Madrid and several evenings with days left for exploring some nearby cities.
Evenings in Madrid are important because if you do a day trip to a smaller, surrounding city and arrive back in Madrid anywhere from 8:00 pm to 10:30 pm you will still have plenty of dinner options because Spanish people eat dinner really late. That's part of the beauty of Madrid!
Train travel is easy from Madrid and it's easy to rent a car from Madrid for road trips too.
And you can also have breakfast or brunch in Madrid in the morning before you head out for a day trip because things in Europe don't open as early as in the US, sometimes.
What Should You Experience in Madrid with Only One Day?
A trip to Madrid should include at least these five things:
- A visit to Plaza Mayor to people watch
- Time at a museum
- Tour of the Royal Palace
- …and the Cathedral Next Door)
- Food! Tapas, beer, wine and ham {if you eat meat} are a must!
Book this Madrid Tour
People Watch and Walk Through Plaza Mayor
Plaza Mayor literally translates to “main square.” That's exactly what this beautiful location is. It's a meeting location for tours, a place to grab a drink and enjoy the atmosphere or simply grab a seat by one of the lamp bases and people-watch.
You'll see the plaza is filled with people dining outside but, since I'm a practical person who doesn't like to overpay, I always skip it since prices in the square are inflated. If you're itching to live large but not pay for a meal, however, perhaps just grab a beer.
I suggest walking just a couple of blocks to get a calamari sandwich for a very delicious, affordable meal for about five euros, including a glass of wine and olives. I also suggest signing up for a free walking tour of the city, which most likely starts in Plaza Mayor.
Spend Time at a Museum
There are plenty of choices for wonderful museums to visit when you're in Madrid. Here are three options:
I suggest the Reina Sofia to see Picasso's world famous painting, Guernica. That was Dan's life bucket list item and wow – did it leave us in awe. It's quite incredible. I could have stared at it for hours.
No matter what museum you select, pay an extra couple of euros for an audio guide. You'll get more out of your visit if you listen to the commentary on paintings that have it, especially Guernica.
Tour the Royal Palace
The Royal Palace is huge and out of its hundreds of rooms there are about 20 guests can tour. You pay for admission and do a self-guided walk-through.
Audioguides are optional for an additional cost; we recommend getting one because it truly enhances a visit. (Entrance is free after 6:00pm for EU citizens.)
Don't miss the view from the palace and adjacent gardens. When you look out from the terrace of the arched colonnade caddy corner to the palace you'll feel transported to the Spanish mountains.
Visit Almudena Cathedral Next Door
If time allows, visit the catholic cathedral next to the Royal Palace. The first photo below was taken with the palace at my back, facing the facade of Almudena Cathedral.
It's free to visit, and the ceiling paintings inside its Neo-Gothic interior is modern and uniquely colorful. It's unlike any church I've seen on all my travels. If you have even ten minutes, we recommend taking a look inside.
Almudena Crypt next to the church costs two euros to enter and is certainly worth the minimal fee for an interesting visit. Allow about twenty to forty minutes to walk through the crypt, depending on the speed you choose to experience it, reading the tombs and such.
Visit Retiro Park
This well-known Madrid park is vast! There are many areas of the park, from various gardens to tennis courts. As tourists, we think the two best places to visit in Retiro Park are the lake with rowboats and the statue and colonnade you see in the photo below and the glass conservatory.
The coolest thing about the stairs by the lake (they're just under the statue) is there's usually someone selling cans of beer for a couple of euros and often someone playing music.
It's the perfect place to watch the sunset (which is usually later in the evening in Madrid). This area is called “Estanque grande del Retiro” on Google Maps.
The glass conservatory is called “Palacio de Cristal.” It was built in the late 19th century and is currently operated under the Reina Sofia museum.
It is sometimes used for art exhibits and is made almost entirely of glass and iron, manufactured in Bilbao, northern Spain. The lake right next to Palacio de Cristal is great for photos too. I love the Weeping Willow trees that line the water in some spots.
Eat and Drink in Madrid (And Go on a Food Tour)
The food is incredible all over Spain. Though I admit some of these spots are touristy, I believe they become tourist hotspots for good reason!
The things to try in Spain are tapas, beer, wine, and churros and chocolate. You'll try all this and more if you sign up for a food tour, which is one of our favorite things to do in any city. The food in Spain is incredible, so food tours are exceptional here, especially with our favorite food tour group, Devour Tours.
The food hall Mercado de San Miguel is a great place to go if you want to try a variety of Spanish foods. They have incredible olive creations (they're bigger olives than you may have ever seen in your life!) and fresh burrata mozzarella.
There's wine and cocktails a-plenty and fresh fish options to go with it. I love that they have unique finds specific to Spain here as well, like “gulas,” which, most of the time, is simply fish protein, not the original baby eels. Trust me – it's good!
The market is open daily from 10:00 am to midnight, with two extra hours to eat Thursday, Friday, and Saturday until 2:00 am. The hours are slightly different on Christmas and New Year's, so be sure to check their website for details.
Also, note it gets VERY busy here during peak times, so be sure to bring a lot of patience if you're visiting and watch your wallet/purse! You can never be too safe abroad.
Where to Find “Free Tapas” in Madrid
If you've heard the rumors some Spanish bars provide “tapas” (or free small plates) in Spain, you'll be able to find that at a few select places in Madrid. They're not everywhere as you may have been led to believe by food shows but you can find them. Dan and I ate our way through one street one evening where a local recommended three tapas bars.
- El Respiro (Address: Calle de las Infantas, 34, 28004, Madrid, Spain)
- El Pezvador (Calle de las Infantas, 9, 28004, Madrid, Spain)
- Da Meigas (Calle de Barbieri, 6, 28004, Madrid, Spain)
They seem to all start off with a plate of paella – and while we like it it's not like these bars make the most delicious or authentic paella. So by the third bar we said, “Oh no thank you – we don't like paella!” then they'd give us the next tapa on their obvious list in their head for order of tapas.
Granted, if we were local and spoke Spanish, we could perhaps have requested a certain tapa, but we weren't local and don't speak the language.
If you want a great experience with a guide who can teach you about Spanish tapas, we can't recommend Devour Food Tours enough.
Spain is known for Chocolate and Churros (or Churros con Chocolate, in Spanish). There's one very famous place you have to try them in Madrid. Again, it's a bit touristy but it's well known for this treat for good reason: San Gines.
It's open 24 hours a day, 365 days a week. Go during off times for the greatest chance there's no line. And if there is a line…it's rather large inside so you potentially won't have to wait long.
It's been around since 1894 and they building and its design finishes are beautiful. (Address: Pasadizo de San Ginés, 5, 28013 Madrid, Spain)
If You Stay in Madrid Longer…Take Day Trips
There are a lot of options for day trips from Madrid. We suggest using the city as a home base and visiting these three cities, easily accessible by train:
There is also plenty more to see in Madrid, and you can certainly fill many days there, especially taking a “slow travel” method to really immerse yourself in the culture and lifestyle. But again, one day in Madrid is enough to hit the hotspots if that's all you have!
Where is Madrid?
It helps to know that day trips from Madrid are so easy because it's practically smack dab in the middle of the country. Madrid is where the Spanish monarch (achem, the king!) resides. (The king has almost no power but the Spanish monarchy has been around for centuries and still survives.)
Madrid is the center of the country's economy. It's the third-largest metropolitan area and city in the European Union.
Madrid has a major international airport and many train stations and routes to escape the city (or enter it from the suburbs and surrounding nearby cities) as well, should you do the day trips we mentioned, above.
Should you Visit Madrid for More Days, or Move on Elsewhere in Spain?
We recommend exploring many more areas of Spain! If you have time, visit Madrid for at least two days. This is because you will get a better feel for the country; if you're in Madrid for one day and have the time, you may as well stay overnight and at least be able to have another day, two days, or even half a day to see another museum or attraction.
You can also visit Barcelona from here and stay there a few nights, visit Valencia (a city we loved) with its famous Valencian food and famous annual Fallas Festival each spring, and head to Andalucia to places like Granada, Seville, and Cordoba.
It's also easy to fly to Lisbon, Portugal from Spain, its neighboring country to the west.
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