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  • Things to do

We could easily name you a thousand things to do in Madrid, and even that would be selling the Spanish capital short. Madrid is a magnificent city, full of fantastic museums, immersive galleries and a whole lot of great restaurants too.  Madrid is a city that does both; if you’re a newcomer, you can hit the city’s best sites and have the time of your life. For returning visitors, it’s time to explore the spots that only locals will know. Luckily, the editorial team over at Time Out Madrid spend all of their time trying out the newest spots in town, so you’re in very good hands. Here are the best things to do in Madrid.  RECOMMENDED:🥘 The best restaurants in Madrid🍸 The best bars in Madrid🏘️ Where to stay in Madrid🏨 The best hotels in Madrid This article was written by the editorial team at Time Out Madrid. At Time Out, all of our travel guides are written by local writers who know their cities inside out. For more about how we curate, see our editorial guidelines.

Where to stay in Madrid to enjoy the city’s best areas
  • Hotels

Having a lovely and cosy place to rest your head is the key to every dream vacay. And for the ultimate experience, the location, location, location has to suit you. In the Spanish capital, Madrid, each neighbourhood has its own personality and character, and they're all incredible places to stay, so it can be hard to choose which one. We’ve created this guide to help you choose the area that’s just right for your taste, needs, and preferences. From the nightlife in Chueca to the tranquillity of Chamberí; the classic architecture in Los Austrias to the alternative Malasaña; from multicultural Lavapiés to the epicentre of tourism, Sol – Madrid has a barrio that'll fit your vibe. Here's our selection of the best neighbourhoods in Madrid. Hasta luego!  RECOMMENDED:📍 The best things to do in Madrid🏡 The best Airbnbs in Madrid🛏 The best hotels in MadridThis article includes affiliate links. These links have no influence on our editorial content. For more information, click here.  

  • Restaurants

There’s so much great food in Madrid, it can be a little overwhelming, huh? Do you go for classic tapas, a local gem, or one of its Michelin-starred fine dining options? Well, the correct answer is that in Madrid, you can have it all.  Madrid’s gastronomy scene has been enjoying its time in the spotlight for some time now, so you’re pretty much spoilt for choice, no matter your tastes. On this list you’ll find both blinding culinary creativity and first-class local produce, dishes from faraway lands and meals that are truly, deeply from Madrid. Whether you’re going all-out or doing the Spanish capital on the cheap, here are the best restaurants in Madrid.  RECOMMENDED:🍸 The best bars in Madrid🥘 The best things to do in Madrid🏘️ Where to stay in Madrid🏨 The best hotels in Madrid This guide is by Gorka Elorrieta, a writer at Time Out Madrid. At Time Out, all of our travel guides are written by local writers who know their cities inside out. For more about how we curate, see our editorial guidelines.

  • Things to do

With all the brilliant things you can see and do in Madrid, it can be tough trying to plan your itinerary, so we're here to help you narrow down your quest. Want to ooh and ahh over palaces both grand and humble? Appreciate great art in the city's best museums and galleries? Spend some time strolling around outdoors and relaxing in parks? We've got you covered. So, whether you live in the Spanish capital or are visiting for a few days, you simply have to visit these 10 must-see attractions in Madrid. Vamos! RECOMMENDED: See our full guide to the best things to do in Madrid

La Duquesita
  • Shopping
  • Bakeries
  • Chueca

This traditional pastelería, dating from 1914, has featured in lots of period-piece movies. Gorgeous chocolates and cakes are up for grabs, along with turrón in the run-up to Christmas.

  • Bars and pubs

So, you’re in Madrid, and you’d be doing it wrong if you didn’t spend your days tucking into tapas and sipping wine in the sun all day. After all, what else are you to do? Luckily, Madrid has bars in abundance, serving up draught beer, natural wines, bar snacks and a hell of a lot of Vermouth.  But whether you're after a traditional 'taberna', a century-old bodega, modern cocktails, or a coffee for breakfast or to relax in the afternoon, we've got something for everyone. And each and every one has been tested (some more than once) by our expert critics. Here are the best bars in Madrid right now.  RECOMMENDED:🥘 The best things to do in Madrid🏘️ Where to stay in Madrid🏨 The best hotels in Madrid This guide was last updated by Gorka Elorrieta, a writer at Time Out Madrid. At Time Out, all of our travel guides are written by local writers who know their cities inside out. For more about how we curate, see our editorial guidelines.

  • Museums
  • Centro

When the Thyssen-Bornemisza Museum opened in 1992, Madrid added the third point to its 'Art Triangle'. The private collection of the late Baron Hans-Heinrich Thyssen-Bornemisza is widely considered among the most important in the world. Consisting of 775 paintings, it came to Madrid on loan, but in 1993 a purchase agreement was signed with the Spanish state. The Baron's decision to sell was doubtlessly influenced both by his wife, Carmen 'Tita' Cervera, a former Miss Spain, and by the offer to house the collection in the then-empty Palacio de Villahermosa, an early-19th-century edifice that was superbly reconverted by architect Rafael Moneo at fantastic cost. Thanks to this revamp, involving terracotta-pink walls, marble floors and skylights, visitors can view the works with near-perfect illumination. In 2004, the museum unveiled its new wing, in which some 200 paintings and sculptures from Carmen Cervera's own collection are on display. The collection was started by the Baron's father in the 1920s but was dispersed among his heirs after he died in 1947. The Baron bought back the paintings from his relatives and then extended the collection, buying up first Old Masters and then more contemporary works during the 1960s. The Baron's own home in Lugano, Switzerland, had space to exhibit only some 300 works, leading him to look for a larger home for the collection, most of which can now be seen in Madrid, though some paintings are housed in the MNAC museum in Barcelona. The colle

13 of Madrid's hottest clubs to visit right now
  • Nightlife

If some of the things to do in Madrid that you want to explore are nightlife-related, you’ve come to the right place. Seven days a week, you can go out until the wee hours of the morning and end up eating churros with chocolate for breakfast in any café along with taxi drivers starting their shifts. You won’t have trouble finding the right spot to fit your mood among the bars, EDM-filled nightclubs and grungy pubs that have earned their place on the scene. Here’s our choice of the best clubs in Madrid. All you have to do is head out, drink up and soak it all in.  RECOMMENDED: Full guide to the best nightlife in Madrid

  • Museums
  • Madrid

In the strange summer of 2020, Madrid welcomed the opening of the Museum of Illusions, where nothing is as it seems. Some rooms are upside-down, others appear to shrink just when you look at them, there are never-ending corridors, rooms where gravity is out of whack, and even a vortex tunnel. The Museum of Illusions has opened doors in more than 18 countries around the world, giving visitors a fascinating visual experience that's also educational, with a myriad of optical illusions that are real puzzles to behold. Some are as well known as the Rubin vase, the kaleidoscope or the 3D stereogram, but there are also newer ones to discover and boggle the mind. Believe us when we tell you that your eyes will not believe what they think they are seeing.

Museo del Prado
  • Museums
  • Art and design
  • Retiro

Housed in a gigantic neo-classical building begun by Juan de Villanueva for King Carlos III in 1785, the Prado is Madrid's best-known attraction. Carlos originally wanted to establish a museum of natural sciences, reflecting one of his chief interests, but by the time it opened in 1819, this plan had changed: the Prado was a public art museum – one of the world's first – displaying the royal art collection. Spain's 'non-king', José Bonaparte, had first proposed the idea and it was taken up by the restored King Fernando VII (grandson of Carlos III), who took on board the demands of the Real Academia de Bellas Artes and those of his second wife, María Isabel de Braganza, considered the museum's true founder. In recent years the Prado has undergone a highly ambitious expansion programme, including the remodelling of the Casón del Buen Retiro, an annex opposite El Retiro park. Behind the main museum, on the site of the San Jerónimo cloisters, the new and highly controversial cube-shaped edifice designed by Rafael Moneo, which hosts temporary exhibitions, was also unveiled. As for the collection itself, the core is still the royal holdings, so it reflects royal tastes and political alliances from the 15th to the 17th centuries: court painters Diego de Velázquez and Francisco de Goya are well represented. Political ties with France, Italy and the southern, Catholic Netherlands also assure the presence of works by Titian, Rubens and Hieronymous Bosch ('El Bosco'), among others. The