Madrid — Sights
Three great museums, and dinner at eleven.
- Prado Museum — Velázquez, Goya and Bosch under one roof; the last two hours are free
- Reina Sofía Museum — The modern art museum you visit for Picasso's Guernica
- Thyssen-Bornemisza Museum — Seven centuries of Western art in one loop; free on Monday afternoons
- Royal Palace of Madrid — A palace of 3,000-plus rooms still used for state ceremonies
- Almudena Cathedral — A cathedral finished only in 1993, with the palace below its dome
- Plaza Mayor — A 400-year-old square boxed in by red-ochre buildings
- Puerta del Sol — Spain's kilometre zero, the bear statue and the Tío Pepe sign
- Retiro Park & Crystal Palace — Rowing lake, glass palace and UNESCO-listed parkland
- Temple of Debod — A real Egyptian temple, with the sun setting behind it
- Gran Vía & Círculo de Bellas Artes Rooftop — A €6 rooftop with the Metrópolis dome dead ahead
- Santiago Bernabéu Stadium Tour — Real Madrid's re-roofed home, from trophy room to dressing room
- Mercado de San Miguel & El Rastro — Tapas in an iron-and-glass market, then the Sunday flea market
- Flamenco at Corral de la Morería — A tablao running since 1956, footwork inches from your table
- Toledo Day Trip — A medieval hill town ringed by a river; sunset from the lookout is the high point
- Segovia Day Trip — A 2,000-year-old Roman aqueduct and a fairytale castle
- Cibeles Palace Viewpoint — Gran Vía and Alcalá from the old post office roof
- Royal Botanical Garden — An 18th-century garden beside the Prado, leaf-covered in autumn
- Las Ventas Bullring Tour — Red brick and horseshoe arches, behind the scenes at the bullring
- CaixaForum Madrid — A building with a wall of living plants for €6
- El Capricho Park — An 18th-century noble garden open only on weekends
- Basilica of San Francisco el Grande — Madrid's widest dome, with a Goya on the wall
- Lázaro Galdiano Museum — Goya, Bosch and El Greco in a collector's house
- Cerro del Tío Pío (Siete Tetas) — Madrid at sunset from a row of round hills