Private Madrid in a day:
The Prado, the Palace, and everything between
Destination
Madrid, Spain
Duration
4 hours
Tour size
Max 10
Language
English
Overview
The Prado, the Royal Palace, and the old city between them are the three reasons most people come to Madrid. This private Madrid in a day tour puts them in the right order, at your pace, with a guide who knows what to show you first.
- •Walk straight into the Prado Museum and stand before Velázquez's "Las Meninas" with a guide who knows where to look first
- •Wind through Madrid's Old Town, from Plaza Mayor's arcades to the balconies of Puerta del Sol
- •Step inside Europe's largest working royal palace and into rooms still set for state occasions, from the Throne Room to the Hall of Mirrors
- •Stand in front of Goya's darkest works and Bosch's most surreal visions, guided through the Prado's collection at your own pace
- •Pause in Plaza de la Villa, where Madrid's medieval town hall still stands a few steps from a Habsburg-era courtyard
What's included
- Skip-the-line Prado Museum tickets
- Guided Prado Museum tour
- Skip-the-line Madrid Royal Palace tickets
- Guided Royal Palace tour
- Guided walking tour of Madrid's historic center
- English-speaking private Walks guide
You will visit
- Prado Museum (guided inside)
- Plaza Mayor
- Puerta del Sol
- Plaza de la Villa
- Literary Quarter
- Royal Opera House (exterior)
- Royal Palace of Madrid (guided inside)
Get a taste of Private Madrid in a day
What to expect
The Prado Museum: Velázquez, Goya, and the paintings Spain kept for itself
Your tour begins at the Goya statue outside the Prado, where your guide will meet you and walk you straight past the ticket lines. Inside, you'll head to the works that define Spanish art: Velázquez's "Las Meninas," Goya's "Black Paintings," and Bosch's hallucinatory "Garden of Earthly Delights." Your guide curates the visit around the pieces that reward close attention. Instead of three thousand separate paintings, the collection tells a single story.
Madrid's historic center: the squares that built a capital
From the Prado, you'll walk into the old city. Plaza Mayor was a marketplace, a bullfighting ring, and a stage for royal ceremonies, and the 17th-century frescoes on the Casa de la Panadería still look down on all of it. At Puerta del Sol, a small plaque in the pavement marks the point from which every road in Spain is measured. Between the two, you'll pass through the Literary Quarter and Plaza de la Villa, where the medieval and the Habsburg sit side by side.
"I always take people to a smaller painting first. Then we stand in front of the Velázquez and they can see what he was doing differently."
David,
WalksDevour guide
"The Throne Room ceiling took Tiepolo two years. I tell people to stand in the center and look up. From that spot, it all comes together."
Florin,
WalksDevour guide
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Frequently asked questions
Our guides love answering your questions. Here are some things they'd like you to know before you arrive.
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