Madrid is interesting for everyone. Offering small neighborhoods, delicious restaurants, museums, parks, stadiums, markets, shopping, and so much more.
PLACES YOU MUST VISIT IN MADRID
El Museo del Prado (Prado Museum). Whether you are an art lover or not you should visit the National Art Museum, it has European art from the 12th to 19th century and the best Spanish collection. Take advantage of the free entry hours (which you can find at the museum’s page). Just so you know, a lot of people use this opportunity of the free entry so the line to get in are REALLY long, so try to get there early or get ready to wait a couple of hours to enter.
Parque de Retiro (Retiro Park). This park has a lot to offer, beautiful gardens, a crystal palace, a pond where you can rent boats and lots of statues. What I would totally
recommend is renting a bike, I did it and I got to visit the whole park. You should check if your hotel offers bike rental (‘cause you can ride your bike through the city, with the bike lanes). If it doesn’t, you can rent a bike throughout the whole city, or at the park.
Free walking tour. My hotel had an ad about a free walking tour, where we would walk for 2-3 hours, visiting the most important places in Madrid. So we decided to try it. Feel the city tours , it was amazing. Our guide, Gonzalo, knew so much and he was really funny too. We got to, not only visit the must see places, but we got to know a lot about the history behind it, that if you would be going alone you would not have know this information. So this is a MUST.
Estadio Santiago Bernabeu (Santiago Bernabeu Stadium). Real Madrid home stadium. Ok, so I’m not a Real Madrid fan (Barca all the way), but I loved the tour at the stadium. It costs 17 euros, but it’s totally worth it. At the beginning you are the top of the stadium and you get the see the field, and all seats, and it’s breathtaking. If you are a Real fan, you will love the parts in which you get to learn about the history and see all the trophies and uniforms.
100 Montaditos. 100 different kinds of small sandwiches, how doesn’t love that? You sit down at a table, read the menu, write down what you want on the order sheet, go to the cashier, hand out your paper, pay and wait for your sandwiches to be made. These are super cheap, 1 euro up to 2.50 euros, but they are super delicious. You can also buy 1 euro beers, sweet breads, fries, and ham platters. 100 Montaditos is a Spanish restaurant, but has establishments all around the world, including USA, Colombia, Guatemala, Mexico, Portugal and Belgium.
El Corte Inglés located at Plaza de Callao. This is Madrid’s Macy’s. You get to shop and buy everything you will ever need. But in this particular location, at level 9, there are several restaurants, you can chose to sit inside or in the outside patio, but the best of all you get to see Madrid’s center and its outsides from the top. It’s a view that you can’t get anywhere else, so it’s worth the visit and obviously you need to get a Tinto de Verano or an ice cream (I totally recommend pistachio, and I love the flower presentation!).
