Madrid - should we book an extra day?
We're booked for the Spain and Portugal Trip for 2026, and trying to decide if we need to spend an extra day in Madrid. I know we stay there 3 nights and have a tour of the city. The hotel is located near three of the museums. Much of the 3 days are spent in surrounding cities.
What must "must see" attractions/activities would we be missing if we did not book the extra day?
0
Comments
Per Trip Advisor here are the top attractions in Madrid.
You can assess how many you see on tour and how many you don't see that might be worth spending an extra day.
We are taking this trip in October, and opted to take the train and spend a few days in Barcelona—that intrigued us more than additional time in Madrid.
Madrid is one of my favorite cities. In addition to the “Museum Triangle”, there are lesser known museums and great walking neighborhoods such as the Plaza Mayor area. The food (tapas) and wine are wonderful and very reasonably priced. Sometimes, the best experiences can be had by just walking around and mingling with the locals.
From what I am reading you really don’t spend much time in Madrid. For us the highlight of the city is the Prado and you get a tour of that. If you really love art museums extra time at the Thyssen and/or the Reina Sofia is worthwhile. We visited the Royal Palace on an independent trip many years ago and found it somewhat boring but if you are into that sort of thing…. We skipped it on our Tauck tour a few years ago for a stroll in the beautiful Retiro park, a visit to Plaza Mayor so I could get very good ice cream, buy yet another hat, and my wife could stand in line at her favorite espadrile store. The Mercado is nice, but small. Your call on spending extra time. I agree with the above poster-Barcelona is a far more interesting city and a short train ride away from Madrid. We’ve flown home from there many times, good flight availability, maybe not quite as good as Madrid.
For those who like Barcelona as well as Salvador Dali, you can take a train from Barcelona to his home and museum. The train takes approximately one (1) hour. My stepson recently did this while on business and enjoyed it.
I would personally not miss Picasso's Guernica at the Reina Sofia museum, which might be open late some nights. Also it looks like on your last day, they might let you stay longer in the Prado after your guided tour. As such, you might not need an extra day there but you could definitely find things to do or go shopping. The food court at the Corte Ingles department store chain is excellent. Also, I never went there but my father, and years later our close friends, went to El Escorial outside of Madrid and loved it. This would be a good day trip for history buffs. It is a UNESCO site.
Thanks for all your comments. We've been to Barcelona as part of the Paradores trip, and loved it. Seems like there is enough to warrant another day. Retiro Park looks nice as are some of the roof top bars and just wandering around. But we'll continue to explore before making our final decision. We really appreciate the input.
Retiro Park is a nice place to walk around. You can actually rent a row boat on the small pond in the park. There are lots of interesting floral and shrub areas as well. Here are a couple of examples.
Here are a couple of pictures that show the row boats in Retiro Park.
The park is a treasure. There are botanical gardens, monuments, statues, fountains and much more.
You may also look into having dinner at Botin. It's an old restaurant that is popular with locals as well as tourists. One of their specialities is roast suckling pig. Familes would get the entire pig. You can get a single serving of it. If you are interested, you need to make a reservation quite a bit in advance.
I don't know what time year you are planning on going. We were in Madrid last summer after a Douro river cruise and found it to be very hot (over 100F). It's worth noting that most rooms in the Royal Palace are not air-conditioned. Only the room with the china was air-conditioned. I was surprised that the throne room, the formal dining room and most others were not air-conditioned.
I second the suggestion about the Retiro Park and the botanical garden. Even in the heat, they were both enjoyable for walking around.
Botin is a great restaurant. Reservations are imperative, however.
There are several excellent tapas bars in the vicinity of Plaza Mayor. We have also eaten very nice meals at the Palace Hotel. Their Sunday Brunch is phenomenal but reservations are mandatory.
During our tour 6 of us did as suggested by Kathy M, had dinner at Botin. Here is some information on the restaurant.