What to See, Where to Eat, and More in Madrid, Spain

Madrid is not only Spain’s capital city, it’s also a centre of art, culture, and transportation across the country. I got the opportunity to live in the Comunidad de Madrid during university, and this past month I returned as a tourist.

Using my past experience to guide my itinerary, I spent 3 days touring my fiancé around Madrid. We explored some of the top sights, found some new museums I hadn’t visited before, and ate lots of great food. So based on my most recent visit, here are my recommendations on what to see, do, and eat in Madrid.

What’s in this guide?

• Where to Eat in Madrid
• Which Museums to Visit in Madrid
• My Recommended Walking Tours (Self-Guided)
• Easy Day Trips from Madrid
• My Map of Madrid
• FAQs About Travelling to Madrid

Where to Eat in Madrid

The food scene in Madrid is so much more than tapas (although tapas are abundantly available as well!). We sampled a wide variety of cafeterías, chocolaterías, and restaurants during our 3 days in the city. Here are some of my favourites, all of which are included in my map of Madrid.

Cafés

The top 3 cafes we tried during our stay included Loira Lope de Rueda, Pum Pum Cafe, and Doku Toku.

Loira is a fairly standard Spanish espresso bar/cafe in terms of their offerings. What sets them apart is their in-house baked goods. We stopped in for coffees and freshly baked croissants while in the Salamanca neighbourhood, but they also more substantial foods such as Croque Monsieurs, pan con tomate, loaded toasts, and sandwiches.

Pum Pum Cafe has three locations throughout Madrid: their bakery and their main cafe, both in Lavapiés, and their satellite cafe (Petit – Pum Pum Cafe) in Chamberí. We visited the petit cafe, which served excellent coffee and fresh pan con tomate on their freshly baked sourdough bread.

Doku Toku is a Japanese cafe in Argüelles, on a small pedestrian street near Plaza de España. They serve delicious homemade sweets, including homemade ice cream, as well as carefully crafted coffees and matchas. They also offer sandwiches and onigiris if you’re looking for a heartier snack or lunch.

Chocolaterías

Another chocolatería I enjoy (although the chocolate is not quite as good as San Ginés) is Chocolat Madrid on Calle de las Huertas near the Paseo del Prado.

Cervecerías

Cervecerías are casual bars or beer halls where Spaniards like to meet with friends and talk. There are many options, ranging from tiny local bars to more upscale affairs. If you are in Madrid, I have to recommend that you visit 100 Montaditos for an authentic Spanish experience. This chain can be found throughout Madrid, seemingly on every street. Once you take a look at the menu, you can immediately see why.

100 Montaditos is named such for the more than 100 mini sandwich options they provide. Their menu is full of inexpensive options, mostly ranging from 1 to 2€. The best deal, however, is to visit on Wednesday or Sunday. On these days all the sandwiches (montaditos) are 1€ and a beer or tinto de verano is 2-2.5€ depending on size.

When we visited on a Wednesday, we paid 10€ for lunch for two, so it’s a great budget option! Although there are less vegetarian options than there used to be, there are still a few to choose from. I recommend order 2-4 sandwiches per person (depending on your appetite), and I always go for the palomitas de queso as well. You need to order at the till and can do so using the item number.

Restaurants

Madrid is home to a wide and varied food scene, including foods from around Spain and the world. We were in Madrid at the end of our 2 weeks in Spain, so tried some foods outside of the Spanish tapas realm.

We had brunch at Zenith in Malasaña, one of my roommate’s favourites when I was living in the city before. The restaurant serves breakfast and lunch dishes until 5:00 pm, including specialty cocktails, healthy options like açai and smoothie bowls, brunch classics like Eggs Benedict and French toast, as well as vegan and gluten-free options.

The weather was starting to cool down during our stay, so soup felt like the perfect meal during our first night in Madrid. We headed to UDON Narváez, a ramen chain with several locations around the city. The food was delicious and perfect for a cozy meal.

We also greatly enjoyed our wood fired pizzas from MASSART in Goya (Salamanca) and their homemade tiramisu. Though a little pricier, it was a great night out and our leftovers fed us for lunch the next day. The restaurant is beautifully decorated and the staff were very kind.

I’d also highly recommend visiting Takos al Pastor located in Sol on Calle de la Salud. Since my university days, the restaurant has acquired a new, much larger space. True to its original nature, there was a line to order just 10 minutes after opening. They serve delicious, authentic Mexican tacos, quesadillas, and alambres for affordable prices (with vegetarian options!).

My final recommendation is Cantina 33, a Venezuelan restaurant that offers a variety of vegetarian and vegan options in addition to classic recipes. The restaurant is located on Calle de Campomanes, between Plaza Santa Domingo and Teatro Real.

Others

Which Museums to Visit in Madrid

Madrid has numerous museums to choose from, beyond the Museo del Prado. From stunning art museums hosting materials from medieval times to the present day to detailed history museums and natural sciences, there is a museum for everyone here.

Art Museums

The top most famous museums in Madrid are the Museo del Prado, the Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía, and the Thyssen-Bornemisza National Museum. All three museums are in a close geographical area between Atocha train station and the Retiro Park. The Prado and the Thyssen museums stand opposite one another along the Paseo del Prado, which makes up a UNESCO World Heritage Site along with the Buen Retiro.

These museums are some of the more expensive in the city, costing between 12-15€ per person. However, they do have free admission times if you don’t mind visiting while the museums are a little busier. While studying in the city, I received free admission as a student and visited each of these museums twice. On my most recent trip, we just visited the Thyssen-Bornemisza because it has the most varied collection, with pieces from across the last seven centuries.

History Museums

In addition to those three museums, there are several others I highly recommend. On most recent trip, my fiancé and I were following a self-guided walking tour down Calle Fuencarral when we happened upon the Madrid History Museum. This museum offers completely free admission, and focuses on the history of Madrid through pieces of art, sketches of buildings, furniture, clothing, and other pieces of daily life throughout Madrid{s history.

Not only was this an interesting museum to learn more about the city, but it also genuinely offers such a pleasant experience for a free museum. In the past, I have visited free or inexpensive museums with sparse or small collections, but this museum does not feel as if it is lacking. There are 3 floors for the main exhibit, plus some historic maps and models of the city over the centuries.

On our final day in Madrid, we visited the Museo Arqueológico Nacional, which I could not believe I hadn’t visited before. It is inexpensive, only 3€ per person for a general ticket with several options for a reduced fare and free hours on the weekends.

The museum begins with prehistoric times, noting the history of Palaeolithic, Neolithic, Chalcolithic and Bronze ages primarily through artifacts. The museum focuses primarily on the Iberian peninsula on the ground and first floors, with exhibits dedicated to Ancient Greece, Egypt, and West Asia on the second floor.

If you have any interest in ancient history, archaeology or anthropology I would highly recommend visiting this museum. It is in the Salamanca area on Calle de Serrano just north of the Retiro Park.

Other Museums

Additional museums and cultural sites I recommend visiting include the Templo de Debod, which is free to enter although you must book a timed entry ticket in advance; the Palacio de Cristal, which houses rotating art exhibits (though it is closed until 2027); and the National Museum of Natural Sciences.

The Natural Sciences museum houses exhibits on plants, animals, insects, and geology over time. They also have an exhibit on Ramón y Cajal and the legacy he left in the field of neuroscience, which drew my friend to the museum on her visit to Madrid earlier this year.

My Recommended Self-Guided Walking Tours

One of the best ways to explore a city and get to know it a little better is simply to walk it. As part of a sustainability initiative, the Madrid City Council put together a guide for 6 walking routes that bring you through some of the most notable areas in the city.

We completed two of these routes. One, the orange route, includes my go-to tour around the city when I am showing Madrid off to friends or family. The second route we chose was the purple route, which brought us to the Madrid History Museum.

Route 1: Sol to Templo de Debod

The first walking route I would recommend to new visitors to Madrid is the route from Sol to the Templo de Debod. This route can take anywhere from 1 to several hours, depending on the number of stops you{d like to make along the way.

I recommend starting at Puerta del Sol and following Calle Mayor west. You can stop for chocolate con churros at San Ginés or grab a snack at the Mercado de San Miguel. Make sure to see Plaza Mayor, the Old Arab City Walls, the Royal Cathedral and Palace, the Opera House and Plaza de Oriente, the Jardines de Sabatini, Plaza de Espana, and finally end your journey at Templo de Debod. The temple is worth seeing from outside even if you do not have tickets to enter.

Route 2: Canal to Gran Vía

The second route I’d recommend for return visitors or those who wish to continue exploring the city on foot is from Canal metro station south towards Gran Vía. We completed this route in the morning, beginning with breakfast at Petit – Pum Pum Café, just 5 minutes from Canal station.

From the cafe, we walked south through the lovely Plaza Olavide to connect with Calle Fuencarral. This is a popular shopping street that becomes pedestrian-only shortly before intersecting with Gran Vía. The Madrid History Museum is along this street, as is the Mercado de San Ildefonso, which is a good spot to stop for lunch after the museum.

After the market, walk along Gran Vía, which is always filled with people. Note the historic Telefónica building, which was the tallest European skyscraper at its construction in the late 1920s. It also serves as the set of the Netflix series, Las chicas de cable (The Cable Girls), set in Spain in the 1920s.

I recommend walking to the El Corte Inglés at Callao on Gran Vía and proceeding to the top floor (take the elevators on your right after you enter the building). Here you’ll find the Gourmet Experience, an upscale food market and a rooftop patio with sweeping views over Madrid.

Route 3: Walking the Parque de El Retiro

A final must-see stretch of Madrid that you need to walk is the Paseo del Prado and the Retiro Park. The Paseo del Prado is a tree-lined stretch from Atocha to the Plaza de Cibeles. You’ll pass famous museums, beautiful fountains, and statues and monuments celebrating Spanish history. In the Retiro park itself, you should check out the pond (el Estanque Grande de El Retiro), the Palacio de Cristal, the Palacio de Velázquez, the Casita del Pescador, and the Montaña Artificial.

It is also nice just to wander around the park, relax under the thick canopy of the trees, and remove yourself from the busyness of the city streets. If you get hungry while in the park, I recommend continuing to walk into the neighbouring Ibiza or Salamanca neighbours over stopping in the park. Calle de Narváez is close by and filled with options.

Easy Day Trips from Madrid

If you’re planning to stay in Madrid as a home base and travelling outside the city on smaller day trips, there are many accessible options.

You can visit neighbouring cities like Aranjuez and San Lorenzo de El Escorial without leaving the Comunidad de Madrid. This means you can take the middle-distance commuter trains (Cercanías), which is a pretty cost-efficient option.

If you wish to travel a little further, I recommend visiting Toledo, Segovia, or Ávila. I do not recommend trying to visit more than one city per day, as this will be rather hectic and prevent you from seeing more than one or two highlights. Instead, do a little reading and decide which sounds the most interesting, and invest a full day there.

My Map of Madrid

Use my map of Madrid to organize your next travel adventure. From great restaurants to my favourite museums, let this map serve as a basis for your trip planning.

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Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) About Travelling to Madrid