We were lucky enough to spend 4 full days in Madrid, and I KNOW we will be back. We experienced so much and I am thrilled to share with you some of the best things to do in Madrid!
If you’re looking for a more specific post about meals we loved, check out my post here —-> 7 Places You Must Eat in Madrid
Madrid is incredibly stunning and has such an amazing vibe. From the elegance of walking along the Grand Via to the old school vibes of the Plaza Mayor, there is so much here to see and do. I could spend a week hanging out in the El Retiro Park and eating tapas in every single little spot! Here are a few that were our favorite things to do in Madrid on our trip!
Visit Markets
One of the best things to do in Madrid is to visit it’s many markets. There are so many excellent options here and they all deserve to be explored.
Mercado San Miguel is located right off the Plaza Mayor in a very touristy, yet lovely area of Madrid. It feels like a bit more of an upscale market vibe here, you’re going to spend a bit more money for the location that you’re in. This market is SO lively and if you can visit on a weekday or afternoon you’ll have a much better shot of having a pleasant experience.
We arrived in Madrid on a Thursday and essentially went straight here. We were actually able to walk around and check out a lot of the stalls without intense crowds. As with any popular market, you have to be a bit assertive to get what you want. We got a giant cone of Spanish jamón and ate while we walked around outside. Honestly just eating all the jamon that you can is one of the best things to do in Madrid.
San Anton market is just right on the cusp of the touristy areas but a bit more tucked away. We found this market to be a bit less intimidating and they had a lot of great stalls and spots to eat on offer as well! We shopped here for a few things to add to a picnic on our terrace.
Mercado San Idlefonso is a street food market that is really neat as well. This market seemed like a very fun spot to hang out and they had some cool areas to relax and sip drinks while you waited for your food. They had a number of different street food stalls and we tried quite a few.
El Retiro Park one of the best things to do in Madrid
I was absolutely charmed by this park! It is one of my favorite spots in all of Madrid and I went here, for some reason or another, every day of our trip! It is huge and has so many beautiful aspects to it. The park is an easy walk from the center of Madrid and a visit here is surely one of the best things to do in Madrid.
I would say the main attraction within this park is the lovely lake in the middle. You can rent little row boats and go out onto the lake, in the mornings we also saw a number of people doing some rowing and playing some sort of rowing handball game. The lake is an amazing place to visit any time of day, but we especially loved it at sunset. We grabbed a drink from a neighboring kiosk and enjoyed watching the sky change colors over the scene. All day the kiosks serve food, snacks, and drinks so this is a peaceful spot to come and people watch and enjoy the outdoors. You could easily forget that there is such a large city right outside the gates.
I also loved visiting here each morning for my morning run. There is a running trail that goes around the perimeter and it is very popular! There are tons of trails throughout and so much to see within the park. It’s a busy spot in the morning for walkers, joggers, dog walks, roller skaters, etc. and it was such a lively and fun place to start the day!
Stroll the Grand Via
When you’re in a new city you’ve got to do some exploring and wandering the “main sites” and Madrid does not disappoint. Taking a stroll down the Grand Via is so impressive. The buildings along the street are incredibly stunning and you can go shopping for essentially anything you’d ever need. Just walking here is truly one of the best things to do in Madrid.
There are also restaurants and bars along this street, but I would recommend dipping deeper into the streets of Madrid for that sort of thing. This is probably one of the most crowded areas we’ve ever experienced in Europe. It is a main road and the route you need to take to get to many places, so even if you don’t mean to, you’ll likely end up strolling along here at some point.
Plaza Mayor
This is essentially a beautiful, large, enclosed square. It is the meeting point for tons of tours and groups and it is lively almost all day long. You will also find lots of street performers and characters here trying to take your coins in exchange for pictures. The Plaza is stunning, holds a lot of history, and is also surrounded by so many shops and places to eat etc. You could consider it to be sort of the heart or center of the action in Madrid. You’ll likely find yourself here a number of times even if you don’t mean to.
The Prado Museum
To be completely honest I am not a museum person, but I would be remiss to not include that you should consider this place as one of the best things to do in Madrid. We also had amazing weather and visited during US winter so I didn’t want to be inside at all! This is the most popular Spanish Art Museum and it looks fascinating. If this is your kind of thing, this is not to be missed.
The Royal Palace
WOW, did this place blow me away! I know I previously mentioned that you’re not going to catch me inside a lot on a trip, but this place was worth the time indoors. Every room in the entire place is absolutely insanely beautiful!
You can walk through them all in about an hour (although you can take as much time as you need) and we were mind blown every time we stepped into a new room. The palace has over 3000 rooms and we only got to see what was really a small section of it. Tickets cost about 25 euro per person and you can book time slots to go right in. Don’t be fooled because people queue to buy tickets, you can go to the side and go right in if you already have them. This was seriously one of my best things to do in Madrid and I really recommend you do not skip.
Check out a Flamenco Show
We chose to do a flamenco show and dinner at “Corral de la Morería” and we loved this experience. The dancers were so incredibly impressive and I could have watched them for hours on end. This was my first flamenco show and it will not be my last and it is surely one of the best things to do in Madrid.
I was captivated by the performance and even though I didn’t understand the words, still found the show to be so passionate and beautiful. We were able to choose from a variety of coursed menus to go along with dinner and the food was really nice as well.
It is much smaller than I had imagined (which is a good thing), no matter where you are seated your view of the show will be excellent and you really are fully immersed in what is going on! I recommend arriving right on time as they eventually turn the lights out for the show and you can end up eating a portion of your meal in the dark. The staff here were incredible and it was a very smooth and well run professional process.
I would highly recommend this experience if you are in Madrid. I don’t have a lot of photos here because they respectfully ask that you don’t take photos or film once the show starts.
Try some amazing tapas and affordable eats
La Casa De Abuelo: this place is popular for their garlic gambas and it did NOT disappoint! It was one of my favorite things we ate during our whole trip! They were delicious. My biggest regret was that we didn’t try more menu items here. We actually came after already having eaten lunch, but we wanted to try to the gambas so badly. The croquettes here were amazing too and looking around it seemed like every bite in the place looked fantastic! Highly recommend!
Bar La Campana: a must stop for a 4 euro calamari sandwich! Best 4 euros ever spent! It was delicious, so simple but so perfect. You can dine in here or take away and it is right off of the Plaza Mayor so you’ll likely pass by during your visit.
Taberna la Concha: this place is so beautiful looking inside and out! We tried some wine here and some ham as well as some foie gras. It was delicious and it seemed so relaxed and local. This spot is popular for vermouth cocktails as well.
Lamiak: We had some of the best assorted croquettes here! This spot was SO lively and people were coming in and out the whole time. We got lucky to grab a spot, we had some nice white wine and some tapas and I highly recommend popping in here for great vibes and bites.
Choclateria San Gines: I am adding this to the list because it feels like a quintessential thing to do in Madrid. The cup of chocolate is a delight and the churros were warm and delicious. We tried a few other spots to taste test, and this one was our fav.
Check out the Malasaña neighborhood
We adored this area of Madrid and you absolutely should make sure to take a walk around here. It had tons of vintage shops, cool restaurants, and felt very relaxed compared to some other areas of Madrid. It is also really accessible as it is right off of the Grand Via. We found it to be super trendy and fun and we found our selves continuing to wander back here.
Overall, Madrid is a wonderful and fascinating city that is full of so many surprises. There are so many things to do in Madrid and I know that even with 4 full days we didn’t see nearly all that it has to offer and I can not wait to return one day!
Other options for Things to do in Madrid
If you have more time in Madrid or are the kind of traveler who has a lot of interest in a group or guided tour, you can find some options here for more things to do in Madrid —–> Madrid Tours
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