With 3.4 million inhabitants, Madrid is the second-largest city in the European Union, and with about 45 museums, it is one of Europe’s most robust cultural centers. Landmarks in Spain’s capital city include Plaza Mayor, the Royal Plalace, the National Library, the Thyssen-Bornemisza Museum, the Reina Sofía Museum, and the Prado Museum, one of the most-visited museums in the world. If you want to see the best that Madrid has to offer, consult our list of 20 must-see landmarks and cultural destinations below.
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Puerta del Sol
Image Credit: Jon Imanol Reino/NurPhoto via Getty Images. Puerta del Sol (“Gateway of the Sun”) is to Madrileños what Times Square is to New Yorkers and what St. Mark’s Square is to Venetians. Partly closed to traffic, it is the city’s main plaza, the center (kilometer 0) of a network of Spanish roads. Dubbed “Spain’s belly button,” it was actually named after a 15th-century gate (puerta) that featured a rising sun (sol) on its front. This popular spot has been a pivotal meeting point throughout the city’s history and a magnet for New Year’s revelers. It is also a gathering point for political demonstrations, such as protests against the Iraq War in 2003.
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Rastro Market
Image Credit: Pascal Saez/VW Pics/Universal Images Group via Getty Images. With some 3,000 open-air stalls, El Rastro is one of Europe’s most popular flea markets. Every Sunday since 1740, from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m., the Ribera de Curtidores area, located between the Calle Embajadores (Ambassador’s Street) and the Ronda de Toledo, has teemed with street vendors selling everything from fake Prada shoes to rosaries and religious relics to handmade accessories and antiques. It’s impossible to see everything in one visit, but you can set out from the Plaza de Cascorro, where stands a bronze statue dedicated to Eloy Gonzalo, a Cuban war hero, and where locals catch up once a week over midmorning vermouths and tapas. Indeed, food is an essential part of the Rastro experience. Make sure to check out Bar Santurce for a glass of sherry and a plate of spit-roasted sardines before moving on.
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Puerta de Alcalá
Image Credit: Jeffrey Greenberg/Universal Images Group via Getty Images. Erected in 1778 by Italian architect Francesco Sabatini, this triumphal arch served for years as the main entrance to Madrid. King Charles III commissioned it as a replacement for a gate that had left him unimpressed when he first arrived in the city in 1759. The neoclassical monument, located next to Parque del Retiro in the middle of Plaza de la Independencia, is a junction point for three of Madrid’s best-known streets—Calle de Alcalá, the city’s longest road; Calle de Alfonso XII, which leads to the Atocha train station; and Calle de Serrano, with its luxury flagship stores. Puerta de Alcalá, made of Colmenar limestone, was named after the road that used to lead to the nearby town of Alcalá de Henares, the birthplace of writer Miguel de Cervantes. The four children featured along the top of the arch are an allegory of the cardinal virtues: fortitude, justice, temperance, and prudence.
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Templo de Debod
Image Credit: Dukas/Universal Images Group via Getty Images. The history of this temple dates back to the second century BC when the Meroë King Adijalamani had a chapel built in Nubia for the god Amun and the goddess Isis. His successors in the Ptolemaic dynasty had new rooms added around the original structure, and emperors Augustus and Tiberius, and perhaps Hadrian as well, finished the construction and decoration of the site. The temple was sealed and abandoned in the sixth century AD, until the Egyptian government decided to gift it to Spain in 1968. It was transferred to Madrid and reconstructed brick by brick between 1970 and 1972 in the city’s Quartel de la Montaña Park.
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Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía
Image Credit: Matias Chiofalo/Europa Press via Getty Images. The Reina Sofía is located within walking distance of Madrid’s other two major museums, the Prado and the Thyssen-Bornemisza. It is housed in a former neoclassical hospital (Hospital San Carlos) built in the 16th century, extended in the 18th century at Charles III’s request by architects José de Hermosilla and Francisco Sabatini, and expanded again between 2001 and 2005 by French architect Jean Nouvel. The 25,000-piece permanent collection, which focuses on contemporary art from the 1980s to the present day, was officially inaugurated in 1992. In 2021 it underwent a reorganization designed, according to former director Manuel Borja-Villel, to make the museum not only a place to visit but a place to experience, and to engage with contemporary issues such as climate change and gender fluidity.
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Plaza Mayor
Image Credit: Cristina Arias/Cover/Getty Images. In the middle of this grand central square, situated in one of the oldest parts of Madrid, stands an equestrian statue of King Philip III, begun by Flemish sculptor Giambologna and completed by his student Pietro Tacca in 1616. Plaza Mayor was constructed on top of Plaza del Arrabal, the site of Madrid’s busiest market until the late 16th century. This majestic open space, initially used to host coronations and bullfights, among other events, is home to Madrid’s Christmas market and Easter drum parade. If you visit, don’t miss Casa de la Panadería. Built around 1590, this former bakery, successively turned into royal chambers, the San Fernando Royal Academy of Fine Arts, and the Academy of History, now houses the Plaza Mayor Tourist Information Center as well as the Tienda Casa de la Panadería, a shop that specializes in local craftsmanship. Make sure to look at the façade covered with mythological frescoes created in 1992 by artist Carlos Franco.
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Catedral de la Almudena
Image Credit: Roberto Machado Noa/LightRocket via Getty Images. The construction of Madrid’s cathedral has a long and torturous history. Before turning into the glorious monument that it is today, it was designed in 1879 by Francisco de Cubas as a church devoted to the late Queen Maria de la Mercedes. When Pope Leo XIII created the Madrid-Alcalá bishopric in 1885, a grander building was called for, and Cubas changed his plans, drawing inspiration from the French 18th-century Gothic cathedrals of Reims and Chartres. Several architects took over after he died, but the project was plagued by sporadic donations, restricted budgets, and delays. In 1939, after countless setbacks, plans for the cathedral changed again because the Gothic aesthetic was no longer in style. In 1950, construction resumed under the aegis of architects Fernando Chueca Goitia and Carlos Sidro. The cloister and the façade were finished in 1955 and 1960, respectively, but the cathedral was not completed until 1993. It now doubles as a museum housing statues of the city’s patron saints—the Virgin Mary of la Almudena and San Isidro Labrador—as well as a permanent exhibition about the cathedral’s fraught history.
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El Retiro
Image Credit: Ricardo Rubio/Europa Press via Getty Images. El Retiro Park, or Buen Retiro Park, is one of the city’s most attractive green spaces, the property of the Spanish monarchy until becoming a public place in 1869. This UNESCO World Heritage site is filled with 15,000 trees and is home to various monuments, such as the Velasquez Palace and the cast-iron Glass Palace, as well as a variety of gardens. There is also Parterre Francés, which holds what is believed to be Madrid’s oldest tree—a 400-year-old Mexican conifer. At the northern entrance is the Estanque del Retiro, a large artificial pond around which Madrileños enjoy strolling; you can also rent a rowboat there.
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Palacio Real
Image Credit: Godong/Universal Images Group via Getty Images. Construction on Madrid’s Royal Palace began in 1738 at the request of Philip V, four years after a fire razed the Palace of Los Austrias. It was the residence of the kings of Spain from Charles III to Alfonso XIII. Inspired by Bernini sketches for Paris’s Louvre, the palace features 3,000 rooms, including a 70-step main staircase, a hall of mirrors, a throne hall with a ceiling painted by Tiepolo, a royal chapel holding string instruments made by Antonio Stradivari, and the royal armory housing weapons and armor dating back as far as the 13th century. Don’t miss the painting gallery, which holds masterpieces such as Luis de Morales’s Virgin with Child, Juan de Flandes’s Isabella the Catholic, Caravaggio’s Salome with the Head of John the Baptist, and works by Velázquez, Goya, and Sorolla. There is also a changing of the guard ceremony on Wednesdays and Saturdays.
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Museum del Prado
Image Credit: Eduardo Parra/Europa Press via Getty Images. Originally conceived as a house of science, the Prado Museum opened in 1819 during the reign of King Ferdinand VII to showcase the royal collection of art. Today the museum’s holdings comprise approximately 34,000 items in total (including 8,000 paintings, 1,000 sculptures, 9,000 drawings, 3,600 decorative works, and 6,000 etchings), dating back to the 11th century. Highlights include works from the Spanish Gothic period with paintings by Bartolomé Bermejo, Pedro Berruguete, Juan de Juanes, and Luis de Morales, and galleries devoted to El Greco, Goya, Ribera, Zurbarán, Murillo, Sorolla, and Velázquez. The Prado also features Italian masters from Fra Angelico and Mategna to Botticelli, Titian, Tintoretto, and Veronese; representatives of Flemish art from Van der Weyden to Bosch to Rubens and the Bruegel family; and French, German, and Dutch painters including Dürer, Le Lorrain, Rembrandt, and Watteau. If you have time, swing by the extension by Rafael Moneo, which houses temporary exhibitions, an auditorium, and a restaurant.
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CaixaForum Madrid
Image Credit: Matias Chiofalo/Europa Press via Getty Images. This 21,500-square-foot cultural center featuring art, music, poetry, and more is situated near the three world-class museums of the Paseo del Arte (Art Walk)—the Prado, the Thyssen-Bornemisza, and the Reina Sofía. It used to house the Mediodía electric power station. Renovated by Prizker Prize winners Herzog & de Meuron, this spectacular building with a Patrick Blanc–designed vertical garden is now home to a 322-seat auditorium, multiple conference rooms, exhibition halls, a bookstore, a café, and a restaurant.
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Museo Sorolla
Image Credit: John Greim/LightRocket via Getty Images. Paseo del General Martinez Campos 37 was the home of Valencia-born painter Joaquín Sorolla from 1911 to his death in 1923. The artist’s widow, Clotilde García del Castillo, bequeathed the home and all it contained to the Spanish government, under the condition that it be maintained in its original state and opened as such to the public. The house-museum was officially inaugurated in 1932. Inside, you will find the largest collection of Sorolla’s works, which amounts to some 1,200 paintings and drawings, along with Sorolla’s belongings, including personal items, sculptures, ceramics, and jewelry.
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Grand Vía
Image Credit: Xavi Lopez/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images. More than 100 years old, a mile long, and punctuated with some of the most popular retail shops in the city, Gran Via is one of the busiest streets in Madrid, attracting some 10 million people every year. Sometimes called “Spanish Broadway” because of its many theaters, it has recently been refurbished with added greenery and more places to sit, making it highly pedestrian friendly. Gran Vía is divided into three sections: from Calle Alcalà to Red de San Luis, with the most interesting architecture; from Red de San Luis to Callao, lined with repurposed buildings (Gran Vía, 28; Gran Vía, 32); and from Callao to Plaza de España, marked by the Capitole building with its Schweppes neon sign.
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Museo de Historia de Madrid
Image Credit: UCG/Universal Images Group via Getty Images. Housed in the former San Fernando Hospice, a Baroque building designed by Pedro de Ribera, the Museo de Historia provides a deep insight into the arts, industries, lifestyles, and customs of Madrileños going back to 1561, the year Madrid became the capital of Spain. After a thorough revamp, the museum reopened its doors in 2014. The collection, which is divided into three sections, consists of 60,000 objects including paintings, prints, maps, drawings, photographs, sculptures, silver work, fans, and furniture. Among the highlights: an 1830 scale model of the city by León Gil de Palacio, the paintings Allegory of the City of Madrid by Francisco de Goya and Virgin with Saint Ferdinand by Luca Giordano, a group of 18th-century sculptures, and pieces from the studio of Spanish engraver José Gutiérrez Solana.
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Museo Cerralbo
Image Credit: Fernando Sanchez/Europa Press via Getty Images. This classical-style palace, with neo-baroque and rococo elements, was built both as a museum and as the home of the 17th Marquess of Cerralbo. From the start, the Marquess was intent on donating his property to the Spanish people so that his treasures could stay “together and be studied by science and art lovers alike.” Today the institution holds some 50,000 objects (paintings, sculptures, ceramics, glassware, tapestry, furniture, coins, medals, drawings, stamps, clocks, weapons, archaeological pieces, and more). But be warned: None of the items have been formally captioned, at least for now.
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Estacion de Atocha
Image Credit: Jesus Hellin/Europa Press via Getty Images. Inaugurated in 1851, Atocha is Madrid’s first railway station. It was expanded in 1865 and rebuilt in 1892, after a devastating fire, by Alberto de Palacio Elissagne, who collaborated with Gustave Eiffel and Henry Saint James. Between 1984 and 1992, Spanish architect Rafael Moneo helped expand the Atocha complex, which now comprises two stations. The new part is home to the terminal for the AVE high-speed network, long-distance trains, and local Cercanías services. Renfe, the state-owned company operating freight and passenger trains, has set up its offices in the old section, which also houses a tropical garden planted with more than 100 species, including 70 palm trees. Catch the Cervantes Train if you can; in only 40 minutes, it will take you to Alcalá, the hometown of Don Quixote’s author.
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Naval Museum of Madrid
Image Credit: Jesus Hellin/Europa Press via Getty Images. This museum’s mission is to conserve, acquire, research, communicate, and exhibit all kinds of pieces and collections related to Spain’s naval history from the Middle Ages to the present day. Run by the Spanish Ministry of Defense, it was inaugurated in 1843. The museum moved into its current location, on Paseo del Arte, in 1932. Fifty years later an extension was added, doubling its exhibition space. The last modernization took place in 2020. The 12,000-piece collection, presented chronologically, includes model vessels; astronomical, scientific, and navigation instruments; decorative arts; weapons; flags; uniforms; medals; seafarers’ supplies; and personal belongings of illustrious sailors, not to mention a map made by Juan de la Cosa, the earliest known representation of the New World.
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National Library of Spain
Image Credit: Emmanuele Contini/NurPhoto via Getty Images. It is the largest library in Spain, as well as one of the largest libraries in the world. Founded in 1711 by King Philip V under the name of Real Biblioteca (Royal Library), it has copies of every book ever published in Spain, as well as an exceptional collection of incunables, manuscripts, prints, drawings, photographs, maps, sound recordings, scores, and more. The library helped preserve more than 500,000 books that were confiscated from churches, palaces, and private residences during the Spanish Civil War. The Library’s exhibition space, open to the public, is called “El Infierno y la Maravillas” (“Hell and Wonders”), referring to the secret place where libraries used to conceal their forbidden books and treasures.
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Thyssen-Bornemisza Museum
Image Credit: Eduardo Parra/Europa Press via Getty Images. The Thyssen-Bornemisza Museum, aka the Thyssen, was named after its founder, Baron Heinrich Thyssen-Bornemisza. It is located on the Art Walk along with the Prado and the Reina Sofía. With some 1,600 paintings, it is the second-largest private art collection in the world, trailing only the British royal collection. While the baron focused on Old Masters, including Ghirlandaio’s Portrait of Giovanna Tornabuoni and Carpaccio’s Knight, his son Baron Hans Thyssen-Bornemisza added 19th- and 20th-century works. In a sense, the institution fills in some of the gaps in the collections of the Reina Sofía, which focuses on Impressionism and Expressionism, and the Prado, which, highlights Italian primitives and the English, Dutch, and German schools.
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National Archaeological Museum
Image Credit: Eduardo Parra/Europa Press via Getty Images. The National Archaeological Museum (MAN) is home to one of the most important antiquity collections in the world. Reopened in 2014 after a six-year renovation, its galleries hold works from prehistory to the 19th century, including Greek ceramics, Visigoth votive crowns, and Spanish Islamic ivories, a collection that has been growing since 1897. Highlights include the Lady of Elche, a limestone bust discovered in Spain; the Treasure of Guarrazar, an incredible example of Visigoth goldsmithing; and an ivory pot from Zamora. In October 1964, a replica of a UNESCO World Heritage site—the Altamira Cave located near the historic town of Santillana Del Mar in Cantabria—was inaugurated in the gardens of MAN. The recreation of the cave, in an underground chamber designed by architects Fernando Aguirre and Rafael Mérida, is as impressive as it is precise.