40.42° N · 3.70° W
Cooking classes, tastings, workshops, flamenco and behind-the-scenes visits in Madrid: plans of one to three hours for a Saturday or a weekend.
Part of Urban experiencesWalkable CitiesClassical music and opera in EuropeClassic film locations
What to do
Each plan says how long it takes, who it's for and whether you can book.
Museum · 2–3 h · €15 general, €7.50 reduced · Free Monday to Saturday 18:00 to 20:00 and Sundays 17:00 to 19:00
Visit · 1 h 30 · €18 general, €9 reduced · Free for EU residents Monday to Thursday afternoons
Stroll · 1–2 h · Park free · Boat €6 on weekdays, €8 at weekends, 45 min and up to 4 people
Itineraries
Days and weekends already planned out, with how to get between each stop and who to book with.
Getaways from Madrid
Plan the trip
Each choice narrows the next: the season shapes how best to travel, and how you travel decides where you stay and where you eat.
When to go
All year, because almost everything happens indoors. In July and August the heat makes linking plans on foot hard; autumn and spring are the best time. The Real Fábrica de Tapices only shows its workshops from Monday to Friday.
How you travel
Choose how you're travelling and we'll tell you where to stay, how to get around, where to eat and which services you'll need. We only show the ways of travelling that make sense here.
Madrid is done without a car: the centre, from Plaza de Oriente to El Retiro, can be crossed on foot in half an hour, and what is further out, such as the Metropolitano or the tastings in Carabanchel and San Blas, has a metro stop at the door. You arrive by train at Atocha and by Cercanías or metro line 1 you are at Sol.
Adolfo Suárez Madrid-Barajas airport has direct flights from the islands and the main Spanish cities. From the airport to the centre you do not need a car: the Express Line reaches Cibeles and Atocha in 30 to 40 minutes, 24 hours a day, and metro line 8 connects with Nuevos Ministerios.
Who you're with
A trip with a toddler is not the same as one with a teenager. Pick yours to see what works and what to bear in mind.
Madrid has plans for children that are not a theme park: seeing how a tapestry is woven, rowing in El Retiro or cooking their own paella. Split the day between one of these and a walk round the centre, which is flat and easy with a pushchair.
From age 12, Madrid gets interesting: the backstage machinery of an opera house, the changing room of a stadium, an escape room with Don Quixote in the middle. They are plans of one or two hours that leave no time for boredom.
Madrid is enjoyed as a group with the bar and the table at the centre: vermouth before lunch, a tasting among friends, an escape room, flamenco with dinner. These are plans designed for four or more.
Where to stay
We show you what suits the way you travel.Change how you travel
Why we like it: Five-star hotel from 1886 on Calle de Echegaray, in the Barrio de las Letras, with Art Deco rooms, a cocktail bar and pets welcome.
Why we like it: Four-star hotel between Sol and Callao with its own car park and electric charger; singles from €90 and doubles from €122 a night.
Why we like it: Four-star hotel on Cuesta de Santo Domingo, a hundred metres from the Teatro Real and opposite the Royal Palace; exterior doubles from €95 a night.
Why we like it: Hostel a hundred metres from Plaza Mayor with private doubles, dormitories of 4 to 10 beds, women-only rooms and a rooftop bar.
Services for this trip
Where to eat
From set lunch menus to Michelin stars. We mark the price level and what to order at each place.
What to order: before the performance, rabas and croquettes to share; afterwards, the pintxo-style hake or the creamy rice, and the house torrija
What to order: at the bar, a house vermouth with a slice of omelette or the squid bocatín; in the dining room, tripe or braised oxtail
What to order: a slice of battered salt cod with a small beer or a vermouth; if you stay, a half portion of tripe and some croquettes
What to order: garlic prawns and a chato of the house sweet wine; if there are more of you, langostinos in batter and red-prawn croquettes
What to order: the cocido, which comes in two servings (soup first, then chickpeas, vegetables and meats); if there are two of you with small appetites, one cocido and some tripe
Nearby
The closest places, whichever country they are in.
40.48° N · 3.36° W
By carCar-free
40.74° N · 3.88° W
40.14° N · 3.42° W
By carCar-free
40.59° N · 4.15° W
By carCar-free
Tips
Cooking Point's classes end with eating what you cooked: don't book a restaurant afterwards.
The silver jewellery, the sewing and the dessert course have few dates a month.
The theatre at 10:00, the palace at 11:30: they are separated by Plaza de Oriente.
Go in at 18:00 with a clear plan of which rooms to see: two hours cover the essentials.
Going to La Caníbal's factory or the Metropolitano as filler between two plans in the centre. They are far away: give them the afternoon.
Madrid lends itself to another way of spending the afternoon: signing up for something. A paella class that starts with shopping at the Antón Martín market, the technical visit to the Teatro Real stage, two hours making a silver ring in the Barrio de las Letras, a made-to-measure perfume in Chueca or dinner at the Corral de la Morería before the flamenco. The ones that follow have been checked one by one on each business's website, with what they cost, when they run and from what age.
Almost all take one to three hours; the cooking classes run to four because they end with eating what you have cooked. With the metro, you can link two in an afternoon.
In Las Letras, Cooking Point gives the paella class with shopping at the market from Monday to Saturday at 10:00 and the tapas and sangría class at 17:30, in English, from €85 and with a price for children aged 5 to 12. For desserts, Kitchen Club, in Cuatro Caminos, runs a cakes and desserts course on some Saturdays.
Each tasting has its own neighbourhood. In Lavapiés, La Fisna holds a wine tasting on Wednesdays for groups of six to eight, for €29. In Goya, Vinopremier has a vermouth tasting with appetisers. Further from the centre, but with a metro at the door, Hola Coffee gives a short coffee tasting on Thursdays for €20 and a three-hour workshop on Saturdays; Taller de Chocolate runs chocolate tastings and workshops with a children's version, and the brewer La Caníbal opens its San Blas factory on Fridays at 20:00, with a pint included for €10.
In Ciudad Lineal, Jandra Cerámica gives the introduction to the wheel on Saturdays in two two-hour sessions, for €43. In Arganzuela, Historias Hiladas teaches you to use a sewing machine in a three-hour afternoon. In Las Letras, El Puente Gallery organises the silver clay jewellery workshop on separate dates at 18:00, and in Chueca, Le Secret du Marais lets you compose your own perfume on weekdays.
The Teatro Real shows the stage machinery and the stage every morning at 10:00 on its technical visit, from age 10. The Real Fábrica de Tapices opens its workshops from Monday to Friday: you see the weavers at the loom for €6, and on Monday at 10:00 it is free. Atlético's Metropolitano stadium has a tour every day. To close the night, the Corral de la Morería, on Calle de la Morería, serves dinner and flamenco every night; and for a group, the escape room El Misterio de Don Quijote, at Quevedo.
The Prado is free for the last two hours: Monday to Saturday from 18:00 to 20:00 and on Sundays from 17:00 to 19:00. The Royal Palace combines with the Teatro Real visit, which is opposite. And in the Retiro, a rowing boat on the big pond costs €6 on weekdays for 45 minutes.
By train you arrive at Atocha, with metro line L1 towards Sol and Antón Martín. From Barajas, the Línea Exprés drops you at Cibeles or Atocha for €5, 24 hours a day; metro line 8 is the other option. In the centre, everything is on foot or a metro ride away.
Questions
Cooking Point's tapas class at 17:30, or the Jandra Cerámica wheel in the morning and the Retiro by rowing boat in the afternoon.
The technical visit to the Teatro Real from age 10, the Real Fábrica de Tapices, the Metropolitano tour, the children's chocolate workshop and the paella class, which has a children's price.
All the workshops, the tastings, the Teatro Real, the Real Fábrica de Tapices and the Prado are indoors.
At the Corral de la Morería, every night; the second dinner session is at 21:10 and the show starts at 21:30.
From €6 for the Real Fábrica de Tapices to €118 for the perfume workshop. Most are between €30 and €85 per person.
No. Everything is on the metro, and from the airport you arrive by the Línea Exprés or line 8.
Geocaliahttps://www.geocalia.com/en/spain/community-of-madrid/madrid
