Prado Museum, with a ticket or in the free last two hours

You enter from Paseo del Prado, choose a handful of rooms, for example Velázquez, Goya or Bosch, and stay with them. A good two hours is enough for that and for leaving wanting to come back. If you live in Madrid, the trick is not to try to see it all at once: the Prado is better enjoyed in short, repeated visits.

The last two hours, without paying

From Monday to Saturday entry is free from 18:00 to 20:00, and on Sundays and public holidays from 17:00 to 19:00. It covers the permanent collection. Many people know this and a queue usually forms before the hour: arrive with time to spare and go straight to what you want to see, because at eight it closes. That way you can go in on a Tuesday to see only Las Meninas and come back another day for another room.

If you come at the weekend and want calm, buy a timed ticket on the museum's website and enter in the morning. General admission costs €15; reduced, €7.50, for over-65s, Carné Joven holders and large families. The audio guide is €5 extra, and the guided visit of the collection €10 extra per person: in Spanish at 10:30, 11:00, 12:30, 13:00, 15:15 and 17:00, and in English at 11:00 and 13:00.

Hours, closures and how to get there

It is open Monday to Saturday from 10:00 to 20:00 and on Sundays and public holidays from 10:00 to 19:00; the ticket office opens at 9:45. On 6 January and on 24 and 31 December it closes at 14:00, and it does not open on 1 January, 1 May or 25 December.

By metro, Estación del Arte (L1) leaves you five minutes away and Banco de España (L2) ten.