Madrid - March 2026

We just returned from a month of travel, with visits to Spain, France, Algiers, Tunisia, Morocco, and Malta. I'm sharing some of our experiences through several shorter postings rather than one very long post. This was our first visit to Madrid and there was much to view just in the central city. We never made it to the outlying areas of the city.

Our flight from San Francisco to Madrid departed at 8:30am. We decided to stay at the airport SFO Grand Hyatt to avoid a very early morning wake-up and long drive. Nonetheless, we still had to wake-up early for an international flight check-in three hours prior to departure. I guess I wasn't fully awake in the early morning and left some prescription medication in our hotel room refrigerator. I discovered this misstep too late to return to the hotel to retrieve it. 

Madrid Arrival

We were able to check-in early at the JW Marriott in the historic center of Madrid. This was a great location for walking to museums, restaurants, and parks. The hotel was also convenient to a medical clinic. 

I learned that a US written prescription is not accepted by Spain pharmacies. Thus, I needed a Spain physician to write a new prescription based on my US prescription documentation. The physician (not actually in the clinic I visited) remotely reviewed my US prescription and for about $200 USD, wrote a new prescription. No actual medical examination was needed. As this was a common prescription drug, the cost was about $8 USD to fill at the next door pharmacy. My lesson was to place a post-it note in a can't-miss hotel room location as a reminder to confirm prescription medicine is in my carry-on bag when leaving to my next destination. 

Madrid Tours, Museums and Parks

For a first-time visit to a city, we often seek a half-day walking tour by a licensed guide. Such services can be arranged by companies such as ToursbyLocals, GoWithGuide or Viator. We used ToursByLocals to find a Prado Museum guide and central city guide. Our city tour guide was especially helpful to point our historic locations, interesting shops and cultural sites and dining ideas. During our walk, we passed: 

• Puerto del Sol
• Calle Mayor
• Plaza Mayor
• Mercado de San Miguel
• Royal Theater and Palace
• San Gines
• Plaza de la Villa 
• Plaza de la Paja

Our Prado guide was an art historian and was helpful in showing us a sample of the many paintings in the museum. Without this assistance, it is easy to be overwhelmed by so many paintings and artists.

Before visiting museums, be sure to check if online advance tickets can be purchased to make the best use of your limited time.

Museum Nacional del Prado: This museum focuses on European artworks from the 12 century to early 20th century. The collection is from the Spanish royal collection and is comprised of 7,600 painting, 4,800 prints, and 1,000 sculptures. This includes works by Goya, Bosch, El Greco, Rubens, Titian and Velazquez. With about 1,300 artworks on display, a guide was essential to view some of the most important works during our museum visit. Moreover, it is best to avoid being overwhelmed with so much to see. Highlights included:

• The Garden of Earthly Delights, Hieronymus Bosch
• Christ Washing the Disciples' Feet, Tintoretto
• The Three Graces, Reubens
• The Family of Charles IV, Goya
• La Perla, Raphael

The Garden of Earthly Delights, Hieronymous Bosch

Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofia: This museum is dedicated to Spain's 20th century art collection. It is ranked as the eighth mist visited museums in the world. There are many well known artworks by Spain's 20th century masters, including Picasso, Dali, Miro and Gris. Highights included:

• Woman with a Fan, Maria Blanchard
• The Great Masturbator, Salvador Dali
• Violin and Guitar, Juan Gris
• Dog in Front of the Moon, Joan Miró
• Woman in Blue, Pablo Picasso
• Guernica, Pablo Picasso
• Tertulia, Angeles Santos
• Un mundo, Angeles Santos

The Great Masturbator, Salvador Dali

Guernica, Pablo Picasso

Banksy Museum: In 2025, the Madrid Banksy museum was opened and dedicated to the street-works of Banksy. The museum features life-sized reproductions of Banksy's works. We learned that street art is not subject to copyright and, thus, it was an opportunity to view 170 iconic murals.

El Retiro Park: This is one of the largest city parks in Madrid, covering 350 acres. It is located at the edge of the central city. There are gardens, monuments, a lake, water fountains and is part of a UNESCO Site that includes the Paseo del Prado, a major city boulevard. As our visit was in late February, it was too early for viewing rose and flower blooms. 

Dining in Madrid 

We enjoy searching out unique eating opportunities, whether lunch, dinner or snacks. Here is a brief summary of four of our stops.

Botin: Established in 1725, Botin is recognized as the oldest continuing restaurant in the world by the Guinness World Records. Botin's meat specialties include roasted suckling pig and roast lamb. Lunch and dinner reservations are a must as this restaurant is very popular. Lucky for us, the hotel concierge was able to make a lunch reservation for us. We shared a salad and each had a serving of suckling pig. The skin was crunchy and beneath the skin was delicious moist and tender pork. 

San Gines Chocolatier: Located in Madrid central city, this chocolatiera has several locations but we stopped at the original site, located at Pasadizo de San Ginés, 5. Founded in 1894, the basement was a great place to have an afternoon snack of the restaurant's classic churros. Unlike Mexican churros, these are similar shaped but not drenched in sugar and cinnamon. Instead, the San Gines' churros are served with a cup of very think warm chocolate. Diners dip their churros into the cup and enjoy bites of the snack. The chocolate is accompanied by a spoon as it is too thick to drink from the cup.  

Casa Gallega: This casual cafe is located in the basement of the Resturante Gallega. The cafe is a great place to have a light tapas meal. Our tour guide said that Casa Gallega is a favorite of many local tour guides. We enjoyed the friendly service, meal and prices. 

Corral de la Moreria: If you visit Spain, watching a Flamenco show is a must. The Corral de la Moreria has offered Flamenco shows for the past 60 years. The venue is recognized for its high-quality artistic show and pre-show or post-show dining offerings. We had a pre-show dinner and noticed that a 6pm dinner provides more than enough time to finish dessert before the dance show starts at 7:30pm. We walked from the JW Marriott to and from Corral de la Moreria, as suggested by our hotel concierge. 

Mercado de San Miguel

We like to walk through the local markets when visiting a new town. It allows us to see how local residents shop and view the variety of meats, seafood, vegetables, fruits and other market offerings. During our time in Madrid, we found the Mercado de San Miguel a great place to purchase a casual lunch of empanadas and fruit bowl.