El Prado web site
 

I have been trying to use the website www.museodelprado.es to book tickets for later in
April. It allows me to pick the date for visit, but not the hour. I would love help with that.

The General Admission Tickets do not have a 'timed entry', only the date. There are no temporary exhibits in April that require a timed ticket.

Very simple. You can visit on that day during the opening hours, whenever you want.

The hour didn't seem to matter when we pre-booked last fall. The ticket was good for any time of the day.

Looks like they have changed their website quite a lot since then.

Amazing museum. We carried small binoculars so you could get a up close look at the paintings from a distance in case crowds surrounded them. Plus you could see incredible detail that you otherwise wouldn't notice in any case. On occasion the guards though we had cameras, but no big deal.

You don't have an hour to pick if it's just the ticket to the general collection. You do have to pick an hour if you are buying for the special exhibition, such as for El Bosco (Bosch). You have to check a box next to the name of that exhibit to say you want it and then you click the box to the right for hours.

so helpful...thank you

Got our tickets. Gracias!

Enjoy the collection! The following is an excerpt from Marible's Guide to Madrid:

Prado Museum
The great masters of Spanish painting (the Baroque giants, Velázquez, Ribera, Murillo and Zurbarán, along with El Greco and Goya) are all found at the Prado Museum. A vast and tiring space, it’s best to concentrate on the Spanish masterpieces rather than try to see it all there is in one visit.

The Velázquez rooms are 16, 16B, and 27-29. El Greco is in rooms 9A-10A. Ribera and Murillo are in rooms 25-26. Goya can be found in rooms 32, and 34-38, his macabre black paintings are on the ground floor in rooms 64-67 and 75, while his light and airy tapestry designs are found on the top floor in rooms 85, and 90-94.

I'd go visit Las Meniñas early as it was always surrounded by a gaggle of school children later on.

Also prepare yourself for Goya's black paintings. I first saw his "Saturn devouring his children" as a teenager and the image has never left me.

If you're wondering what to see, the Prado website also has a helpful list of the 10 or so "must-sees" in the museum.