74 Best Sights in Madrid, Spain

This plaza was the heart of the theater district in the 17th century—the Golden Age of Spanish literature—and is now one of Madrid's most happening nightlife centers. A statue of 17th-century playwright Pedro Calderón de la Barca faces the Teatro Español, where other literary legends such as Lope de Vega, Tirso de Molina, and Ramón María del Valle-Inclán released some of their world-renowned plays. Opposite the theater, beside the ME by Meliá hotel, is the diminutive Plaza del Ángel, with one of Madrid's best jazz clubs, Café Central. Cervecería Alemana, a favorite haunt of Hemingway, is on the southeast corner and makes phenomenally tender fried calamari.

A masterwork in Churrigueresque (Spanish baroque) architecture, this impressive granite bridge over the Manzanares connects Arganzuela and Carabanchel. Felipe IV commissioned its construction in order to shorten the route from Madrid to Toledo in the mid-17th century (hence the bridge's name), but floods destroyed the initial structure. The bridge you can walk across today (it is pedestrian-access-only) was completed in 1732 by architect Pedro de Ribera and contains nine arches buttressed by rounded columns. At night, these are uplit and look particularly magical from below on the Madrid Río esplanade. Midway across the bridge, don't miss the niches adorned with richly carved limestone statues of Madrid's patron saints, San Isidro Labrador and Santa María de la Cabeza.

This triumphal arch, a popular backdrop for photos, was built by Carlos III in 1778 to mark the site of one of the ancient city gates. You can still see numerous bullet and cannonball holes on its exterior, left intentionally as a reminder of Madrid's tumultuous past. Conservationists are thrilled that the €3 million, 11-month restoration ending in 2024 "saved" the structure, which was beginning to crumble due to pollution and structural issues.

Designed by José Benito de Churriguera in the waning baroque years of the early 18th century, this museum showcases 500 years of Spanish painting, from José Ribera and Bartolomé Esteban Murillo to Joaquín Sorolla and Ignacio Zuloaga. The tapestries along the stairways are stunning. The gallery displays paintings up to the 18th century, including some by Goya. Guided tours are usually available (check the website for times). The same building houses the Calcografía Nacional (National Prints Institute), which sells limited-edition prints from original plates engraved by Spanish artists. There are often classical concerts and literary events in the small upstairs hall: tickets can be purchased on the website.

Tired of previous monarchs' dependency on Belgian and Flemish thread mills and craftsmen, King Felipe V established the Royal Tapestry Factory in Madrid in 1721. It was originally housed near Alonso Martínez and moved to its current location in 1889. Some of Europe's best artists collaborated on the factory's tapestry designs, the most famous of whom was Goya, who produced a number of works on display at the Prado. The factory, the most renowned of its kind in Europe, is still in operation—you can tour the workshop floor and watch weavers at work. They apply traditional weaving techniques from the 18th and 19th centuries to modern and classic designs—including Goya's. Prebooking online is required, and all visitors get a tour (English tours usually begin at 12:30 pm weekdays).

You don’t have to be a horticulturalist to appreciate the breadth of the exotic plant collection here. Opened in 1781 and emblematic of the Age of Enlightenment, this lush Eden of bonsais, orchids, cacti, and more houses more than 5,000 species of living plants and trees in just 20 acres. Its dried specimens number over a million, and many were brought back from exploratory voyages to the Americas.

Ferdinand and Isabella used this church and cloister behind the Prado as a retiro, or place of respite—hence the name of the adjacent park. The building, one of the oldest in the city (built in the early 16th century), was devastated in the Napoleonic Wars and rebuilt in the late 19th century.

Built by Pedro de Ribera in 1717–30 to accommodate the Regiment of the Royal Guard, this imposing building (the facade is 750 feet long) was used as a military academy and an astronomical observatory in the 19th century. It is now a cultural and arts center with a contemporary art museum and temporary art exhibitions in some of its spaces, including the public and historical libraries. Local history professors offer free tours (in Spanish) of the building every Friday at 5 pm. In summer, concerts are held outside in the main plaza.

To get to the local tourist office, cross the arch that's across from the visitors' entrance to the monastery.

To reach this museum inside the Centro de Conde Duque, take the door to your right after the entrance and walk up the stairs. Founded in 2001, the museum displays 200 modern artworks acquired by City Hall since 1980. The paintings, graphic art, sculpture, and photography are mostly by local artists.

Founded in 1929 in a former 17th-century hospice, this museum houses paintings, drawings, pictures, ceramics, furniture, and other objects illustrating Madrid's history. Exhibits are separated into four major historic periods: Empire, Enlightenment, Industrial Revolution, and Modern Times. The museum's collection of around 40,000 items (some of which are in storage at the Centro Conde Duque and brought here only for temporary exhibitions) span the five centuries since Felipe II brought the royal court to Madrid. The restored ornamented facade—a baroque jewel by Pedro de Ribera—and the painstakingly precise, nearly 18-foot model of Madrid—a project coordinated by León Gil de Palacio in 1830—are the two standout exhibits you should not miss.

A Moderniste palace commissioned in 1902 by the businessman and politician Javier González Longoria, the Palacio de Longoria was built by a disciple of Gaudí. The winding shapes, the plant motifs, and the wrought-iron balconies are reminiscent of Gaudí's works in Barcelona. The building's jewel is its main iron, bronze, and marble staircase, which is unfortunately off-limits to tourists because the building is now in private hands.

On this unassuming square stood the Monteleón Artillery barracks, where some brave Spanish soldiers and citizens fought Napoléon's invading troops on May 2, 1808. The arch that now stands in the middle of the plaza was once at the entrance of the old barracks, and the sculpture under the arch represents Captains Daoiz and Velarde. All the surrounding streets carry the names of that day's heroes. The plaza, now filled with restaurant patios, is a good place to stop for a drink and some people-watching. One of the most popular (if overrated) cafés, Pepe Botella, carries the demeaning nickname the people of Madrid gave to Joseph Bonaparte, Napoléon's brother, who ruled Spain from 1808 to 1813: the botella (bottle) is a reference to his falsely alleged fondness for drink.

Felipe II was one of history's most deeply religious and forbidding monarchs—not to mention one of its most powerful—and the great granite monastery that he had constructed in a remarkable 21 years (1563–84) is an enduring testament to his character.

Felipe built the monastery in the village of San Lorenzo de El Escorial to commemorate Spain's crushing victory over the French at Saint-Quentin on August 10, 1557, and as a final resting place for his all-powerful father, the Holy Roman Emperor Carlos V. He filled the place with treasures as he ruled the largest empire the world had ever seen, knowing all the while that a marble coffin awaited him in the pantheon below. The building's vast rectangle, encompassing 16 courts, is modeled on the red-hot grille upon which St. Lawrence was martyred—appropriately, as August 10 is that saint's day. (It's also said that Felipe's troops accidentally destroyed a church dedicated to St. Lawrence during the battle and sought to make amends.)

The building and its adjuncts—a palace, museum, church, and more—can take hours or even days to tour. Easter Sunday's candlelight midnight mass draws crowds, as does the summer tourist season.

The monastery was begun by the architect Juan Bautista de Toledo but finished in 1584 by Juan de Herrera, who would eventually give his name to a major Spanish architectural school. It was completed just in time for Felipe to die here, gangrenous and tortured by the gout that had plagued him for years, in the tiny, sparsely furnished bedroom that resembled a monk's cell more than the resting place of a great monarch. It's in this bedroom—which looks out, through a private entrance, into the royal chapel—that you most appreciate the man's spartan nature. Spain's later Bourbon kings, such as Carlos III and Carlos IV, had clearly different tastes, and their apartments, connected to Felipe's by the Hall of Battles, and which can be visited only by appointment, are far more luxurious.

Perhaps the most interesting part of the entire Escorial is the Panteón de los Reyes (Royal Pantheon), a Baroque construction from the 17th century that contains the body of every king since Carlos I except three—Felipe V (buried at La Granja), Ferdinand VI (in Madrid), and Amadeus of Savoy (in Italy). The body of Alfonso XIII, who died in Rome in 1941, was brought to El Escorial in January 1980. The rulers' bodies lie in 26 sumptuous marble-and-bronze sarcophagi that line the walls (three of which are empty, awaiting future rulers). Only those queens who bore sons later crowned lie in the same crypt; the others, along with royal sons and daughters who never ruled, lie nearby, in the Panteón de los Infantes, built in the latter part of the 19th century. Many of the royal children are in a single circular tomb made of Carrara marble.

Another highlight is the monastery's surprisingly lavish and colorful library, with ceiling paintings by Michelangelo's disciple Pellegrino Tibaldi (1527–96). The imposing austerity of El Escorial's facades makes this chromatic explosion especially powerful; try to save it for last. The library houses 50,000 rare manuscripts, codices, and ancient books, including the diary of St. Teresa of Ávila and the gold-lettered, illuminated Codex Aureus. Tapestries woven from cartoons by Goya, Rubens, and El Greco cover almost every inch of wall space in huge sections of the building, and extraordinary canvases by Velázquez, El Greco, Jacques-Louis David, Ribera, Tintoretto, Rubens, and other masters, collected from around the monastery, are displayed in the Museos Nuevos (New Museums). In the basilica, don't miss the fresco above the choir, depicting heaven, or Titian's fresco The Martyrdom of St. Lawrence, which shows the saint being roasted alive.