This guide is for you if you have a day in Madrid and want to see the old royal city with a driver-guide of your own: the Retiro, the Paseo del Prado, Plaza Mayor and the Royal Palace. It covers what to decide before you book. Morning or afternoon start, which tickets to buy yourself, what to know about the Crystal Palace in the Retiro, and whether you want to spend part of the six hours inside a museum.
Morning or afternoon
The tour starts at 07:00 or 13:00, and you choose. For most of the year either works. In July and August, pick the morning. By two in the afternoon Madrid is very hot, and the stops on this route are mostly outdoors: a park, a boulevard, a square and the space in front of a palace.
The start time also decides how the opening hours line up. The Retiro opens at 06:00 every day of the year, so on the early start you walk in while it is still quiet. Patrimonio Nacional, which runs the Royal Palace, opens it at 10:00, and closes it at 18:00 in winter and 19:00 in summer. On the morning start you reach the palace in the late morning, well inside those hours. On the afternoon start you reach it late in the day. If going inside matters to you and you are on the 13:00 start, tell your guide at pick-up and the order can change.
The palace hours can also change at short notice because of official events, so check the Patrimonio Nacional site before your date.
The Retiro and the Crystal Palace
The first stop is the Retiro, the old royal gardens. They cover about 120 hectares, the remnant of the 17th-century Buen Retiro Palace, and they are now the largest part of a UNESCO World Heritage site.
The glass pavilion in the middle, the Palacio de Cristal, needs a word of warning. It belongs to the Reina Sofía museum, and it is closed for building works. While the work goes on, the outside is wrapped in an art installation by Andrea Canepa called Fardo, so you see the building covered, from outside. The rest of the park keeps its normal hours. Check the museum's site before you go if the pavilion is the reason you are coming, to see whether it has reopened.
The Paseo del Prado, and the Prado itself
In 2021 UNESCO inscribed the Paseo del Prado and the Retiro together as a World Heritage site, which it calls a landscape of arts and sciences. The tree-lined Paseo dates from the 16th century and was remodelled in the 18th. UNESCO describes it as the first public green space designed within a European capital. Along it stand the fountains of Cibeles, Neptune and Apollo, and next to it the terraced Royal Botanic Garden.
Museum entrance is not included. You can go into the Prado on this tour, but give it at least two hours, and know that those hours come out of the six. If you do not want to give up the other stops, there is another way. The Prado is free in the last two hours of the day, and your guide can tell you whether that queue is worth joining after the tour ends.
How the six hours fit together
The order is roughly this. The Retiro comes half an hour after pick-up. The Prado quarter follows at about an hour and three quarters. Plaza Mayor and the lanes of Habsburg Madrid come at three hours. The Royal Palace and the Almudena cathedral come at about four and a quarter hours. Somewhere along the way there is a stop for coffee or a vermut, which is included. At the end you are dropped at your hotel, on the Gran Vía, or at the restaurant where you are eating.
The palace is the largest royal palace in Western Europe, with more than 3,000 rooms. The Plaza de la Armería in front of it is still where official ceremonies are held. The cathedral faces it across the square, and the Sabatini Gardens and the Campo del Moro give you two other views of the building. For most people the outside is enough. Palace entrance is not included, so if you want to go in, buy a ticket online from Patrimonio Nacional before you travel. The tourist board advises booking ahead, especially for weekends, public holidays and high season.
On foot or with a car
Central Madrid can be done on foot and by public transport. What you notice is that the sights are further apart than they look on a map, and in summer heat the walk between them wears you out before lunch.
A car and a driver-guide close those gaps. You are collected at your door, you spend your time at the stops rather than between them, and the guide explains what you are looking at. The price depends on the size of your group; see it on the tour page.
Who it suits, and who should think twice
The tour suits a first day in Madrid, when you want to get your bearings, and people who find long walks in the heat hard going. It also suits a short stay, because it gives you a feel for the city before you choose which museum to spend a whole afternoon in.
Think twice if your main reason for coming is the art. If you want long hours inside the Prado and the other museums on the Paseo, a six-hour drive around the city is not the right use of the day. Book the museums and keep the tour for another morning.
Questions people ask
Can we add Toledo or Segovia?
There is a full-day version that adds Toledo or Segovia. Toledo needs the whole day to be worth the drive. Message us for a price.
How does Madrid compare with our other Spanish days?
Our guide to private tours in Spain compares Madrid, Barcelona and Seville, and the article Madrid, Barcelona or Seville: one private day in each covers what to book ahead in each city.
Can we cancel?
Yes. Cancel up to 24 hours before pick-up and you get a full refund. See our cancellation page.
What if there are more than 16 of us?
Two vehicles travel together on one booking. Message us and we will price it.
Booking the day
Choose the morning start in summer, buy palace tickets online if you want to go inside, and check the Crystal Palace before you count on it. The stops, the pick-up and what is included are on the Madrid private highlights tour page, where you choose your start time and the size of your group and book.
