Day 14 ·
The Royal Palace, a cocido and the Prado
Madrid · Spain · 3 min read
Madrid's big culture day: churros at San Ginés, a guided tour of the Royal Palace in Spanish, cocido at La Bola, the Prado in the afternoon, the roses in Retiro Park and tapas on the Cava Baja.
- 1
Chocolatería San Ginés
Churros or porras with chocolate and café con leche. Open since 1894; Thursday to Saturday, 24 hours a day. At 8:30 on a Saturday it isn't full yet; by 10 it is.
Our guide Worth it early in the morning: thick chocolate, the 1894 room and no line. At midday or in the small hours on weekends it's a different place. Read the full guide - 2
Plaza de Oriente and Sabatini Gardens
At that hour the sun hits the east facade of the palace head-on. The Sabatini Gardens, free and three minutes away, give you the best photo of the north facade.
Our guide Worth it first thing, before you go into the palace. It's small, takes 25 minutes, and around 9:30 it has the best light in Madrid on the facade. Read the full guide - 3
Royal Palace of Madrid
An hour-and-a-half guided tour in Spanish. We went in through the Puerta Preferente (priority entrance) at 10:15 and by 10:25 we were at the meeting point in the Zaguán.
Our guide Worth it for the Throne Room and the Porcelain Room. If you speak Spanish, the guided tour in Spanish makes up for the fixed pace. Read the full guide - 4
Almudena Cathedral
Right across the Plaza de la Armería. Entry is free and the Neo-Romanesque crypt costs €1. It is the most interesting part and almost nobody visits it.
Our guide Worth a 25- to 45-minute stop after the palace, especially for the crypt. Don't expect the patina of Toledo or Seville: it was finished in 1993. Read the full guide - 5
La Bola
Cocido madrileño cooked in clay pots over a wood fire, in a family tavern open since 1870. Lunch Monday to Saturday, and dinner too from Thursday to Saturday. We booked weeks in advance.
Our guide Worth it for the cocido in its own clay pot and the timeless dining room. Order just the à la carte cocido: everything else is where the bill climbs. Read the full guide - 6
Prado Museum
Timed ticket bought on the official website: we walked straight to the door. Two and a half hours on a set route: El Greco, Velázquez, Goya and Bosch.
Our guide One of the three great painting museums in the world. With a timed ticket and a fixed route, in two and a half hours you see the essentials without wearing yourself out. Read the full guide - 7
La Rosaleda in Retiro Park
Twenty minutes among the roses, on foot from the Prado's south exit through the Puerta del Ángel Caído. Late May is peak bloom. Free.
Our guide La Rosaleda is small and free, and in the second half of May it is the best twenty-minute break after the Prado. Read the full guide - 8
La Dolores
Vermouth on tap and boquerones en vinagre in the Barrio de las Letras. Open since 1908 and standing room only at peak hours.
- 9
Alto Bardero
First stop in La Latina, in the space where Juana La Loca used to be (it closed in 2024). Tortilla pincho, croquetas and txakoli.
- 10
Taberna Los Huevos de Lucio
Huevos rotos with ham on the Cava Baja. By 21:00 we were heading back: the alarm was set for 5:30 the next day.
This was the day we were looking forward to most in Madrid. In fourteen hours we fit in the Royal Palace, the city’s most typical dish, the Prado Museum, the roses in Retiro Park and a round of tapas on the Cava Baja. We walked about 12 kilometers, almost all of it on foot from our hotel by the Ópera.
Why we planned it this way
The palace goes in the morning because it is the longest visit on your feet and because the 9:30 light on the Plaza de Oriente is the best for photographing the facade. We booked the 10:30 guided tour in Spanish back in April; with the Puerta Preferente we didn’t have to get up early to stand in line.
The Almudena is literally across the square, and La Bola is seven minutes away. Cocido was at 13:00 because it is a midday dish, and La Bola serves dinner only Thursday to Saturday. After a meal like that, an hour of rest at the hotel before the Prado was not a luxury.
We went into the Prado at 15:15, a time our notes flagged as a good one: after the midday peak and before free entry starts at 18:00. We had two and a half hours for a specific route, with no temporary exhibitions. Coming out, the Rosaleda in Retiro Park is about five minutes away, and from there La Dolores is eight.
What to know before you go
Tapas were just two stops. We had a third, La Concha, and cut it on purpose: the next day the Segovia and Toledo tour left at 7:30 from Las Ventas and the alarm was set for 5:30. Home by 21:00, in bed by 22:00.
What we booked and tasted
Royal Palace of Madrid: guided tour in Spanish
- Live guide in Spanish
- Entry through the Puerta Preferente, skipping the general line
- Main staircase, Throne Room, Porcelain Room, Royal Pharmacy and the Stradivarius instruments
We are Spanish speakers, so a flesh-and-blood guide in Spanish gave us more than the audio guide. And the Puerta Preferente spared us the line on a Saturday morning.
See ticketsPatrimonio NacionalChocolatería San Ginés
Order Churros or porras with chocolate and café con leche
The thick chocolate at San Ginés is the classic Madrid breakfast, and it's a few steps from the Plaza de Oriente.
La Bola
Order The full cocido madrileño in its three courses: broth, chickpeas with vegetables, and the meats
It is the classic address for cocido, and every pot is made separately in clay. It is so filling you don't need a big dinner.
La Dolores
Order Vermouth on tap and boquerones en vinagre
A vermouth bar from 1908, five minutes from the Prado and Retiro Park, for a break before tapas.
Alto Bardero
Order Tortilla pincho, ham croquetas and txakoli
It was opened, in the same space, by cooks who came from Juana La Loca, the tavern with the most famous tortilla in Madrid.
Taberna Los Huevos de Lucio
Order Huevos rotos with ham and the house red wine
One dish, the house dish. You break the eggs over the potatoes yourself and mix it all together.
Ópera Prado Museum
About €7–9 by Uber. By metro: Ópera, change at Sol to line 2 and get off at Banco de España, plus a 15-minute walk. At that hour the taxi wins.
What we learned
Tips
- The Prado doesn't allow large backpacks (over 40 × 40 cm) or photos in the galleries. Leave the backpack at the hotel and download the museum's official app before you go.
- The cocido at La Bola is heavy. That is why we built in an hour of rest at the hotel before the Prado: the museum takes focus.
- If it rains, the whole day is indoors except Retiro Park. You can go straight from the Prado to La Dolores.
- On Saturdays there is a changing of the guard in front of the palace, in the Plaza de la Armería, from 11:00 to 14:00. Coming out of the tour at midday, you can still catch the sentry changes.
Do
- Bring your passport to the Royal Palace tour in case they ask for ID.
- Get to the Cava Baja before 21:00 on a Saturday; after that it fills up.
- Ask at the entrance whether your guided tour goes through the Royal Armory, which reopened in April 2026.
Don’t
- Don't use the Prado's free entry from 18:00 to 20:00 if you only have one day in Madrid: the line eats up what you save.
- Don't eat at the tourist menus on Calle Bailén when you leave the palace; five minutes into the Madrid of the Austrias changes both the price and the food.
- Don't shop at the palace gift shop: it's expensive, generic reproductions.