As you probably know by now – we love a well thought out and detailed itinerary while traveling. Our trip to Spain was far from planned. We made last minute hotel reservations and hardly did any research on restaurants or attractions. Arriving in Madrid with no plans? Keep reading for our recommendations on how to spend three days in Madrid and trust us – Madrid is the perfect city to explore with no itinerary.
Where to Stay
Traveling itinerary free is fun, but you still need to get the less exciting logistics out of the way first. When finding a place to stay in a new city, we look for a central location where we can explore the city on foot. In Madrid that meant staying in Gran Via. A central location, walkable to tons of attractions and restaurants.
What to See
Wandering the streets of Madrid and admiring the architecture was a highlight of this trip, you could easily spend more than three days in Madrid by simply walking around. Here are a few of our favorite places that we discovered!
Puerta del Sol – It is nearly impossible to miss Puerta del Sol as it is one of the busiest public squares in Madrid. We traveled to Madrid during the Christmas and New Years holidays. This area was decked out with lights and a beautiful tree. This square also has a clock where locals gather to ring in the new year and follow the tradition of eating 12 grapes at midnight for good luck!
Plaza Mayor – Another popular public square is Plaza Mayor. This square is more traditional as it was once the center of Old Madrid.
Prado Museum – While we are not typically art museum goers, for some reason the Prado was top on Chris’ list of things to do in Madrid. I estimated that he would last about 20 minutes inside the museum before I saw him yawning. For this reason we visited the Prado museum in the evening during the free admission period. The Prado offers free admission during the last two hours they are open. Many people choose to visit the Prado during this time so we recommend lining up at least 30 mins early, but the line does move quickly!
Tabacalera Art Promotion – While formal art museums may not hold our attention for long, street art is another story. We love hunting down street art when exploring a new city. We found the Tabacalera Art Promotion in the Embajadores neighborhood. This art gallery is in a converted tobacco factory. It showcases street art and creative instillations on a rotating schedule. The art wall outside of the factory also changes on a regular basis.
El Retiro Park – One of the largest public parks in Madrid. This is a perfect place for a leisurely stroll or a long run. We opted for the leisurely stroll on this trip!
What to See
As previously mentioned, we didn’t do our homework before arriving in Madrid which means we hadn’t scoped out the best restaurants. Our first night was spent wandering the streets and checking out menus, until hunger overtook us and we walked into the closest restaurant. Tapas Tapas was a tasty, albeit touristy restaurant. We learned quickly that all we needed for a good meal in Spain was croquettes and wine.
We recommend a visit to Mercado de San Miguel. Located near Plaza Mayor, this historic market is filled with Spanish style food. Stop here to recharge with tapas before continuing your Madrid exploration. We opted to try some croquettes and sangria – are you sensing a pattern here?
Another good restaurant that we tried was El miniBar. For a place set up primarily as a bar, the tapas were amazing! Top off the food with some incredible hospitality, we probably would have eaten here more than once if we hadn’t discovered it on our last day. Do yourself a favor and order the goat cheese!
We spent three days in Madrid following a week-long road trip through Andalusia. Check out our Andalusia road trip post (including an optional one day stop in Gibraltar).
