Discover Madrid: Art, History and Holiday Apartments
Madrid offers you a special art walk: the Paseo del Arte, also known as the Triángulo del Arte, brings together three of the world's most important art museums across just under two kilometres.
Culture and History
The Palacio Real de Madrid is the official residence of the Spanish kings, although it is not occupied by the current monarchs. After a fire destroyed the former Alcázar in 1734, Felipe V had today's Palacio Real de Madrid built on its remains. The Real Cocina in the Palacio Real can be visited and is a particularly important surviving example of historic kitchens in European royal residences. The Galería de las Colecciones Reales conveys the history of the Spanish monarchy and the artistic preferences of its rulers, from the earliest medieval reigns to Juan Carlos I.
Art
In July 2021, the Paseo del Arte was declared a World Heritage Site by UNESCO as a cultural landscape. The Museo del Prado displays former royal collections representing the Spanish, Flemish and Italian schools. The Museo del Prado was founded in 1819 and is housed in a neoclassical building designed by Juan de Villanueva in 1785. The Museo Reina Sofía presents modern and contemporary art from the late 19th century to the present day, including Picasso's Guernica.
Cityscape and Tradition
The semicircular Puerta del Sol has been a pedestrian zone since August 2020. Several historic and heavily frequented streets in Madrid converge at the Puerta del Sol. The Kilómetro Cero plaque at the Puerta del Sol marks the starting point for measuring the kilometres of Spain's national radial roads. Every year on 31 December, the clock of the Casa de Correos rings twelve times to usher in the New Year. A crowd gathers for the traditional televised grape-eating ceremony.
For further exploration within Madrid, there are also pages on Usera and Puente De Vallecas.
On the offer pages for a holiday apartment in Madrid, you can compare travel dates, room category and cancellation conditions side by side. These details provide an objective framework for your own planning.
City Walks and Nature
Anda Madrid is an initiative of the Ayuntamiento de Madrid featuring six large, interconnected urban routes to some of Madrid's best-known places. The routes are designed to be comfortably completed on foot and take between one hour and two and a half hours, depending on the route selected and the stops made along the way. The different time frames can be read as straightforward points of comparison for planning the day, without prescribing a fixed itinerary for the visit.
The Parque de El Retiro covers 125 hectares and contains more than 15,000 trees.
For the higher-level travel overview: Madrid.
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