Market · Community of Madrid
Mercado de San Miguel
The Mercado de San Miguel is a historic market hall next to the Plaza Mayor in central Madrid, opened as a food market and now run as a gastronomic market.
0 km in a straight line
Spain•City
Madrid
Madrid is the capital of Spain and of the Community of Madrid. San Lorenzo de El Escorial, where the Royal Monastery stands, is a separate municipality in the same region, and Toledo and Segovia are municipalities in Castilla-La Mancha and Castile and León; none of them is part of the city of Madrid.
Country
Spain
Type
City
Understand the place
Everything worth knowing before you arrive in Madrid.
Not only where to go, but what to eat, what things cost, what visitors get wrong, how accessible Madrid is, which scams to recognize and what is genuinely worth your time.
The complete guide
Explore Madrid
Start with the parts of Madrid that matter most to your trip, then move into the practical details.
Experiences & attractions
Things to Do
Attractions, experiences and places actually worth your time.
Eat like you understand the place
Food & Drink
Signature dishes, local drinks, markets and eating well.
Where to stay & explore
Neighborhoods
Where to stay, wander and choose the right area for your trip.
Beyond the destination
Day Trips
Nearby places worth a day out from here.
Bring home the right things
Souvenirs & Shopping
What is genuinely worth buying and where to look.
After dark
Nightlife
What the evenings are like, and where to spend them.
Family travel
Traveling With Kids
Family logistics, strollers, transport and practical planning.
When to go
Weather & Best Time
When to visit and what the seasons really feel like.
Know before it happens
Safety & Scams
Common tourist traps and how to avoid them.
Money & budgeting
Money & Costs
Budgets, payments and everyday prices.
Transport
Getting Around
Public transport, taxis, walking and common pitfalls.
Travel for more people
Accessible Travel
Mobility, transport and sensory accessibility.
Understand before you arrive
Culture & Etiquette
Local expectations, religion and visitor etiquette.
The details that matter
Practical Information
Connectivity, health, photography and useful local details.
Find your fit
Who It Suits
Solo, women alone, older visitors, LGBTQ+, pets, remote work, budget and luxury.
Travel that holds up
Visiting Responsibly
Tourism pressure, supporting local people and animal welfare.
Traveler experiences
What travelers say about Madrid
Traveler reviews will appear here after moderation.
Worth the drive
Places to see near Madrid
Distances are straight-line, not driving time — mountain roads in this region are often twice as long as the map suggests.
Gallery · Community of Madrid
Museo Thyssen-Bornemisza
The Museo Nacional Thyssen-Bornemisza is an art museum in the Villahermosa palace at Paseo del Prado 8 in central Madrid.
1 km in a straight line
Historic site · Community of Madrid
Royal Palace of Madrid
The Royal Palace of Madrid is the official residence of the King of Spain, an eighteenth-century palace on Calle Bailén in central Madrid that Patrimonio Nacional manages and opens to visitors.
1 km in a straight line
Church · Palacio, Centro district, Community of Madrid
Almudena Cathedral
Almudena Cathedral (Santa María la Real de la Almudena) is the Catholic cathedral of Madrid, on Calle Bailén beside the Royal Palace.
1 km in a straight line
Museum · Community of Madrid
Gallery of the Royal Collections
The Gallery of the Royal Collections is a Patrimonio Nacional museum on Calle Bailén in central Madrid, between the Royal Palace and Almudena Cathedral, showing works from the collections gathered by Spain's monarchs.
1 km in a straight line
Gallery · Community of Madrid
Museo del Prado
The Museo del Prado is Spain's national art museum, on the Paseo del Prado in central Madrid, housed in the Villanueva building and an extension by Rafael Moneo behind it.
1 km in a straight line
Explore deeper
Guides to Madrid
7 guides
Useful from Madrid
Travel Guide01
Prado, Reina Sofía or Thyssen: Madrid's three art museums compared
The Prado, the Reina Sofía and the Thyssen-Bornemisza overlap in period but differ in what each was built to collect. This guide sets out what each collection covers, how the Thyssen-Bornemisza came to belong to the Spanish state, the pass that covers all three, and what XTOUR does not know about visiting them.
Read guide
Travel Guide02
Roman Spain: Mérida, Segovia's aqueduct and Tarraco compared
Spain's three best-known Roman World Heritage listings are very different things: a provincial capital's ensemble of monuments in Mérida, a single aqueduct within Segovia's old town, and the remains of Tarraco, capital of Hispania Citerior, under modern Tarragona. UNESCO listed them in 1993, 1985 and 2000, and each is run, or described, by a different body with its own rules for visiting.
Read guide
Travel Guide03
Spain travel guide: choosing regions and city bases
XTOUR plans Spain around city bases rather than regions: Madrid, Barcelona, Seville, Granada, Córdoba, Valencia, Bilbao, San Sebastián, Santiago de Compostela, Palma and Málaga. This guide explains how Spain's autonomous communities relate to those bases, which community each base is in, and which XTOUR guide to read next for each.
Read guide
Travel Guide04
Spanish food guide: regions, DOP labels and how to read an Iberian ham label
Spanish food is regional, and the labels on its best-known products are legal categories, not marketing. This guide explains what DOP and IGP mean, how Spain's Iberian ham standard uses four coloured seals and where Spain's own tourism board describes them differently, what the Manchego cheese DOP requires, and which dishes official sources tie to which regions.
Read guide
Travel Guide05
Tapas customs in Spain: free tapas, pintxos and how official sources describe them
Tapas are small portions served with a drink, pintxos are the Basque Country's version, and whether one comes free depends on the city and the bar. Spain's national tourism board and San Sebastián's tourism office describe each custom in their own words, their pages disagree on some details, and XTOUR keeps their wording rather than generalising.
Read guide
Travel Guide06
Toledo, Segovia and El Escorial: three places reached from Madrid, not in it
Toledo, Segovia and the monastery of El Escorial are separate places outside the city of Madrid, not parts of it, and their main sites are run by different bodies: Toledo's cathedral, the Spanish Army's museum, the board that runs Segovia's Alcázar and Patrimonio Nacional. This guide sets out what each place is, who runs its main sites, what their own pages say about tickets, and what XTOUR does not know.
Read guide
Destination information last verified: October 9, 2026
Continue exploring