Visiting the Royal Palace of Madrid: what the ticket covers and who runs it

The short answer

The Royal Palace of Madrid is visited on a ticket from Patrimonio Nacional, the body that runs it, and the decision to make is which of its visits you want: the standard self-guided route, a guided visit by Patrimonio Nacional's own staff, the Royal Kitchen, or a combined ticket with the Royal Collections Gallery. Patrimonio Nacional's palace page says capacity is limited for conservation reasons and recommends buying online in advance, because sales at the physical ticket office are reduced.[1]

It is also a working palace. Patrimonio Nacional describes it as the official residence of the King of Spain and one of the few heads-of-state residences open to the public.[1] Its visit rules allow public visits to be suspended when the Royal Family's use of the building requires it.[2] XTOUR's reading is that a fixed date should be checked against Patrimonio Nacional's closures list shortly before you go.

Who runs it

Patrimonio Nacional manages the palace along with other sites across Spain, among them El Escorial, Aranjuez and La Almudaina in Palma.[2] Its website groups the palace with the Galería de las Colecciones Reales and the Campo del Moro gardens as the historic ensemble of the Royal Palace of Madrid. Tickets are sold on its own site, tickets.patrimonionacional.es, which the palace page links to.[1]

The building is eighteenth-century. Patrimonio Nacional's history notes that it stands on the site of the old Alcázar of Madrid, which burned on Christmas Eve 1734; Felipe V called in Filippo Juvarra, whose pupil Giambattista Sacchetti adapted the project, the first stone was laid in 1738 and the building was finished in 1751. Carlos III was the first king to live in it, from 1764, and the Royal Armoury was moved to its present pavilion in 1891.[1]

The visits Patrimonio Nacional sells

Patrimonio Nacional's visit rules list the palace among the sites open for both self-guided and guided visits, and its ticket page sells each separately.[3][2]

• Self-guided visit. The standard ticket. Patrimonio Nacional's ticket page describes it as a self-guided visit of the halls, with an audio guide sold as an extra.[3]
• Guided visit. Led by Patrimonio Nacional staff, at fixed times listed on the ticket page.[3]
• Royal Kitchen. Patrimonio Nacional's rules make the Royal Kitchen and the Royal Pharmacy guided-only spaces.[2] The kitchen's ticket page says its combined ticket is guided in the kitchen and self-guided in the rest of the palace, and that the time you book is the kitchen's.[5]
• Pase Distrito Real Esencial. A combined ticket for the palace and the Galería de las Colecciones Reales, a separate museum in the same historic ensemble; the time you choose is for the palace.[3]

Patrimonio Nacional's rules say a ticket bought on the web carries a time slot, and that children under 14 must be accompanied by an adult for the whole visit. They also require every bag to pass a security scanner and send bags of 40 x 40 cm or more to the cloakroom, and the ticket page adds a request not to bring large bags at all while improvement works are under way.[3][2]

Free hours: what they include and what they do not

The palace has free-admission hours on Monday to Thursday afternoons.[1] Patrimonio Nacional's ticket page restricts them to citizens of the European Union, residents and work-permit holders there, and Ibero-American citizens with proof, limits them to the self-guided visit, and sells those tickets only at the ticket office.[3] Its rules add that no group bookings or guided visits are possible during free hours.[2] XTOUR does not publish the free-hours times; the palace page and the ticket page both list them.

Where Patrimonio Nacional's pages disagree

The pages agree on the essentials. They differ on three details a visitor might rely on:

• Royal Collections Gallery validity. On the same ticket page, the combined ticket's Galería entry is described in one place as valid for seven days before or after the palace visit, and in the agency section as valid for seven days from the palace visit.[3]
• Guided-visit languages. The palace ticket page's timetable lists guided visits in Spanish, English and Italian, but its information note says guided visits bought online are in Spanish or English.[3] The Royal Kitchen's page says its guided visits bought online are all in Spanish.[5]
• The Royal Armoury. The English version of the ticket page gives separate visit lengths for the halls and the Royal Armoury, which suggests both are on the self-guided route; the Spanish version describes only the halls.[3][4] Patrimonio Nacional's visit rules give the opening hours of the palace ensemble under a heading that names the Royal Kitchen, the Royal Pharmacy and the Royal Armoury, but that heading lists spaces; it does not say what a ticket covers.[2] XTOUR has not found a sentence on these pages that says outright whether the standard ticket includes the Armoury.

XTOUR's reading is that the ticket wording shown at checkout, on Patrimonio Nacional's own site, is the one to rely on.

Closures and conduct

Patrimonio Nacional warns that, beyond its listed closing days, the palace can close for official events.[3] When XTOUR read the palace page on 9 October 2026, its closures box listed full-day closures for official acts or local holidays; check it shortly before you go.[1]

Its rules allow non-flash photography for personal use except where it is marked as not allowed, and forbid tripods, selfie sticks and photographing other visitors or staff without consent.[2] The palace page says there is access for people with reduced mobility and that manual wheelchairs are available; Patrimonio Nacional also publishes an accessibility leaflet on that page.[1] XTOUR has not assessed the route itself.

What XTOUR does not tell you

XTOUR does not publish the palace's prices, opening hours, free-hours times, visit lengths or guided-visit times; Patrimonio Nacional's palace and ticket pages set them and change them. XTOUR does not sell palace tickets and has no information on crowds or queues.

For the city, see the Madrid destination page; for its art museums, the comparison of the Prado, Reina Sofía and Thyssen-Bornemisza. El Escorial, also run by Patrimonio Nacional, is outside Madrid; Toledo, Segovia and El Escorial explains what each of those places is.