Guided Tours and Sightseeing in Madrid
General
Madrid, the capital of Spain, located in the heart of the country, is a bustling and vibrant city full of history, art, culture, and atmosphere. Madrid is the seat of the king, the government, the parliament, and the Supreme Court. The city has about 3.2 million residents and is considered the largest city in Spain.
Although it is a huge city, most of its tourist attractions are concentrated in a relatively small area that can be easily explored on foot. It has excellent and cheap public transportation, a huge variety of tapas restaurants, and plenty of breathtaking street performances.
Many arrive to Madrid for a day or two on their way to the Canary Islands, South or Central America. However, the city and its surroundings have many attractions, and it is recommended to dedicate several days to it.
Guided Tours in Madrid from Viator:
Guided Tours from Madrid to Surrounding Destinations:
Recommended guided tours from Madrid to Avila, Segovia, Salamanca, and Toledo:
Information about Toledo in my article: The Toledo Travel Guide.
Toledo:
♦ Another recommended guided day trip from Madrid to the old city of Avila with its large walls, Segovia Segovia with its famous cathedral and aqueduct, and the fortress Alcazar.
Hot Air Balloon
♦ A special experiential trip in a hot air balloon over Toledo or Segovia (with an option for transportation from central hotels in Madrid), to book via Viator:
♦ Recommended Accommodations in Madrid
Catalonia Las Cortes
A 65-room hotel, all air-conditioned, 4-star rating in the city center. Located in an impressive 18th-century building
Hotel
Atlántico
A 4-star hotel in the city center with 105 air-conditioned and soundproof rooms. The hotel has 2 balconies overlooking a panoramic view of the city
Splendom Suites Gran Via
A suite hotel in the historic center of the city offering 26 air-conditioned suites of various sizes including a refrigerator and microwave. The hotel features studio apartments up to two-bedroom and living room apartments.
Tirso De Molina Suites
A small and intimate apartment hotel (3 apartments): one with a bedroom and living room, one with two bedrooms and living room, and the third with three bedrooms suitable for up to 9 guests. All apartments are air-conditioned and well-equipped.
Guided Tours in Madrid
For those arriving in Madrid as a transit stop and also for those arriving to see it more leisurely and in depth, it is recommended to take a comprehensive guided tour among the "must-see" sites in the city after which you will feel "at home" and can better get to know and understand the impressive city, its residents, and their lifestyle.
Independent Tour of Santiago Bernabéu Football Stadium
For football fans, a visit to the home stadium of the Real Madrid football team - Santiago Bernabéu - is recommended. This stadium is the second largest in Spain with over 80,000 seats and is one of the most prestigious in the world, having hosted important football matches. On the following independent tour: Direct Entry Ticket to Bernabeu Stadium you can purchase an entrance ticket on Viator to the stadium where you can visit its various wings.
♦ Car rental from the reliable and convenient website Booking: Booking.com
Guided Tour of the Prado Museum in Madrid
In Madrid's famous Prado Museum there are many important works of art. The museum is huge and it is worth taking a guided tour to focus you on the most important works in a short period of time. The following guided tour:
Skip the Line: Prado Museum Tour in Madridwhich you can purchase here from Viator, lasts an hour and a half and includes pre-booked admission tickets so you won't have to wait in line as the museum tour is in very high demand. The tour provides earphones through which the guide explains the artworks in the museum.
Food, Tapas, and Wine Tours
Madrid is famously known for the huge and rich variety of tapas restaurants, and there are many companies offering tapas tours, some with wine tastings, where you move from restaurant to restaurant and in each taste characteristic dishes with explanations about the foods, their ingredients, origins, and various spicy stories related to Spain's food culture. The tour allows getting acquainted with the city's restaurants amidst landscapes and attractions with tasting breaks in typical local restaurants that give a rest to the legs and pleasure to the palate.
Below are recommended tours to book from the successful Viator website:
♦ Recommended tapas and wine tasting tour -
Madrid Tapas and Wine Tasting Tour
The tour includes 12 types of tapas dishes in four places. Includes drinks. Lasts 3 hours.
For those interested in a local food cooking experience including buying ingredients at the market, a cooking course, and a meal, you can join the following recommended cooking course:
♦ Experiential local food cooking course -
Spanish Cooking Class Paella Tapas and Sangria in Madrid
Lasts about 4 hours including shopping for ingredients at the market, the cooking course, and a meal where you eat the dishes you cooked.
Recommended Culinary Tour
A tour lasting about three and a half hours and including six different food stops. At each place, you will also receive drinks suitable for the food, including of course typical local alcoholic drinks including wines, Vermouth, Spanish cider, and of course water. Full details about the tour
Segway Tours
The most convenient and fun way for a first introduction to the city and its attractions is on a Segway tour.
Below is a recommended tour to book from Viator:
Madrid Segway Tour
You can book a variety of tours between one hour and two and a half hours, some including a tapas tasting. Tour route details are provided on the booking website.
The shortest tours, lasting only an hour, include a brief learning of the ride and a fun and amusing ride in the heart of the city's tourist center.
The "classic" tours last two to two and a half hours and visit most of the city's "must-see" sites such as the Palace, the Opera House, City Hall, squares, and pedestrian streets.
Some tours also include a visit to Madrid's covered market San Miguel Market, "Botin" restaurant, a tapas restaurant considered, according to the Guinness Book of Records, to be the oldest restaurant in the world!
A successful Segway tour for football fans is a tour of the Real Madrid football team's stadium.
Some tours will take you to the main places in the city center and its historic part, such as the Palace, the theater, the impressive Egyptian Temple of Debod, and of course, central squares like Puerta del Sol. Some tours focus on the newer and more modern parts of the city.
♦ Recommended Culinary Tour
Secret Food Tours, which specializes in food tours in many destinations worldwide, offers a highly successful food tour in central Madrid including exclusively authentic Spanish restaurants with characteristic food, including untouristed places hidden in the heart of the tourist-busy city and sold mainly to locals.
A tour lasting about three and a half hours and including six different food stops. At each place, you will also receive drinks suitable for the food, including of course typical local alcoholic drinks including wines, Vermouth, Spanish cider, and of course water.
You will visit a heavenly pastry shop named El Riojano managed for 160 years by the same family and evidenced by the writing on the floor in front of the pastry shop (see picture below) and taste its flagship dish: Segovia's punch cake.
From there you continue to a historical deli named Bartolomé (managed for 180 years by the same family) where you will taste cold cuts and other savory delicacies.
From there you continue to an authentic Spanish tapas bar / restaurant
named La Campana where
they will choose for you the dishes most characteristic of Madrid.
The next stop is Mirador del Arco de Cuchilleros restaurant in which you taste two tapas accompanied by local cider.
In addition, the tour includes two restaurants where you will receive small portions of those restaurants' "specialty".
Among the dishes you will experience
will be various types of cheeses, Spanish omelet, fried calamari sandwich alcoholic beverages such as vermouth
and many other surprises.
Professional ham leg carving at Mi Venta restaurant:
During the tour you will learn a lot about the city, its sites, culture, local history, peek into "secret" streets and discover plenty of spicy facts about the city and its residents.
It is recommended to book the tours in advance!
Guided Walking Tour
For those who prefer to tour on foot, it is recommended to join one of the quality tours of Esther, owner of Madrid Sensations Tours
Guide Esther:
You can join her for full-day or half-day tours among Madrid's main tourist sites and also delicious tapas tours. However, the most recommended tour of all, especially for those with limited time, is an evening tour called Night Photography Tour where you will view the city from special viewpoints, visit "must-see" sites from interesting photo angles, and at the perfect timing against the sunset receive excellent tips from her on how to get quality photos of the beautiful city, including lesser-known and less-touristed sites, such as an Egyptian pyramid located within a pastoral park.
Esther is charming and full of knowledge and will greatly enrich your education about the city and its sites while walking briskly between squares and wide streets but also between narrow and side alleys, where every house has a fascinating story.