When thinking about Madrid, the first thing that comes to mind is probably flamenco dancing, tapas, and red wine. While those things are all very true and are reasons why I love visiting the city, one thing I absolutely love about Madrid is its incredible museums.
The city is blessed with a few heavyweights in the art and culture world making museums in Madrid among the best in the world. For many Madrid’s museums are reason alone to come to Spain.
From large, world-famous institutions to small but equally stunning house museums, Madrid is where we can get up close and personal with Spanish art and culture.
And so good old Google brought you here in your search for the best galleries and museums in Madrid.
Jolly good!
So, here’s our little gift to you: The 10 best museums in Madrid to visit when you’re in the Spanish capital!
Please note: This post may contain affiliate links. This means I may earn a commission if you make a purchase by clicking a link (at no extra cost to you). As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases. Learn more.
The Prado Museum
There is a reason why the Prado Museum is one of the best museums in the world. It was one of the first public art museums in the world and has an absolutely MASSIVE collection of art. You could never see it all in one day, so keep that in mind when planning your days in Madrid.
If you’re an art connoisseur, you’ll know that the Prado is one of the best art galleries in Madrid, and its collection spans from the Middle Ages to the 19th century. The Prado is home to the most complete collection of works by the Spanish Masters: Velázquez, El Greco and Goya. If you like your art dark, sombre and heavy, than the Prado has your name it.
And the best?
You can get in for free in the evenings and on some holidays.
The Prado would win some serious name-dropping competitions. Here you can find art from Spanish legends like Velázquez, El Greco and Hieronymus Bosch. Or, go downstairs to visit the Goya Paintings, including his black paintings. You know, just to name a few.
Or, check out the rotating exhibits, which are always interesting.
Museo Nacional del Prado Details:
Address: Calle. de Ruiz de Alarcón, 23
Opening Hours: Monday to Saturday:10 am to 8 pm
Sundays and holidays: 10 am to 7 pm
Free Access: Monday to Saturday: 6 pm to 8 pm
Sundays and holidays: 5 pm to 7 pm
Museo del Romanticismo
First things first: this isn’t a museum about romance but a museum dedicated to the 19th-century romantic period of Spain.
Inside this hidden gem museum, which most tourists overlook for the famous museums in the Golden Triangle of Art (Prado, Reina Sofia and Thysen), you can learn more about Spanish art from the 19th century.
The collection explores themes typical to Romanticism such as melancholy, individualism, escapism and longing for freedom.
The Museo del Romanticismo is a typical house museum with furniture, textiles, and decorative objectives as the primary focus. On the walls, you’ll find paintings by Spanish painters such as Goya, Leonardo Alenza, Rafael Tegeo and De Madrazo, among others.
The museum’s permanent exhibit has various personal items, like the pistol that Mariano Jose de Larra used to commit suicide.
Morbid?
Yes, but that’s Romanticism for you.
You can walk around the various rooms, from drawing rooms to boudoirs, while admiring the art and furniture. Then, head out to the Magnolia Garden, with its beautiful courtyard, for a little walk and coffee.
Museo del Romanticismo Details
Address: Calle de San Mateo, 13
Opening Hours:
Winter: Tue to Sat from 9:30 am to 6:30 pm
Summer: Tue to Sat from 9:30 am to 8:30 pm
Sundays and public holidays from 10 am to 3 pm
Free Access: Saturdays after 2 pm and on Sundays
Reina Sofía
The Reina Sofia, housed in an old hospital, is part of Madrid’s Golden Triangle of Art and has over 20,000 works in its permanent collection! This mega-museum is a little more modern than others on this list, focusing on contemporary art from all over Spain. The incredible collection of modern Spanish art make it one of the must-visit museums in Europe.
If you want to see modern Spanish art, there is no better place in the entire world than the Reina Sofia. The enormous monochromatic painting, Guernica by Picasso, is perhaps the most representative painting of Spanish art and alone worth a visit the museum.
What I love about this museum is that it’s straightforward to navigate. It’s divided into two wings: the old and new wings. In the old wing, you’ll find the permanent collections of modern art, and the new wing gives you access to temporary exhibitions.
So, if you’re short on time, pick your favourite period. You can easily spend an entire day here but put aside at least three hours to wallow in all that stunning modern and post-modern weird and wonderful-ness.
Highlights to look out for are the extensive Picasso collection aside from the Guernica, a handsome collection of Miros and the master of surrealism, Salvador Dali. Some foreign artists are also included in the mix, but they are mostly confined to the modern wing!
Reina Sofia Details:
Address: Calle. de Sta. Isabel, 52
Opening Hours: Monday : 10 am to 9 pm
Wednesday to Saturday: 10 am to 9 pm
Sundays: 10 am to 2:30 pm.
Free Access: Monday 7 am to 9 00 pm
Wednesday to Saturday: 7 to 9 pm
Sunday 12:30 pm to 2:30 pm
Some Holidays
Sorolla Museum
Set in one of Europe’s best-preserved house museums, Museo Sorolla is all about Joaquín Sorolla, a Spanish artist from Valencia. The museums used to be his old home in the Chamberi district.
The excellent European art museum opened to visitors when Sorollas’s widow died, and now you can wander through all his old rooms and see furniture, personal belongings, and more than 1200 paintings and drawings by the artist. Sorolla loved light, and you’ll see how he tried to capture this in his Mediterranean-inspired artwork, from beachy scenes to fisherman doing their thing.
Make sure you check out the free Andalusian-style gardens around the museum before leaving! If you’re hungry after your visit, the museum is close to Madrid’s local tapas street, Ponzano!
Museo Sorolla Details
Address: Paseo del Gral. Martínez Campos, 37
Opening Hours: Tuesday to Saturday: 9:30 am to 8 pm |
Sundays & public holidays: 10 am to 3 pm.
Free Access: None
Railway Museum
The official name for Madrid’s railway museum is the Museo Del Ferrocarril; it is a great place to visit if you’re into history or just want to get a little off the beaten path. Located in the hip residential Las Delicias neighbourhood, you can learn all about the history of rail travel in Spain.
The building itself is a 19th-century train station and is absolutely beautiful. Inside, you’ll find Spain’s railway history, from old steam engines to electric trains and various pieces of railway equipment.
After you’re done clambering all over the trains (yes, you’re allowed), you can have a meal or a drink in an old restaurant cart, which is a pretty unique thing to do in the Spanish capital!
Top tip: plan your visit for the second weekend of the month to experience the Mercado de Motores (Engine Market) inside the museum. This colourful flea market is a unique Madrid experience most travellers don’t know of!
Museo Del Ferrocarril Details
Address: Paseo de las Delicias, 61, Arganzuela
Opening Hours: Monday to Saturday: 9:30 am to 3 pm.
Saturday and Sunday: 10 am to 7 pm.
Free access: none
National Museum of Natural Sciences
Nature fanatics, children, and those tired of history and art, this one is for you! King Karlos 111 created the museum in 1771, and today, it’s one of the main scientific research centres in Spain. With over six million specimens, the Natural Science Museum aims to promote an understanding of nature’s diversity. Within its walls, you’ll find everything from DNA to dinosaurs.
You’ll be able to enjoy interactive exhibits and see a 20-meter-long whale skeleton and some dinosaur bones, which might be worth the ticket price alone.
It’s a bit outside the main tourist area in the upscale Salamanca neighbourhood, but it’s worth checking out if you are even just slightly interested in the natural world.
Museo Nacional de Ciencias Naturales Details:
Address: Calle José Gutierrez Abascal
Opening Hours: Tuesday to Friday: 10 am to 5 pm
Saturdays and Sundays: 10 am to 8 pm
Free Access: None.
Thyssen Bornemisza Museum
Named after the famous art collector Baron Hans-Heinrich Thyssen-Bornemisza, this is one of Madrid’s Big 3 museums with over 1600 masterpieces. The building is a beautiful 19th-century palace and a great example of Madrid’s palatial architecture.
The extensive collection of paintings spans from the 13th to the 20th centuries and is arranged chronologically to make it easy to navigate. The collection here bridges the gap between the Reina Sofia and The Prado, making it an ideal addition to the either. While the Prado has the classics from the Spanish, English, Dutch, and German schools and the Reina Sofia, the impressionist and expressionist school, you’ll find excellent examples of them all in the Thyssen.
All the big names are here, including Renoir, Degas, Klee, Rembrandt, Van Gogh, Picasso, Dali Delacroix, Courbet, and Goya.
Thyssen Museum Details:
Address: Paseo del Prado, 8
Opening Hours: Monday from 12 pm – 4 pm
Tuesday to Sunday: 10 am to 7 pm
Free Access: All day on Monday and Saturdays from 9 pm to 11 pm
Cerralbo Museum
If you’re exploring Madrid on a self-guided walking tour and find yourself near the Plaza Espana in Centro, you must check out this former mini-palace, now a museum. It was once home to the 17th-century Marquis of Cerralbo. When the wealthy owner died, he left the house and belongings to the city of Madrid on the condition that the house could not be altered.
Walking into the beautiful Neo-Baroque and Rococo mansion, you’ll see exactly how Spain’s mega-rich lived back in the day, from the ballrooms to the bedrooms. You’ll also find his HUGE (50,000 + pieces) private collection of art, weapons, family photos, and slightly extra-looking furniture and decor collected from his trips around Spain and Europe.
Don’t miss the gardens – they are delightful.
Cerralbo Museum Details:
Address: Calle de Ventura Rodríguez, 17
Opening Hours: Tuesday to Saturday: 9:30 am to 3 pm
Thursdays, 5 pm to 8 pm
Sundays and holidays: 10 am to 3 pm
Free Access: Saturdays from 2 pm
Thursdays from 5 pm to 8 pm
Every Sunday
CaixaForum
The Caixa Forum can’t say it’s been around as long as some other, more famous museums on this list, but that doesn’t mean this newcomer isn’t worth visiting.
The CaixaForum is housed in an electrical plant from the 1900s and has the coolest vertical garden outside, so you won’t be able to miss it—especially if you’re visiting the nearby Prado. The main event here is the rotating, temporary exhibitions covering anything from art to design to archaeology to photography.
The CaixaForum is also a cultural centre in Madrid, hosting events such as poetry or music festivals or debates on current affairs.
CaixaForum Details:
Address: Paseo del Prado, 36
Opening Hours: Monday to Sunday: 10 am to 8 pm
Free Access: May 15, May 18, November 9
National Archaeological Museum
Dig the past (see what I did there) to discover ancient wonders and one of the most famous antique collections in the entire world at the National Archeological Museum (NAM).
The striking neo-classical building in Madrid’s upscale Salamanca is also home to the National Library of Spain. Inside this massive museum, you’ll find Iberian art and artefacts that go all the way back to pre-history. You will see artefacts from civilizations such as the Celtics, Greeks, Egyptians, and Romans.
The museum’s highlights are the incredible collection of Protohistory of the Iberian Peninsula and the Hispano-Roman artefacts on the first floor.
NAM Details:
Address: Calle de Serrano 13
Opening Hours: Tuesday to Saturday: 9:30 am to 8 pm
Sundays and public holidays: 9:30 am to 3 pm
Free access: none.
Museums in Madrid FAQ
What Are The Big Three Museums in Madrid?
Madrid’s three most prominent and most famous museums are the Prado, the Reina Sofia, and the Thyssen-Bornemisza. Collectively, these are referred to as The Golden Triangle of Art.
What is the Most Important Museum in Madrid?
Depending on who you ask, either the Prado or the Reina Sofia. The Prado is the most important museum in Madrid for the classic Spanish masters, while the Reina Sofia is the reigning queen of modern Spanish art.
How Many Museums are in Madrid?
There are over 44 Madrid museums, making it the perfect city for culture or art lovers!
The Best Museums in Madrid: Takeaways
Madrid is known for its fantastic nightlife, culture, epic tapas bars, and friendly people, but with all its museums, the Spanish capital is also a wonderful getaway for art lovers! Whether you’re looking for world-famous museums with big names hanging on the walls or small, hidden gems where you can dive deeper into Spain’s history, Madrid has something for you!
If you’re going to Madrid and want to see art, I recommend that you plan some extra time to enjoy some of the more off-the-beaten-path museums so that you can leave with a well-rounded view of the beautiful country of Spain!
This post guest post was written by Taylor from Culture Craving Couple
Taylor is the creator of Culture Craving Couple, a travel blog focused on travelling as a couple in the USA and Europe. She and her husband’s goal is to help you explore the world while growing closer through off-the-beaten-path experiences and giving back.
And that is a wrap for our best museums in Madrid! Between the world-famous and the niche, you’re sure to find something to sync with your psyche. Now go out and enjoy the glorious art, history and culture of Madrid
✌️