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Madrid Travel Guide
Buy EurosMadrid at a glance
Madrid is Spain's capital and its art city. The Prado, the Reina Sofía and the Thyssen sit a short walk apart along the Paseo del Prado, which with the Retiro park has been a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 2021. Three days covers the main sights and the food, and high-speed trains reach Barcelona in about 3 hours and Seville in about 2 hours 40 minutes.
The Prado holds the great Spanish masters, from Velázquez and Goya to El Greco, and Bosch's Garden of Earthly Delights. Tickets cost €15, and entry is free in the last two hours: Monday to Saturday 6 pm to 8 pm, Sundays and holidays 5 pm to 7 pm, when the queues are long. Picasso's Guernica is not at the Prado but at the Reina Sofía (€12; free Monday and Wednesday to Saturday 7 pm to 9 pm, and Sunday 12:30 pm to 2:30 pm; closed on Tuesdays).
The Royal Palace, with 3,418 rooms, costs €18, or €26 with an official guide. Its free late-afternoon visits are only for EU and Ibero-American citizens and residents, so Indian passport holders pay. The Retiro park is free; its glass Palacio de Cristal is closed for building works, but the nearby Palacio de Velázquez gallery is open and free.
There is no nonstop flight between India and Spain, so most Indian visitors connect through a Gulf or European hub. Indian passport holders need a Schengen visa, applied for through BLS International, and Madrid, unlike Barcelona, charges no tourist tax.
Where to stay
Central Madrid is walkable; most of the sights are within 30 minutes on foot of Puerta del Sol.
Sol and Centro
Dead central, walkable to Plaza Mayor, the Royal Palace and Puerta del Sol; convenient, but busy and noisy at night.
Huertas
The Barrio de las Letras, Madrid's literary quarter just east of Sol: tapas bars, and a short walk to the Prado and the Retiro.
Malasaña and Chueca
Younger, more local neighbourhoods north of Gran Vía, with good food and nightlife, a short walk or metro ride from the sights.
Paying in Madrid
For the euro itself, the visa, the VAT refund and how much cash to carry, see the Spain travel guide, and before you fly, our forex guide for Schengen trips from India.
Visa and Mastercard work almost everywhere. Keep a small euro float for older tapas bars, market stalls and rounding up the bill, which is how Madrid tips. Bank ATMs usually charge foreign cards a flat fee, shown on screen before you confirm, and when a terminal or ATM offers rupees, choose euros. RuPay is rarely accepted in Spain.
What Madrid actually costs
Set the length and style of your trip to see what to budget, in euros and Indian rupees.
Indicative, excluding international flights and accommodation, per person per day. Converted at the verified mid-market rate on 7 October 2026, €1 ≈ ₹108.24, not a Matrix board rate.
Budget roughly ₹4,870 to ₹17,320 per person per day on the ground, excluding flights and accommodation.
| Item | Cost |
|---|---|
| Coffee | €1.50-2.50 |
| Menú del día, weekday lunch | €14-19 |
| Metro single, zone A | €1.50-2.00 |
| 10-trip metro ticket (2026 price) | €7.30 |
| Prado / Royal Palace | €15 / €18 |
| Airport taxi, inside the M-30 (fixed) | €33 |
Getting around
Most of central Madrid is walkable, and the metro covers the rest from 6 am to about 1:30 am. A single costs €1.50 to €2.00 in zone A, loaded on a reusable €2.50 Multi card, and the 10-trip ticket is €7.30 through 2026 (normally €12.20). The tourist travel pass for zone A costs €10.30 for one day and €23.10 for three, airport supplement included.
From Barajas airport, metro line 8 costs €4.50 to €5.00 with the €3 airport supplement; the Exprés Aeropuerto bus is a flat €5 and runs 24 hours, to Atocha by day and Cibeles at night; and taxis charge a fixed €33 to anywhere inside the M-30 ring.
For day trips, Avant trains reach Toledo from Atocha in about 33 minutes for about €14 each way, and Segovia, with its Roman aqueduct, is about 30 minutes by fast train from Chamartín.
Common mistakes in Madrid
Expecting free entry at the Royal Palace
The free late-afternoon visits are only for EU and Ibero-American citizens and residents. On an Indian passport you pay €18.
Looking for Guernica at the Prado
Picasso's Guernica is at the Reina Sofía, which closes on Tuesdays.
Turning up for dinner at 7:30 pm
Madrid eats late: dinner rarely starts before 9 pm. The good-value menú del día is a weekday lunch at most restaurants.
Paying in rupees at the card machine
When a terminal or ATM offers to charge you in rupees, choose euros. The rupee option lets the operator set its own rate.
Madrid FAQs
Three days covers the Prado, the Royal Palace, the Retiro and the food. Add a day for the Reina Sofía or a day trip to Toledo or Segovia.
Yes. Indian passport holders need a Schengen visa, applied for through BLS International, which takes applications for the Spanish embassy in New Delhi and the consulate in Mumbai. The fee is €90 (₹9,599) plus the BLS service charge, decisions normally take 15 days, and you can apply from six months to 15 days before travel. ETIAS, the EU's planned travel authorisation, is only for visa-exempt travellers and does not replace the visa.
In its last two hours: Monday to Saturday 6 pm to 8 pm, and Sundays and holidays 5 pm to 7 pm. At other times tickets cost €15.
No. The free slots, Monday to Thursday in the late afternoon, are only for EU and Ibero-American citizens and residents. Indian passport holders pay €18, or €26 with an official guide.
For hotels, usually. Spain's statistics office puts the average room at about €164 a night in Madrid in 2026, against €184 in Barcelona, though Madrid is the dearer of the two from October to January. Barcelona also adds a tourist tax of €6 to €12 a night; Madrid has none.
By metro line 8 (€4.50 to €5.00 including the €3 airport supplement), on the 24-hour Exprés Aeropuerto bus (€5), or by taxi at a fixed €33 to anywhere inside the M-30.
On 7 October 2026 one euro was ₹108.24 at the mid-market rate, so €100 is about ₹10,820.
More guides in Spain
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