What to Do in Madrid: The Best Activities in Spain's Capital
Updated: Oct 10
Madrid at Christmas is a specific thing — the Plaza Mayor market, the lights on Gran Vía, the Retiro park with frost on the ground, the whole city slightly more ceremonial than usual. But Madrid earns a visit any time of year. The Prado, the Reina Sofía, the Thyssen-Bornemisza, and the Bernabéu are all there in January and they're easier to get into. Here's what to book, with the Christmas context where it applies.
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Best for First-Timers: Madrid Christmas Market Walking Tour
The Plaza Mayor Christmas market has been running since the 17th century in some form — stalls selling nativity scene figures, ornaments, and the polvorones and turrón that define a Spanish Christmas. The walking tour that covers Plaza Mayor and the surrounding streets puts it in context: why the Plaza was built, what it's been used for over the centuries, and why this particular market has survived when so many Christmas traditions have been standardised.
December only. The market runs from late November through December 31st. Evenings are the right time — when the lights are up and the city is out. The tour also covers the Puerta del Sol, the Mercado de San Miguel, and the best spots to eat and drink in the surrounding streets.
Tours: Madrid: Christmas market & old city walking tour · Madrid: Puerta del Sol, Plaza Mayor & Christmas lights tour · Browse all Madrid tours on GetYourGuide → · Search Viator →
Best for Families & Kids: Madrid Royal Palace & Prado Museum Guided Tour
The Royal Palace is the largest royal palace in Western Europe by floor area — 135,000 square metres, 3,418 rooms, and in active use for state ceremonies. The guided tour makes it digestible for families: the throne room, the royal armoury (the best in the world, and genuinely impressive to children), the royal pharmacy, and the views over the Casa de Campo from the gallery. In December the Christmas decorations inside are an extra.
The Prado is next. For families with kids old enough to handle two hours in a museum: the Velázquez rooms and the Goya Black Paintings are the backbone of most tours, and the guided format gives you the two or three things in each room worth looking at rather than trying to see everything. The museum is enormous and overwhelming without direction.
Tours: Madrid: Royal Palace guided tour with skip-the-line access · Madrid: Prado Museum guided tour with skip-the-line · Browse all Madrid tours → · Search Viator →
Best if You Only Have a Few Hours: Madrid Tapas & Neighbourhood Food Tour
The La Latina neighbourhood in December — the old city south of Plaza Mayor — is exactly what Madrid is supposed to look like: narrow streets, old taverns with hanging jamón, zinc bars serving vermouth, and the Mercado de la Cebada for produce. A guided tapas tour covers three to five stops with drinks and food included and is the fastest way to understand what Madrid actually eats and drinks rather than what the tourist restaurants near the Puerta del Sol are selling.
Works any time of year. In December, the neighbourhood Christmas decorations and the atmosphere in the taverns add to it.
Tours: Madrid: La Latina neighbourhood tapas & food tour · Madrid: evening tapas tour with local guide · Browse all Madrid food tours → · Search Viator →
Most Unique: Bernabéu Stadium Tour & Football Experience
The Santiago Bernabéu had a full renovation completed in 2023 and is now one of the most technically advanced stadiums in the world — a retractable roof, a rotating pitch that slides out from under the stands, and a visitor experience that includes the trophy room (14 Champions League trophies, which requires some time to process), the changing rooms, the tunnel, and the pitch itself. Even for people who don't follow football closely, the scale and the engineering are impressive.
Tours run year-round. In December, Real Madrid are in the Liga and Champions League seasons — match tickets are the harder thing to get, but the stadium tour is bookable without them.
Tours: Madrid: Bernabéu stadium official tour with trophy room · Browse all Madrid experiences → · Search Viator →
Best Guided Experience: Reina Sofía — Guernica & 20th-Century Spanish Art
Picasso's Guernica is in the Reina Sofía. That sentence is enough for a lot of people, but the museum around it — 20th-century Spanish art from the Surrealists through the Civil War era and beyond — is one of the strongest collections in Europe and almost always underestimated because the Prado gets the attention. A guided tour that starts with the Republican poster collection, moves through Miró and Dalí, and ends with Guernica in its own room gives you the full arc of Spanish modernism in about two hours.
Works any time of year. In December it's a good indoor option when the temperature makes the parks less appealing.
Tours: Madrid: Reina Sofía museum guided tour — Guernica & Spanish art · Madrid: Prado, Reina Sofía & Thyssen art tour · Browse all Madrid cultural tours → · Search Viator →
Looking for Somewhere to Stay?
The areas around Sol, La Latina, and Lavapiés keep you inside walking distance of the old city, the museums, and the tapas neighbourhoods. December rates are generally better than summer. Book the Christmas week (Dec 22–Jan 6) in advance — the city fills up with Spanish domestic travel. Browse hotels in Madrid →
More on Madrid and December in Spain
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