3 Days In Madrid, Spain, Mostly Churros And Sore Feet

I went to Madrid in late spring with one rule. Walk everything. No metro unless I really had to, no tour buses, no rented car. I wanted the city in my feet.

What I came back with is this. Three days, mostly central, ordered the way I actually did them. A first day around the old centre and the palace. A second day for the big museums and one very loud cocktail bar. A third day for the Rastro, coffee in Malasaña, and a basilica almost nobody walks to. I have left wiggle room for long lunches because that is how Madrid actually moves.

If you have done Madrid before, you will recognise the shape. If this is your first visit, you will leave full and a little blistered. Both are good.

Day 1, The Old Centre and the Palace

Day one is a slow loop through the heart of Habsburg Madrid. Plaza Mayor first, then the Royal Palace, then chocolate. The afternoon swings out to the Temple of Debod for the sunset everyone talks about, before circling back to the cathedral. It is about three and a half kilometres of actual walking across the day, easy if you take your time.

Plaza Mayor

I started around 9 in the morning in Plaza Mayor, when the cafe staff were still wiping down tables and the square felt almost private. Pigeons. A man dragging a cart. The arcades catching the early light in that flat, gold way that only old porticoes do.

You do not need long here. Walk a slow lap of the square, look up at the painted facade of the Casa de la Panadería, duck under one of the arches to peek at the streets running off it. Give it thirty minutes, maybe forty if you sit for a coffee under the arcade.

This is a square that earns its postcard reputation more in the morning than the evening, when it gets noisy and the menus turn into tourist traps. Get in early and get out before 10.

From here it is a six or seven minute walk west through Calle Mayor and down to the Royal Palace. Easy, all on foot.

Royal Palace of Madrid

By 10 I was in the queue at the Royal Palace, and the queue was already real. Book ahead. Reviewers keep saying four days in advance for the guided tour, longer for the self-guided ticket, and that lines up with what I saw.

The staircase is the first thing that hits you. It feels stagey, almost too grand, like a film set someone forgot to dismantle. Then you walk into rooms that each have their own colour, their own ceiling, their own logic. Frescoes overhead. Tapestries on the walls. The armory off to the side is worth the small extra time if you like a knight in full plate.

Plan an hour and a half inside. Two if you slow down. If you happen to be there on the first Wednesday of the month around noon, you may catch the changing of the guard. I did not, but the locals said it is the day to time it.

From the palace it is a four minute walk back through Calle del Arenal to your chocolate stop.

Chocolatería San Ginés

Just past midday I ducked into Pasadizo de San Ginés. The alley is narrow and the green-and-white sign almost looks like a film prop. Open since 1894, and they will tell you so on every surface.

I ordered the chocolate con churros, because that is the point. The chocolate was thick, not sweet, more like melted bitter ganache than the hot chocolate I grew up with. The churros came crisp and not greasy. I dunked. I burned my tongue. Worth it.

Is it hyped. Yes. Is it sometimes uneven, with churros that have sat. Reviews are split, and I would agree the magic depends on the hour. Go before the lunchtime rush or you will get tired ones. The porras, the thicker cousins, are also worth ordering if you have a second person to share.

Thirty minutes is plenty. From the door it is a ten minute walk south back past Plaza Mayor to the next stop.

Mercado de San Miguel

Around 1 in the afternoon I pushed into Mercado de San Miguel. The iron and glass building dates to 1916 and someone clearly fell in love with the bones of it when they redid the inside in 2009.

I will be honest. It is touristy and not cheap. A Spaniard I sat next to muttered about shrinkflation and overpriced tapas, and he was not wrong about some stalls. But the seafood counters were fresh, the oysters with a glass of Albariño were exactly the lunch I wanted, and a small skewer of olives stayed in my head for the rest of the day.

Go for a glass and three small plates, not a full meal. Watch your bag. Pickpockets work crowded markets and this one is always crowded.

Plan forty five minutes, an hour at most. From here it is about a twenty minute walk northwest to Debod, mostly uphill at the end. Worth the climb.

Temple of Debod

I got to the Temple of Debod just past 4, which was too early, on purpose. The park around the temple was quiet. A few joggers. A woman with a dog. The Egyptian stone looked almost out of place sitting on a Madrid hilltop above Principe Pío.

The temple itself is over 2,000 years old, gifted to Spain by Egypt in the 1960s. You can book a free interior ticket online but they go fast, often a week ahead. I did not get one. Reviewers warned me, and they were right.

What you really come for is the sunset. By 6, when the light started going, the park had filled up with people sitting on the grass, buskers, a couple of groups passing bottles. The view back over the Royal Palace, with the temple lit from below, is worth the wait. It can get noisy with crowds and police breaking up gatherings, so set your expectations there.

Stay an hour and a half if you want the full sunset. From here it is a twenty minute walk back south to the cathedral.

Catedral de Santa María la Real de la Almudena

Around 8 in the evening, with the sky still bright, I walked up to Almudena Cathedral. After Debod it almost felt anticlimactic from the outside, but inside is where this one earns its keep.

It took 110 years to build, finished only in 1993, and you can feel that in the strange marriage of styles. Neoclassical shell, gothic bones, and a painted ceiling that is genuinely modern, with bright geometric panels you do not expect in a cathedral. Entry to the main nave is free. The dome and museum cost a few euros and the views back at the palace are some of the best in the city, if you have the legs for the stairs.

Enter through the side door, not the main one. The queue is shorter and the staff seemed almost surprised to see anyone.

Forty five minutes is plenty. I walked back to my hotel in the centre slowly, the day finally catching up with my feet.

Day 2, Museums, Tapas, and Retiro

Day two is the museum day, but loosened up. Start at Puerta de Alcalá, do the Prado before fatigue sets in, then a long tapas lunch on Calle del León, then the Reina Sofía, a cocktail, and Retiro to finish. The walking is short between stops, the standing inside museums is what will get you. Wear better shoes than you think.

Puerta de Alcalá

Day 2 started early, around 8 in the morning, with a coffee in my hand and almost no one on Plaza de la Independencia. Puerta de Alcalá looks better at this hour. The granite goes warm in the morning light and you can actually photograph it without a tour group walking through the frame.

It is a monument, not an attraction. You do not pay anything, you do not queue, you just stand and look. The arch was built in the 1770s under Carlos III and it shows in the proportions, a kind of heavy elegance that is very Madrid.

Fifteen minutes here, maybe twenty if you cross the road for a better angle. Then breakfast at one of the cafes around Recoletos if you have not eaten.

From Alcalá it is an eight minute walk south down Paseo del Prado to the museum. Stay on the shady side of the boulevard, the morning sun on this stretch is stronger than it looks.

Museo Nacional del Prado

I was at the Prado door for the 10 opening and grateful I had pre-booked. The line on the day looked grim and slow.

The Prado is enormous, the kind of museum that ruins you if you try to see it all. So I did not try. I picked three rooms in advance. Velázquez and Las Meninas. The Goya black paintings. One Bosch. That was it. Two and a half hours, and I left while I still felt curious instead of crushed.

Honestly. I liked the Reina Sofía more, and I will get to that. The Prado is the great cathedral of Spanish painting and I respect it, but it is a lot, and the crowds in front of the headline paintings can deflate you. Pick your battles.

Plan two to three hours, no more. From the Prado it is a six minute walk west into the Barrio de las Letras for lunch.

Casa González

By 1 in the afternoon I was on Calle del León, looking for the deli that everyone in the tapas-tour world quietly recommends. Casa González is a shop in the front and a few small tables in the back, the kind of place you walk past twice before you notice it.

Andrés, or someone exactly like him, walked me through the cheeses. I had a board of five Spanish cheeses with quince paste, a glass of vermouth, then a glass of red. The pâté with truffle that one reviewer raved about is the thing to order if it is on the board that day. It was on mine. I ate it off the knife.

This was the lunch that made the trip for me. Service was warm without being a show. Prices were fair. The room is small, the wine list is long, and you can sit for an hour and a half without anyone rushing you.

From the door it is a seven minute walk south to the Reina Sofía.

Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía

I got to the Reina Sofía around 3:30 and it was calmer than the Prado in every possible way. Better organised, better signed, easier to find what you came for.

I came for Guernica. Everyone does. It hangs on the second floor and there is no way to prepare for the scale of it in person. Black, white, grey. A horse mid-scream. People were quiet around it in a way that does not happen often in museums.

The Picasso, Dalí, and Miró rooms next door are dense and brilliant. The fourth floor is heavier on contemporary installation and I skimmed it, honestly. Free entry kicks in after 7 in the evening if your timing works, and the queue at 7 moves fast.

Plan two hours minimum. From the museum it is a twelve minute walk north into the Barrio de las Letras for a cocktail.

Salmon Guru, A Contracorriente

I walked into Salmon Guru just past 6 in the evening, before the proper crowd, which is the only sane way to do it.

This is a loud, colourful, slightly chaotic cocktail bar on Calle de Echegaray. The menu is long and a little overwhelming and at around 18 euros a drink it is not cheap for Madrid. I ordered the Tropical Vieux Carré, which was as fun as it sounds, and a house Negroni that had a touch of port balancing the bitter. Both were excellent. The Tiki Guru 2.0 is the showy one to order if you only have one drink.

The music is loud. The seats are limited. The bartenders pour with real care. If you want quiet, this is not it. If you want one of the best cocktails in the city for the cost of a cab home, this is it.

Stay forty five minutes. From the bar it is a fifteen minute walk east to Retiro.

El Retiro Park

Around 8, with the light just starting to soften, I walked into Retiro through the Puerta de Alcalá gate. It is the perfect way to end a day that has been mostly indoors.

The park is 125 hectares of paths, ponds, fountains, and over 15,000 trees, which sounds like a fact and feels like one when you are standing under them. I walked to the lake, sat on a bench by the boats, watched a couple try and fail to row in a straight line. The Palacio de Cristal is a quick detour off the main path and worth it even if it is closed, just for the way it sits in the trees.

You could spend two hours here easily. I gave it an hour and a half and felt like I left something on the table.

I walked back to the hotel slowly through Calle de Alcalá, twenty minutes, the evening warm enough to leave the jacket open. A good day.

Day 3, Sunday at the Rastro, then Malasaña

This day only works on a Sunday because of the Rastro. If you are in town on any other day, swap day three with day two. Start in La Latina with the flea market, wander up through the medieval lanes, coffee in Malasaña, another mercado, a stroll through the neighbourhood, and end at the most underrated church in the city.

Rastro de Madrid

I was at the Rastro by 10 on a Sunday morning, which is the only morning this works. The market runs along Calle de la Ribera de Curtidores in La Latina and it shuts down by 3, so do not lazy your way into a late start.

The smell hits first. Leather and waffles, mostly. Then the noise. Then the stalls, which go on for what feels like blocks, and probably do. Vintage denim. Embroidered ethnic pieces. Antique brass. Some genuine garbage. The deeper into the warren of side streets you go, the more interesting the shops get.

I bought a small ceramic bowl from a woman who haggled me up by two euros and was right to. Plan an hour and a half, give yourself two if you actually want to look. Watch your bag, the crowd is shoulder to shoulder.

From the bottom of the Rastro it is a five minute walk up into the medieval lanes of La Latina to your next stop.

Calle del Almendro, 13

By noon I was on Calle del Almendro, in the slice of La Latina that still feels like a small town inside the city. Almendro 13 is a tapas bar at this address, the kind locals talk about and tourists usually skip because the name is just a street number.

I sat at the bar. Ordered a glass of red, a small plate of huevos rotos, and watched the room fill up with what looked like four generations of one family. The room itself is tiled, narrow, and warm in a way that has nothing to do with the temperature.

You do not need long here. A drink, a small plate, maybe two. Forty five minutes is enough. Sunday lunch on these streets is a sport and you are passing through. Eat standing if there are no seats.

From the door it is about a twenty minute walk north through the centre and up into Malasaña. The streets get younger and the graffiti gets better with every block.

Toma Café 1

I got to Toma Café on Calle de la Palma around 2, in that pleasant fog that sets in after a long market morning.

Toma is the coffee shop in Madrid for people who care about coffee. They roast their own beans. The barista, who introduced himself as Carlos, ground the beans in front of me so I could smell them first, which felt slightly theatrical and entirely correct. I had a flat white made with a Rwandan blend, smooth and citrusy. Then a cortado with an Indian roast, floral and lighter. Cheaper than the chain spots, too.

It is small. No laptops. You sit, you drink, you talk. The cinnamon roll is worth ordering if it is still on the counter.

Half an hour to forty five minutes. From the cafe it is an eight minute walk east through Malasaña into Chueca to your next mercado.

Mercado San Antón

I arrived at Mercado San Antón around 3, which is exactly the wrong time, but I was here for the building, not a meal. The market sits on Calle de Augusto Figueroa in Chueca and feels like a smaller, more local cousin of San Miguel.

Ground floor is for shopping. Jamón ibérico, vacuum-packed for the flight home, anchoas from Cantabria, decent local wine. The second floor is tapas stalls, much cheaper than San Miguel, with a friendlier rhythm. A tapa here runs about two euros, which is the price San Miguel forgot about.

If you come at lunch or dinner, eat. If you come off-hours like I did, just shop. One reviewer caught it empty late in the evening and was disappointed, and I get it. Time this one for 1 or 8.

Thirty minutes. From the market it is a five minute walk west into the heart of Malasaña.

Malasaña

I gave myself an hour, around 4 in the afternoon, just to walk Malasaña with no plan. This is the neighbourhood that gets called bohemian in every guide and that does not really capture it.

Plaza del Dos de Mayo is the centre of it. Around there, the streets are narrow, the murals are everywhere, and every other doorway is a vintage shop or a record store or a tiny bar with one window. I bought a postcard I did not need. I sat on a bench in the plaza and watched skaters fall off a low wall.

No tickets. No queue. Just walk. Calle del Espíritu Santo and Calle de la Palma are the streets I would point you down first.

An hour, easy. From the plaza it is about a twenty minute walk south, back through the centre, to the basilica that almost no first-timer in Madrid finds.

Royal Basilica of Saint Francis the Great

Around 6 I walked up to the Royal Basilica of San Francisco el Grande, on Calle de San Buenaventura. The outside is honestly plain. You would walk past it. That is the joke.

Inside is one of the most beautiful church interiors I have stood in, and I have stood in a lot of them. The dome is the fourth largest in Europe. The frescoes are by Goya, among others. Twelve statues of the apostles line the walls. Entry is around 6 euros which goes toward the maintenance, and it is worth every cent.

I almost skipped it. I am glad I did not. Check the opening hours before you go, they are not the same every day, and Monday is usually closed. Thursdays I was told are free.

Give it an hour. I sat for ten minutes at the end just looking up, then walked the twenty five minutes back to the hotel slowly, taking the long way through the streets above the river. A quiet end to a loud, full three days in Madrid.

Three days is enough to fall for Madrid but not enough to be done with it. I left with a list of places I did not get to and that, honestly, is the right way to leave a city. I will be back for a long, lazy Tuesday at Casa González and another sunset at Debod.

If you do this itinerary, tell me which stop you would swap out. I am always curious what other people would put in instead of the museums, or instead of the basilica, or instead of the second mercado. There is no wrong answer in Madrid.