3 Days in Madrid
Itinerary
With Madrid being Spain’s first impression, I was not disappointed. This vibrant and expansive city has an interest to fit everyone's travel needs. When traveling from Lisbon to Madrid we hopped on a quick and CHEAP flight. The best part about traveling amongst Europe is how inexpensive transportation can be. Madrid is known for its nightlife, but also its abundance of museums. We had the pleasure of seeing all sides of the city while we were there. Obviously, no stay can ever be long enough while traveling, but I felt that within 3 days we were able to hit the main spots. The following itinerary holds a lot of must-do activities for the large city.
Note: Before traveling here, we set a goal to walk a lot more than take public transport. With this, we averaged around 10 miles a day. Keep this in mind when pulling from below to plan your trip.
Day 1:
Arrive to the Madrid Airport around 12:00 pm
Take an Uber from the Madrid Airport to the AirBnb Address - We have heard reliable information about taxis in Spain, but chose to Uber as it was a set cost not knowing the traffic patterns coming from the airport.
Unpack and Relax - We took an hour break to freshen up after the morning travels. It is always good to acknowledge when you need a reboot. We stayed extremely close to Madrid City Center in the Malasaña district. This district is very “student” friendly and is lined with many coffee shops, bakeries, lively bars, and vintage markets. It definitely gives a young urban feel.
Churros and Chocolate - This is one of the MUST try foods in Madrid, especially because they are the city that started the trend. It sounds as good as it tastes.
Shop and Roam the Streets - Of course from here we were amazed in general at the area we were staying in. We stopped into some vintage markets, smaller boutiques, Brandy Melville, Zara, and Primark to shop around. Surprisingly and thankfully we didn’t end up buying anything. There are sooo many stores located in this area. We quickly learned that Madrid is very trendy and that we LOVE it.
Grab Dinner at Brutal Burrito - This place reminded me of a Moes or Chiptole except better. With a reasonable price/volume, and quick service this is a good recommendation for a night in meal. We got it to go and ended up resting at the Airbnb for the rest of the night. At this point Jet Lag was sneaking up on us, but we were destined to fix our sleep schedule.
Day 2: Epic Madrid Day
Breakfast at Camden Coffee Roasters - This place was AMAZING. They were very welcoming to us, and the food/coffee was extremely good. I had tomato toast.
Walk through Plaza de España - This is a beautiful spot to hit on your way to the Royal Palace. It is a large opening surrounded by great buildings. In the center is a remarkable monument dedicated to the Spanish Novelist Miguel de Cervantes.
Royal Palace of Madrid - Not far from the plaza, you will walk up to the garden side of the palace (which I thought was the most pretty). The palace is always a hot spot for tourists due to obvious reasons. The architecture from every angle is absolutely surreal. Changing of the guards happens every Wednesday and Saturday from 11:00am-2:00pm. We just so happened to figure this out as we walked there on Saturday. If you walk to the front side of the palace there is an overlook, and also stairs that you can sit on. We sat for a moment and people watched
Santa Maria Cathedral - This is located right basically right next to the Palace. Most cathedrals in Europe are free to enter and just take donations. Make sure to have a more conservative wardrobe or you won’t be allowed in.
Pop in Some Local Shops- We stopped by a handmade dress store and both ended up buying these gorgeous long dresses. They were fairly inexpensive.
El Retiro Park and Lunch - This is a huge and well known park in the Heart of Madrid. You could easily spend all day here walking around.
Great pond of El Retiro - A large pond where you can rent paddle boats.
Palacio de Cristal - A beautiful all glass building. There are normally larger crowds of people here, but it still feels quaint. Sometimes there's live musicians around the ponds, along with the two black swans that live there.
Velázquez Palace - Free art museum located in the middle of the park.
Walk back to the Airbnb to reset
Grab a Snack and Afternoon Coffee
Take the Metro to Real Madrid Game - Located at Santiago Bernabéu Stadium - We bought tickets in advance for the game off of Stub Hub. The cost was around $150 which is normal for games such as this. I 100% recommend this, especially if you are a “fútbol” fan.
Pick Up a Pizza on the Way Home - We stopped by the most hole in the wall pizza place on our way back to the Airbnb. The name is still not known to this day, but there are many 24/7 food places in the area where we stayed due to the bar scene.
Day 3:
Grab Breakfast at Natif - This was a very popular and aesthetic breakfast/brunch spot. We had a short wait for Sunday morning which was expected.
La Rastro Flea Market - This is the biggest flea market in Spain that is located in La Latina neighborhood. This is a MUST. There are so many great finds here for amazing prices. I wish I could go every Sunday. Hours are 9:00am-3:00pm. There are around 3500 booths setup throughout the streets.
Museum Hopping - This day had on and off rain, so we figured Museums hopping would be a great alternative. Make sure you look up different museum hours to see if they are open or not on Sundays. If you have a student ID most will let you in for free, otherwise there may be a small fee. I recommend Museo Nacional Del Prado. This is the main spanish art museum.
Cook Dinner at Home - We picked up some groceries while walking back to the Airbnb. Pasta and salad was on the menu. This provided an inexpensive and fun meal. We later packed up for our travel day as we were leaving early in the morning.
Coffee at Natif
As glamorous and fun as the above itinerary may seem, the underlining of travel is that you need to expect the unexpected. The rain had altered our original plans of roaming the city on Day 3, but being able to visit some museums was just as great! The next morning when leaving Madrid we actually ended up missing our train due to some problems with our tickets. This issue took us some time to resolve and we were on the next train out. Not everything is perfect, but it always allows for some other opportunity. As I reflect on my time in Madrid I was truly amazed by the different culture that the capital city had. It is a well-versed and vibrant city that can provide an activity for everyone.
