Discover the Free Hours at Madrid's Museums

How many times do we wish to plan the perfect trip down to the last detail? We want to make it easy by giving you all the information you need to know how to save, where to go and at what time it's best. Madrid has a great number of museums, cultural spaces and visitable monuments which, in turn, have a series of free visiting hours that may be worth keeping in mind before buying tickets in advance.

Our National Painting and Sculpture Gallery, with a collection of masterpieces stretching to the 19th century, where history and artistic sensibility reach their peak.

Free hours: Monday to Saturday, 18:00 to 20:00, and Sundays or holidays, 17:00 – 19:00.

Our recommendation: The best is to be there an hour before the free hours open, since this is a very visited museum and big lines form, and you have to make the most of your time inside the museum. You also have the option of seeing it with us at the same time if you book our free tour, saving the wait.

Metro and Cercanías: Atocha, Sol or Banco de España

A museum dedicated exclusively to art produced from the 20th century onward, where you can find the great geniuses of the Spanish avant-gardes, including Picasso and his incredible Guernica.

Free hours: Monday, Wednesday and Saturday, 19:00 – 21:00. Sunday from 13:30 to 19:00.

Our recommendation: At the Museo Reina Sofía there are two doors, and almost all visitors crowd at the main one, in the plaza of the Sabatini building. The best is to walk around to the Nouvel building extension and head straight to those slightly hidden ticket booths.

Metro: Lavapiés or Atocha

In the former Palacio de Villahermosa you'll find this private museum-collection housing more than 700 top-tier works, with pieces up to the 20th century.

Free hours: Monday 12:00 to 16:00.

Our recommendation: The collection is very large but it's organized in a helical way. The best is to start on the top floor and come down forming a spiral staircase to move chronologically toward the most modern.

Metro: Banco de España

One of the largest and most sumptuous palaces in Europe today, it houses part of the Royal Collection and also temporarily holds exhibitions outside the permanent ones — all of great artistic and cultural value, Spanish national heritage.

Free hours: Monday to Thursday, 16:00 – 18:00.

Our recommendation: Just like at other museums, long lines form at the Plaza de Armas to access the grounds, but it moves fast if you go a bit early.

Metro: Ópera

Sharing a wall with the Biblioteca Nacional and completely renovated a few years ago, we find the national museum dedicated to eras stretching from the earliest sites in Prehistory to Modern Age society.

Free hours: Saturdays from 14:00 to 20:00 and Sunday mornings from 9:30 to 15:00.

Our recommendation: It's a museum well worth visiting and one that has the advantage of having few visitors. We also have a free tour dedicated to this wonderful museum.

Metro: Serrano

Renfe: Recoletos

16th-century buildings that are not only the official residence of the cloistered Poor Clares nuns but also contain a great number of works of art, primarily religious, that fuse with the convent's space.

Free hours: Wednesday and Thursday from 14:00 – 20:00 and Sundays, from 9:30 to 15:00.

Metro: Ópera, Sol, Santo Domingo

The most representative of Spanish Romanticism, primarily with artistic and historical objects from the 19th century. The whole atmosphere that surrounds it has plenty of charm.

Our recommendation: One of this museum's gems is its café, which keeps the same hours as the institution — there you'll be able to taste homemade cakes, plus it's one of the city's spots of peace and quiet.

Free hours: Saturdays, 14:00 – 18:30.

Metro: Tribunal

A temple to the painter of contemporary light and also a great collector of a diversity of historical objects. The house in which he spent the last years of his life is, without a doubt, a great staging that brings you close to the artist's personality directly.

Free hours: Saturdays, 14:00 – 20:00 and Sundays all day.

Our recommendation: It's a small museum and tends to fill up, but without a doubt the number of pieces and paintings it has makes it possible to enjoy it calmly.

Metro: Gregorio Marañón, Iglesia, Rubén Darío

Residence of the Habsburgs, storehouse of part of the Royal Collection, convent, library and church. The immensity of San Lorenzo de El Escorial leaves no one indifferent — even more so if you want to get close to Spanish royalty.

Free hours: Wednesday and Thursday from 15:00 – 18:00 (October to March)

Wednesday and Thursday from 17:00 – 20:00 (April to September)

Our recommendation: The best is to go and spend the whole day, since the area is about 20 minutes' walk from the train station. In addition, the town of San Lorenzo del Escorial has a lot of charm and there's always life around there, so you can ask any questions on site.

Renfe or Bus: El Escorial