Madrid, explained
amadadmin 
El Rastro is Madrid’s open-air Sunday market, spread through the streets of the La Latina district south of Plaza Mayor. Stalls run along Ribera de Curtidores and the surrounding grid from mid-morning until early afternoon, selling everything from antiques and secondhand clothing to tools, records and general bric-a-brac. It happens every Sunday and on some … Read more
Mercado de San Miguel is a covered market hall from 1916, built in iron and glass a few steps from Plaza Mayor. It began as a neighbourhood food market and is now something different: a single-building food hall of standing bars and stalls selling tapas, wine, vermouth and seafood by the plate, aimed largely at … Read more
A Madrid market hall (mercado) is a covered building, usually municipally owned, containing individual stalls that sell food. Some function as everyday neighbourhood markets selling meat, fish and produce to local residents. Others have been converted into food halls aimed at eating and drinking on the spot. The two types look similar but serve different … Read more
An evening in Madrid runs later than in most other European capitals because the whole day is shifted: lunch lands in the middle of the afternoon, dinner rarely gets going before nine, and streets stay genuinely busy well past midnight on weekends. “Late” is a moving target here — the metro keeps running into the … Read more
A day in Madrid with no museums at all is entirely possible, and it does not mean a thin day. The central district is compact enough to cover on foot alone, and the walk itself passes through squares, a produce market, a working-class barrio, and a park that were built to be looked at, not … Read more
A day in Madrid with children works best built around a park in the morning, a museum or indoor stop timed to the Spanish lunch schedule, and a second outdoor or activity-based stop in the afternoon once the day has cooled. The city’s parks, natural history collections and a handful of purpose-built attractions do most … Read more
The Paseo del Prado is a roughly 1.2-kilometre boulevard running north to south between Plaza de Cibeles and Plaza del Emperador Carlos V (Atocha), and a walk along it links three major art museums, a fountain-lined public space, and the Real Jardín Botánico in under an hour of flat, tree-shaded pavement. What does the route … Read more
A walking route through Madrid de los Austrias links the streets and squares built under the Habsburg kings (the “Austrias” of the name) between roughly 1561, when Madrid became the capital, and the early 1700s. A practical version runs from Puerta del Sol to the Royal Palace, taking in Plaza Mayor, Plaza de la Villa, … Read more
A Monday in Madrid means most municipal and several national museums are shut, but it does not mean the city closes. Palaces, churches, markets, parks and two of the three “golden triangle” galleries stay open. The day works best if it is built around monuments, districts and open-air Madrid rather than around a museum list. … Read more
Plan a Madrid day in serious heat by inverting the normal shape of a day: push outdoor sightseeing into early morning and evening, retreat into air-conditioned museums and the metro through the middle hours, and let the city’s own routine — a late lunch, a slow early afternoon, a long evening — carry the weight … Read more
About what you read here. Access Madrid is an independent guide written from published, checkable sources — museum and transport operators’ own information, official city and tourism data, and the public record. We have not visited the places we write about, and we do not publish personal recommendations or invented “local favourites”. Where we point to something notable we say who says so.
Opening times, fares, closures and prices change, often at short notice. Everything here is a starting point, not a booking confirmation — always check the venue’s or operator’s own site before you build a day around it. We are not a travel agency and we give no advice on visas, insurance, health or safety requirements; for those, use your own government’s official guidance.