A week in Madrid in January

[Tina]

Madrid in January Trip Report​

I'm not really a big city person and I didn't like Barcelona at all (exceot for the Gaudì bits) so I was sceptical when I booked. Instead, I loved it. I think it could be an ideal winter slow travel destination because there is so much to do and see, much of it free at least once a week if not always, in the centre or within easy reach of the centre. At the same time the Retiro Park and other green areas provide the contact with nature that I find essential. Madrid is especially fantastic for all those who love art, since if you buy an Annual Museos Estatales Tarjeta you could go to El Prado (and other museums) as often as you want. More about that here
Yes, accommodation is capital city prices, but restaurants etc are far cheaper than for example Milan.
Anyway it was a fantastic week! Here's the trip report



Our trip to Madrid in January, like many of our holidays, happened by chance. We were looking for a totally different destination but flight times, costs, aircraft, destinations and accommodation choices refused to align neatly. Then, Andrea suggested Madrid, and they did. Accommodation in Madrid is expensive, not surprisingly, but was cheaper for that small window of time just after the end of the Christmas and New Year festivities from 7th January. We flew into Madrid on 10th January. We had a taxi included with our accommodation but otherwise the airport bus is cheap and convenient for the centre of Madrid and taxis have a fixed cost from the airport to the centre of Madrid of 30 something euro at the time of writing.

Our accommodation was in a purpose-built tourist apartment building, part of a chain, which had opened in autumn 2024 and was literally a stone’s throw from Puerta del Sol. This was ideal for us. Just a 10/15 minute walk from Paseo del Arte in one direction and Palacio Real in the other.

We live in a small village with less than 100 inhabitants in the Alps and we enjoyed this experience of staying in the heart of a busy city. Busy, but pedestrian-friendly. The centre is pedestrianized or has wide pavements which means that apart from crossing a road occasionally there’s no need to worry about vehicle traffic. Perhaps for that reason the centre gave the impression of being clean. Many cities are ‘grimy-looking’ – Barcelona, Naples, a deep grime nothing to do with the amount of litter. I liked the clean and sparkling effect of the tall and bright buildings in the centre of Madrid. The architecture is grandiose without being claustraphobic.


The El Retiro Park is also fantastic for relaxing away from the hustle and bustle of the city. You can have a long walk just exploring it.



One of our motives for visiting Madrid was that we love gazing at (medieval) art and art in general. Madrid offers so much: El Prado, Museo Thyssen, Academia de Bellas Artes de San Fernando, Museo Cerralbo, Reina Sofia as well as others we didn’t have time to see.

Another point in favour of Spain in general and Madrid in this case is that entrance fees can often be avoided or mitigated because all Beni di Interesse Cultural have a free day/time. By staying a week and during low season we were able to take advantage of this, made easier by the fact that Andrea is over 65 and that I bought the Tarjeta…..More about this here.

One week in Madrid is just scratching the surface of all that is available. For this stay we concentrated on art and the other main attractions. Food, except for Chocolate and churros at San Gines and Bocadillos de Calamares was not a priority. You will never find a lot of information about restaurants in this blog. For more, Fodor’s Travel forum on Spain has some regular foodie contributors. The 7 nights in Madrid were part of a longer trip of 34 nights and our budget didn’t stretch to restaurants. I love food but this was no hardship. The stay in Madrid was just after the Christmas festivities – we live in Italy so the last month, basically, had been spent eating, drinking, inviting and being invited. For food, we lived like a local – did the shopping at Mercadona and then I cooked simple meals of fish (they prepare the fish as you want it at Mercadona so you only have to fling it a pan), Spanish fruit and veg from artichokes to mangos, a bottle of Vermouth and Pedro Jimenez, Spanish beer.

This is also meant we could maximise our use of time when other people were eating to visit places when they were quieter. I did a lot of preparation before we went but we also needed time to plan our various visits, and quite simply rest.





Day 1 Saturday: El Prado (too busy for my liking, even in January) and El Retiro Parque

Day 2 Sunday: Mercado San Miguel, the Cava Baja area, El Rastro, Plaza Mayor, the Cathedral and Crypt

Day 3 Monday: Museo Thyssen

Day 4 Tuesday: Botanical garden and a second, and less stressful, visit to El Prado

Day 5 Wedenesday: Bellas artes San Fernando, Reina Sofia, El Retiro Parque

Day 6 Museo Cerralbo Gran Via Museo del Romanticismo

In between we also wandered the streets both wide and narrow. If we’d had more time it would have been nice to do more of that. Explore the various barrios. Also visit the other parks and green areas. We didn’t get to Tempio di Doblo because I realized you had to book, but not that there were only 25 places each half hour, so I couldn’t expect to find a space last minute for a popular time of day. Compared to what I planned, we didn’t make it to the two monasteries Monasterio de las Descalzas Reales and Real Monasterio de la Encarnación which are free on Wednesday and Thursday afternoons and some of the other state museums…..oh yes and dozens of other interesting things without moving even from the centre.

I think we may have to return!

Other useful tips

If you’re in need of food in the centre a take-away bocadillo di calamares from Bar Campana is an excellent idea.




In January it was seriously cold first thing in the morning, warming up but still chilly during the morning, very pleasant by lunchtime and until nighttime.

EMT recently introduced three zero emissions buses which are free to use: 001 Atocha Renfe station-Moncloa, 002 Puerta de Toledo-Argüelles and C03 Puerta de Toledo-Argüelles. We took the 001 to get to the station from our apartment and everywhere else we just walked and never needed to use the underground.

Many attractions in Madrid are free always or sometimes. Check them out here.

The official tourist website for Madrid is EXCELLENT. I travel a lot and this probably the most comprehensive and useful website I’ve encountered. Better (even!) than my blog! Use it!

Conclusion: Madrid is fantastic!