Almudena Cathedral
Almudena Cathedral sits directly opposite the Royal Palace and is Madrid's main cathedral, completed only in 1993. Free to enter (donations encouraged).
Museum in Madrid
The Reina Sofia is Spain’s national museum of 20th-century art, housing Picasso’s Guernica, Dali’s surrealist works, and Miro’s paintings. Entry is paid. Free Monday, Wednesday to Saturday 7-9pm and Sunday 1:30-7pm. Guernica alone justifies the visit. Budget travelers time their visit for the free hours and stand in front of the most powerful anti-war painting ever made.
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Other places worth the walk, and what each one costs.
Almudena Cathedral sits directly opposite the Royal Palace and is Madrid's main cathedral, completed only in 1993. Free to enter (donations encouraged).
El Rastro is Madrid's Sunday morning flea market, sprawling through the streets of La Latina neighborhood from Plaza de Cascorro downhill to the Embajadores roundabout. Free to browse.
Gran Via is Madrid's most famous boulevard, a wide avenue of early 20th-century buildings, theatres, shops, and neon signs running from Calle de Alcala to Plaza de Espana. Free to walk.
La Latina is the neighborhood south of Plaza Mayor where Madrilenos go for Sunday tapas after the El Rastro market. Free to walk.
The Mercado de San Miguel is a glass and iron market hall next to the Plaza Mayor with gourmet food stalls selling tapas, wine, oysters, pastries, and iberico ham. Free to enter.
The Parque de El Capricho is an 18th-century garden in the Alameda de Osuna district, the only garden in Madrid with three styles (French, Italian, English) in one park. Free.
Working out what Madrid costs?
The whole of Madrid