Madrid Cool & Cultural
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Examples of Itineraries

A two-day Art&food visit:

Day 1:

Morning: Guided walking tour of "Essential Madrid". We will visit the city centre, focusing on the historic old quarter and its colourful side streets, the Bourbon monumental architecture and the modern cosmopolitan and bourgeois avenues.

Late morning: Free time to soak up the city's atmosphere. Alternatively, we can accompany you for some shopping.

Lunch: What about tasting one of the 30 different paellas in one of the beautiful Arrocerías, located in the middle of the Literary Quarter or next to Gran Vía.

Afternoon: No time for a nap. The Museo del Prado is waiting for our visit. After that, we can relax at the Royal Botanic Garden.

Dinner: We are back at the historical town centre, ready for a 'tapas and taverns' tour, livened up with some stories of the places we walk by. The variety of tapas is so large that we guarantee that some of them will be very tempting while others will challenge your tastes.

Day 2:

Morning: Visit of the Convent of Las Descalzas Reales. This is a 16th century nuns' palace for Ladies from the Royal Family and the Nobility of that epoch. It was founded for nuns at seclusion by Juana de Austria, a sister of Philip II. It houses an impressive collection of art treasures. Before the visit and only for gourmands, we can taste the traditional 'chocolate & churros' at a traditional Café nearby.

Lunch: The 'oldest restaurant in the world' is waiting for us. Its specialities are delicious sucking pig and lamb roasted in the old Castilian way, in a wood fired oven dating back to 1725.

Afternoon: A short nap could be advisable now. Then, we propose you a bath-and-massage session at a Moorish-Andalousian Hamman, with a set of pools at different temperatures, settled in a magical and perfumed atmosphere. Alternatively, if El Prado made you crazy for paintings, we will skip the nap and head for the Thyssen Museum, an amazing and exquisitely displayed painting collection.

Evening: Time for fun. Enjoy a Flamenco Show on the most beautiful tablao of the city, an establishment frequently visited by well-known celebrities …and special guests like you.

A three-day visit (a variant of the one above, plus "Toledo"):

Day 1:

Morning: Guided walking tour of "Essential Madrid".

Lunch: Enjoy a traditional "tapas and stories" tour.

Café Time: Let us relax watching the city´s activity and atmosphere from one of the Café terraces at Plaza de Oriente. Looking at the Royal Palace, spacious, and shady, the Plaza de Oriente is one of the most pleasant and frequented squares in Madrid. Like its counterpart, Trafalgar Square in London, almost every visitor to Madrid will pass through this plaza at least once during his stay.

Afternoon: Visit of the Royal Palace, claimed to be the largest one in Western Europe. It boasts a large collection of furniture, tapestries ceramics, paintings (Velázquez, Goya, Mengs) and frescoes (Giordano, Tiépolo).

Evening: Wonderful dinner at one of the dining hotspots of the city, located in the Hapsburg Quarter. With all the aged appeal of a traditional 'tasca' (tavern), the restaurant offers a selection of Castilian culinary delights. A favorite haunt of celebrities (the King included) and politicians.

Day 2:

Morning & afternoon: Visit of Toledo, a UNESCO World Heritage site. This gem of the Middle Ages is 80 km (50 miles) from Madrid and can be reached by High Speed Train in just 30 minutes. Built on the top of a hill, this previously fortified town offers splendid views of New Castile (the region recovered from the Andalousian Muslim Kingdoms).The town is a journey through the history and the monuments of the Arab, Jewish, and Christian communities, dating back to the 9th century. Also, Toledo hosts the memory and central works of El Greco, who lived and took inspiration from here in the 17th century.

Late afternoon: Back to Madrid, we will enjoy the magic light of Madrid's sunset from the gardens of the Temple of Debod. This Nile´s temple was adopted by Madrid when the Aswan Dam at the Upper Egypt was built and offers a great panoramic view of the Sierra North-west of Madrid. A favourite place of the bride and the groom for immortalizing their love and clothing.

Evening: Enjoy a dinner in an elegant restaurant near Plaza de Oriente, savouring the matching of the old and new Spanish cuisine.

Day 3:

Morning: Visit of the Museo del Prado, followed by some shopping for family and friends.

Lunch: All the taste of Spain in just one meal, the paella, in a traditional Arrocería Restaurant.

Afternoon: Visit of the Thyssen Museum. Alternatively, make something different by attending a private cooking lesson at a singular cookware shop or a mansion, where you will learn some of the secrets of the extensive Spanish cuisine.

Dinner: We will head for 'tapas and wine' at one of the trendiest places in town, a renovated, iron&glass, old market.

Evening: A Flamenco Show will be the culminating point of your stay.

These are just two examples but the possibilities and combinations are almost endless.

Retrato de Giovanna degli Albizzi Tournabuoni. 1488 Guirlandaio. Museo Thyssen-Bornemisza, Madrid

"Portrait of Giovanna degli Albizzi Tournabuoni," Guirlandaio 1488, Thyssen-Bornemisza Museum

Quapi con sueter Rosa. 1935 Max Beckman. Museo Thyssen-Bornemisza, Madrid

"Quapi with pink sweater," Max Beckman 1935, Thyssen-Bornemisza Museum