Optional tours

HALF DAY PANORAMIC TOUR OF MADRID (3 Hours)

Operating days:

The object of this tour is to show you some of the varied facets of Madrid by taking you on an extensive panoramic tour of this rapidly expanding city whose population is now approx. 4 million, and spreads over an area of 200 square miles. 

There are several different styles of architecture to be seen in its buildings and monuments: Medieval, Renaissance, Baroque, Neo-classic, Romantic and Modern, and different socio-economic districts, such as the Madrid of the artists, the students, the antiquarians...We will drive along the Paseo del Prado (the street where the Prado Museum and the Botanic Garden are situated ).

We will drive along famous streets like the Gran Via and see pretty plazas (squares) like Plaza de España, Plaza de Oriente (where the Royal Palace is), Puerta del Sol, Neptune, Colón and Cibeles Square.  We will see modern Madrid with its wide avenues like the Castellana, and parks and gardens like the Retiro and Casa del Campo. We will also see the “monumental” bullring and the Bernabeu Soccer Stadium.

PEDESTRIAN TOUR THROUGH AUSTRIAS QUARTER (2 ½ hours)

Operating days:

The Austrian Quarter is the old part of the city built in the 16th and 17th centuries.  We begin with a walk through the winding streets, stopping at the Plaza Mayor built in the 17th century but the King Philip III and today’s meeting place for artists. The atmosphere is frantic due to the existing variety of Mesones (Tapas Bars).

The grand metropolis of Madrid had its beginnings as a small village located on a natural ravine overhanging the river, today’s Calle Segovia. The town attained its greatest level of growth many years later, when in 1561, Felipe II established the Villa de Madrid as the head of its empire. Most of the most outstanding buildings we find now in the old town of Madrid go back to this period. We’ll see the Plaza Mayor or main square, dominated by the austere design of the Casa de la Panadería and constructed with a dual purpose: serving as a market on weekdays and as a theatre on important holidays and royal occasions. We’ll pass by the Casa de Cisneros, the Church of San Pedro el Viejo and the Plaza de la Villa, where we find the Tower of Los Lujanes, one of the very few monuments left in Madrid from the 15th century and the Casa de la Villa, the outstanding town hall of Madrid.

ROYAL PALACE (4 hours)

Operating days:

The Arabs had chosen the same spot where the Royal Palace stands today as the site for their castle.
First stones of the today building were set in place in 1738.
The Royal Palace, which is magnificently furnished, with one of the most important tapestry collections in the world and different epoch – including several by Goya- is a highly interesting museum complex.
It looks over a magnificent panorama consisting of the gardens of Las Vistillas, El Campo del Moro, the Sabatini Gardens and the Casa de Campo.

To visit:  Throne  Room,   covered  by  fabrics  and c stucco   work;   Porcelain  Room, decorated  with  fine Buen Retiro  porcelain  plaques; Carlos  III  Room, covered with light blue  silk:  The Salon  of  the   Mirrors,   Carriage  collection,  the Royal Pharmacy, the Library, Armoury museum, are very interesting to visit.

It opens every day unless an official event would take place, but the Palace usually only advices just a few days before due to security reasons.