What to see in Madrid in 3 days – City Itinerary

Although there is much to see in Madrid, with 3 days you will be able to visit the most important parts of the city and get an idea of what awaits you if you decide to return to complete the visit. That is why we are going to show you here a tour with the most interesting things to visit in Madrid in 3 days.
With the route that we are going to propose, you will get an idea of what this fantastic city is like, but there will still be many more things to discover and you will surely be left wanting.
Below we tell you the best things to see in Madrid in 3 days so you don’t miss anything and enjoy one of the most beautiful cities on the planet.
Tour with the best things to see in Madrid in 3 days
First day in Madrid
We have 3 days in Madrid and we have to take advantage of them, so you’ll have to get up early if you want to know all this. Here we tell you the route of the first day in Madrid. If you want to know the most detailed version of this walk, of which you can read a summary here, we recommend reading our article with the best things to see in Madrid in one day.
From Puerta del Sol to Plaza Mayor and Plaza de la Villa
In the first of the 3 days we have to visit Madrid, it is best to start in the nerve center of the city, in its main square. We are talking about the Puerta del Sol, where you can see the famous Statue of the Bear and the Strawberry Tree or the Casa de Correos.
Numerous streets start from there, some very commercial. One of them is Calle Mayor, along which we are going to continue our walk enjoying its buildings.
Next to Calle Mayor is Plaza Mayor, one of the most spectacular places to see in Madrid in 3 days. You can enjoy a fantastic arcaded square with the Statue of Felipe III in the center.
The next destination will be the Plaza de la Villa, but not before enjoying the bustling Mercado de San Miguel. In this square is the Casa de la Villa, the former seat of the Madrid City Council, as well as the Torre de los Lujanes and the Monument to Don Álvaro de Baztán.
The tour of the Calle Mayor ends at the Casa de los Consejos from where we can already admire the next point of our route.
The Almudena Cathedral and the Royal Palace of Madrid
After finishing our tour of Calle Mayor we will arrive at one of the best places to see in Madrid in 3 days, the complex formed by the Almudena Cathedral and the Royal Palace of Madrid.
Of the Almudena Cathedral we must highlight above all its interior. On the one hand, its neo-Romanesque style crypt and the interior of the temple itself, in neo-Gothic style.
In front of the cathedral, the only Spanish one consecrated by a Pope, is the Royal Palace of Madrid.
Of the Royal Palace of Madrid, in addition to its facades, we must highlight the rooms that can be visited, such as the Throne Room or the Hall of Mirrors. In addition, we must not forget the gardens that surround it, such as those of Sabatini or Campo del Moro.
And we must also highlight the Plaza de Oriente, which overlooks the Royal Theater.
From the Plaza de España to the Puerta de Alcalá
Our 3-day tour of Madrid continues through the Plaza de España where two of the city’s skyscrapers and the Cervantes Monument are located.
Very close to the Plaza de España, deviating a bit from the route, is the Temple of Debod, one of the most interesting places to visit in Madrid in 3 days.
Retracing our steps we will enter the Gran Vía, the most famous street in Madrid and the best thing to see in 3 days. A street full of restaurants, shops and theaters where you will always find life and a great atmosphere.
Walking along the Gran Vía between incredible buildings such as the Carrión Building, the Telefónica Building, the Metrópolis Building and all those of the iconic Plaza del Callao, we will arrive at Calle de Alcalá, the next of our destinations.
Calle de Alcalá, the longest in Madrid, has a series of buildings and monuments along it that you cannot miss. The stretch between Puerta del Sol and Puerta de Alcalá is one of the best things to see in Madrid in 3 days. Buildings such as Banco Bilbao, La Equitativa or the Casino de Madrid without forgetting the Bank of Spain, located on the corner of Plaza de Cibeles.
The Plaza de Cibeles is undoubtedly one of the best known places in Madrid thanks to the Palacio de Cibeles, the Casa de América or the wonderful Fuente de Cibeles. The tour of this first day in Madrid ends at the Puerta de Alcalá, one of the entrance gates of the old wall and the most spectacular of all.
What to see on the second day in Madrid
We have reached our second day and we are going to continue enjoying Madrid. We still have a lot to see and again we will have to get up early and walk a lot. Here we are going to make a summary of our article with the best things to see in Madrid in two days, where you will find more detailed information about the tour.
The Literary Quarter
The second day in Madrid we are going to start again at Puerta del Sol but this time to go through Calle Carretas, one of the most commercial in the city, to get to Plaza de Jacinto Benavente and start enjoying the Barrio de las letters.
This neighborhood is one of the most interesting in Madrid and strolling through its streets takes you to the Golden Age of Spanish literature, as some of the most important writers in Spanish history lived here, such as Lope de Vega or Cervantes.
In this neighborhood we can visit their houses and also the Convento de las Trinitarias, where the tomb of the author of Don Quixote is located.
Another very interesting street is Calle de las Huertas, but without a doubt, the best place to visit in the Barrio de las Letras is Plaza de Santa Ana, with beautiful buildings and statues such as those of Calderón de la Barca and Federico García Lorca.
We can continue enjoying the neighborhood by visiting the Basilica of Jesús de Medinaceli, the incredible Plaza de Canalejas, where the Edificio de la Equitativa is located, the former headquarters of the Banco Español de Crédito, or the Plaza de las Cortes, where the Congress of the Diputados, one of the most emblematic places in Madrid.
The Paseo del Prado and the Triangle of Art
Nearby is the Paseo del Prado, one of the main avenues in Madrid, which forms, together with the Retiro Park, an exceptional complex recently declared a World Heritage Site.
On the Paseo del Prado, which runs from Plaza de Cibeles to Glorieta de Atocha, passing through Plaza de la Lealtad, where the Madrid Stock Exchange is located, and Cánovas del Castillo, where the Neptune Fountain is, we find The main museums to visit in Madrid in 3 days.
We recommend you choose one according to your artistic preferences and visit it. You have the choice of the Prado Museum, the Thyssen-Bornemisza Museum or the Reina Sofía Art Center, but you can also complete the visit with the CaixaForum or the Botanical Garden.
Another very interesting place in the area is the Church of San Jerónimo el Real, which we also recommend you visit.
And to end the second day of visiting Madrid, it is best to go to the Retiro Park and enjoy all its wonders such as the Monument to Alfonso XII or the Crystal Palace.
What to see in Madrid on the third day
The Rastro and the Latin
We are going to start our last of the 3 days in Madrid at the Puerta de Toledo, one of the old entrance gates to the city, although the current one dates from the 19th century and was erected in honor of Fernando VII to commemorate Spanish independence from Spain. the French.
From there we can walk to the El Rastro area. If it’s Sunday you can enjoy one of the best markets you can find in the world, where you will find practically everything in addition to enjoying an unbeatable atmosphere and even Madrid’s gastronomy.
If it is not Sunday, it is also advisable to visit the Ribera de Curtidores and its centuries-old shops as well as its surrounding streets until you reach the Plaza de Cascorro and enter Calle Toledo and La Latina, a very lively neighborhood that we recommend you visit.
In the Barrio de La Latina we find places as interesting as the Mercado de la Cebada or the Basilica of San Francisco el Grande, our next destination.
The Basilica of Saint Francis the Great
At one end of La Latina we find the Basilica of San Francisco el Grande, undoubtedly one of the great religious temples that we can see in Madrid in three days.
The great attraction of the Basilica of San Francisco el Grande is its immense dome, the third largest circular dome in Christendom with no less than 58 meters in height and which stands out on a spectacular neoclassical façade that gives access to its interior where there is another of the great jewels of the basilica, its paintings both on the walls and inside the dome.
Annexes to the basilica are some very interesting gardens from where you have beautiful views. It is the D alieda de San Francisco, full of dahlias and other flowers and where we must also highlight the sculpture El Sueño de San Isidro.
The Collegiate Church of San Isidro
Retracing our steps we will arrive at the Plaza de los Carros where we can admire the Church of San Andrés and the Museum of San Isidro, the house where the patron saint of Madrid lived and where we can find an interesting archaeological museum.
Nearby is the Plaza de la Paja and a network of very interesting alleys, typical of Madrid de los Austrias, where we recommend getting lost until you reach the Collegiate Church of San Isidro, which was the provisional cathedral of Madrid until the construction of the Cathedral. of the Almudena.
The Collegiate Church of San Isidro dates from the 17th century and inside are the remains of San Isidro Labrador and his wife, Santa María de la Cabeza. It is baroque in style and although it is located in a narrow part of Calle Toledo, it is possible to admire its façade. Its interior is also very interesting with a fantastic altarpiece containing the relics of the patron saint of Madrid. Without a doubt, one of the best things to see in Madrid in 3 days.
The Monastery of the Incarnation and the Monastery of the Descalzas Reales
Walking through the oldest area of Madrid, leaving Plaza Mayor aside and crossing Calle Mayor, we will arrive at Plaza de Isabel II, better known as Plaza de Ópera and where the Teatro Real is located. From there starts a street bordering the Plaza de Oriente that takes us to the Monasterio de la Encarnación, another of our destinations for this day.
The Real Monasterio de la Encarnación is a convent founded in 1611, inside which the relic of San Pantaleón is kept, as well as interesting sculptural and pictorial works of art that will leave you speechless. Its church is also very interesting, the work of Ventura Rodríguez.
Nearby is the Descalzas Reales Monastery, located in an old palace where Carlos I and Isabel of Portugal lived. Its plateresque façade stands out and its interior must be highlighted by its Renaissance staircase as well as different paintings and tapestries.
The neighborhoods of Chueca and Malasaña
Our next destination is north of Gran Vía, with the neighborhoods of Chueca and Malasaña, where we will arrive again to enter one of the most interesting neighborhoods to visit in Madrid in 3 days.
The first thing we are going to find when visiting these neighborhoods is the Church of San Antonio de los Alemanes, whose interior is an authentic work of art with paintings in every corner. We recommend entering because you will be speechless. Nearby, wandering around we will arrive at the Plaza del Dos de Mayo, where the Monteleón Barracks was located, one of the symbols of the Madrid uprising against the French in the 1808 invasion.
The Malasaña neighborhood is one of the most bohemian and modern in the city, located next to another of the most picturesque neighborhoods in Madrid, the Chueca neighborhood, which we will reach after crossing the commercial Calle Fuencarral.
The Chueca neighborhood stands out for its nightlife but we also find space for culture thanks to the Madrid History Museum or the Romanticism Museum, small museums that we recommend visiting. You will also find unique buildings such as the Palacio de Longoria, one of the few modernist buildings that you can admire in Madrid.
The Church of Santa Bárbara and the Plaza de Colón
Very close to there, if we continue walking along Calle de Fernando VI we will arrive at the Church of Santa Bárbara, whose visit is one of the best things to do in Madrid in 3 days.
The Church of Santa Bárbara, which was part of the Convent of the Salesas Reales, is one of the best churches in Madrid thanks to its imposing façade and its beautiful interior where we find the tombs of King Fernando VI and his wife Bárbara de Braganza, founder of the convent..
What used to be the Convent of the Salesas Reales today is the headquarters of the Supreme Court, whose main façade we can admire from the Plaza de la Villa de París, just before heading towards the Plaza de Colón, one of the most important in Madrid.
The Plaza de Colón, the last of the destinations of our 3-day visit to Madrid, stands out for the beautiful buildings that surround it, including the Torres de Colón, and the Jardines del Discovery. Also noteworthy is the Statue of Columbus and next to the square are the National Library and the Archaeological Museum.
You can find more information about the best things to see in Madrid on its official tourism page.