Hola @JamazingClayton! Spain is the best! Now, to business. As always, @Monsieur_Mictlan has offered up some great recommendations. On the art front, I prefer the Thyssen Bornemisza myself. It’s sort of caddy corner from El Prado. You should certainly stop by Prado (it’s an anniversary year and when I went by this summer for the first time in years, the lines were quite long) and Reina Sofia if you can. Shoot for the morning. Reina Sofia has a free admission night, but I’m sure it’s insanely busy then.
At night, go down Calle de Santa Isabel (it’s the street in front of the entrance of Reina Sofia with the square), until you hit Mercado de Antón Martín. It’s a market, but you’ll find lots of tapas and eateries and cool bars. It seems to be the new things where fish markets turn into eateries after hours.
Two places in the database that are totally worth visiting:
The accompanying educational video is about 5 minutes long, but the cool part is going down to the station and waiting for a train to go by.
The Royal Palace. If you love old things, you’ve got to take a tour. Inside the palace is this incredibly cool Stradavarius set from the top of the 18th century. You can’t take photos beyond a certain point in the palace, so be prepared to photograph everything with your mind.
Some of the neighborhoods I think are worth exploring include La Latina, Cuatro Caminos, Malasaña and Chamberí. Food wise, oh man. There’s so much to take in. The great thing about Spain is that it’s really hard to find a bad restaurant. Definitely make time for churros like Monsieur said at San Gines. Try to grab a cafe con leche and pastry at La Malloquina in Sol.
I definitely echo checking out El Escorial, Segovia and Toledo. Toledo has a lot of cool artisans and Goya’s tomb. Speaking of tombs, my last rec if you can get to it, is Valley of the Fallen or Valle del Los Caídos. As our page states, “Despite the possibly troublesome origins of the Valley of the Fallen, it still manages to retain a monumental sense of awe even if it is a fascist masterwork.” Could not agree more.
Have fun exploring Madrid!