Best Traditional Spanish Madrid Prado and Royal Palace Heritage Tour Destinations
Browse more guides: Spain travel | Europe destinations Best Traditional Spanish Madrid Prado and Royal Palace Heritage Tour Destinations TL;DR Madrid - Spain's geographic and political centre, on a high plateau at 667 m altitude - anchors its tourism on the Golden Triangle of Art (Prado, Reina Sofía, Thyssen-Bornemisza), the Royal Palace (Europe's largest royal palace by floor area), the medieval-baroque Plaza Mayor , plus the day-trip historic cities of Toledo (UNESCO) and El Escorial (UNESCO). Plan a 5-7 day Madrid trip with at least one day-trip. This is one of Europe's best art-museum cities and one of the most underrated capitals. Background Madrid was a small Moorish town until Philip II made it the Spanish royal capital in 1561. The Habsburg-era 16th-17th-century architecture (Plaza Mayor, Casa de Campo, Buen Retiro) and Bourbon-era 18th-century reorganisation (Royal Palace, Paseo del Prado boulevard) shape the central city. The Prado Museum was founded...