Royal Palace of Madrid: Which Ticket to Book
Which Royal Palace of Madrid ticket to book, how long to give it, and why the Royal Armoury included with your ticket is the part you shouldn't rush.
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I can’t believe I almost skipped this! We’d been in Europe three weeks and I had full-blown palace fatigue , and then we randomly decided at 1pm to go anyway — and the Royal Palace of Madrid turned out to be one of the most impressive buildings I walked into on the whole trip. Here’s which Royal Palace of Madrid ticket to book, how long to actually block out, and the room at the very end that I would have been gutted to miss.
This is the first stop on every Madrid route I’ve built, so drop it into my 2 days in Madrid itinerary, 3 days in Madrid itinerary, or 4 days in Madrid itinerary. My Madrid city hub has the rest of the city if you’re still filling in the days.
What is the Royal Palace of Madrid?
It’s the largest functioning royal palace in Western Europe, with something like 3,400 rooms, and the Spanish royal family still uses it for state banquets and ceremonies even though they don’t sleep there. The palace exists because the old Alcázar burned down on Christmas Eve in 1734, and Philip V decided the replacement should make every other court in Europe feel small.
And they took rebuilding it SERIOUSLY. 17 years of construction later Charles III moved in, and what you walk through now is one of the grandest building you’ll ever stumble upon - ceiling frescoes, silk-covered walls, marble, chandeliers, gold EVERYWHERE. It feels like a grand palace where royalty actually lived, and you can tell every square metre of it was meant to be seen by someone important.
Royal Palace of Madrid tickets
The standard self-guided ticket covers the state rooms and the Royal Armoury, and that’s the one you probably want.
I’ve also included a guided tour option below if you want to learn the real significance of each of these rooms. A guide really makes a difference in the palace - room after room of gold starts to blur without someone telling you who ate in it and why the ceiling is painted the way it is.
Give the whole palace 2 to 3 hours. Entry is timed and the morning slots go first, so book yours once your dates are set — we arrived at 1pm with no ticket and stood in line 20 to 25 minutes, which moved fine, but that’s a gamble I wouldn’t take on a tight day.
Travel tips for your visit
Get off at Ópera on metro lines 2 and 5 and it’s about a five-minute walk to the gate. Go earlier in the day if you can — the last two hours are free entry for EU citizens and residents Monday through Thursday, which is a lovely thing if you qualify and a packed set of state rooms if you don’t.
Time it for a Wednesday or Saturday and the Changing of the Guard runs outside from 11 to 2 (10 to 12 in July and August), free, no ticket needed. The Solemn Changing on the first Wednesday of most months is the bigger one at noon, roughly 50 minutes of it, and it skips January, August and September.
When you come out, walk five minutes to the Sabatini Gardens for the view back at the facade, then across to Plaza de Oriente and on toward Plaza Mayor — that’s a whole afternoon that costs nothing. We went in April and the tulips out front were beautiful, along with what felt like every school group in Madrid 🌷
Don’t skip the Royal Armoury
Your standard ticket also covers the Royal Armoury, which is easily my favorite part of the entire tour.
The Armoury is tucked away on the other side of the courtyard filled with real armour that real people wore, laid out so you can follow one king from the small suit made for him as a child right through to the one he fought in as an adult. Then it keeps going — armour for horses, armour for dogs, war gear next to ceremonial pieces so ornate they can’t have been comfortable for a second. Seeing all that in person is a completely different thing from seeing it in a museum case, and it’s the only room where the palace stops being about taste and starts being about the people who lived in it.
I also thought it was so funny that they had armor built jsut for the private area… you’ll see what I mean in the image below 🤣.
What to slow down for inside
The Grand Staircase is the first thing you hit — more than 70 marble steps under a painted ceiling, with the whole approach set up so you keep looking up.
From there the Throne Room is the one worth standing still in, all red velvet and gold with a Tiepolo fresco overhead that took him years. The Gasparini Room is the strangest and best of the lot, layered floor to ceiling in embroidered silk and carved stucco that looks almost too much until you’re standing in it. Then the Gala Dining Room, where the table runs long enough that you start realizing that those movies where Kings dined at ridiculously long tables weren’t lies.
Look into the Royal Chapel on your way through as well, because the string instruments kept there are Stradivari, part of the decorated set the palace has held since the 18th century.
The best rule in this building is to keep looking up. You’ll forget to, and the ceilings are the part that separates this palace from every other one you’ll walk through in Spain.
Some add-ons to consider
Two parts of the palace sit outside the standard ticket, and both are worth knowing about before you book rather than after.
The Royal Kitchen is the oldest well-preserved royal kitchen in Europe and it runs as a separate 45-minute guided visit on fixed slots from 11:15. NOTE: the tour is only offered in Spanish
The Gallery of Royal Collections is the newer museum built into the hillside below the palace, holding the tapestries, carriages, armour and paintings the crown collected over five centuries. It’s €14 alone or €24 combined with the palace, and the combined ticket stays valid for seven days either side of your palace slot, so you don’t have to cram both into one afternoon.
Royal Palace of Madrid FAQ
Is the Royal Palace of Madrid worth visiting? Yes, and I say that as someone who nearly skipped it out of palace fatigue. Between the state rooms and the Armoury it’s the single best-value big sight in the city.
What are the opening hours? 10 to 7 Monday to Saturday from April through September, 10 to 6 October through March, and 10 to 4 on Sundays and holidays year-round. Last entry is an hour before closing.
Is the Royal Armoury included? Yes, it’s part of the standard ticket. Leave at least 30 minutes for it.
How long do you need? 2 to 3 hours for the state rooms and the Armoury at a pace where you can actually stop and look.
Can you visit for free? Monday to Thursday in the final two hours — 5 to 7pm April through September, 4 to 6pm October through March — for EU citizens, EU residents and work-permit holders, and Ibero-American citizens with proof. It’s self-guided only and the Royal Kitchen isn’t included.
When is it closed? January 1 and 6, May 1, December 25, and from 3pm on December 24 and 31.
Do you need a guide? You don’t, but the rooms make far more sense with one, and the guided tour is the only way into the Private Royal Apartments.
Madrid rewards you for slowing down in it, so give the palace the extra hour and see what’s waiting over the next hill. ⛰️
