⚓Discover Visit the Prado Museum in Madrid

During a stay to visit Madrid, there are certain visits that are absolutely essential. Among these unmissable visits, there is the very famous Madrid Prado Museum. Often compared to the Louvre Museum, its collections of works of art are absolutely magnificent and very varied: paintings, sculptures, different eras, different countries,... So many diversities that you will be able to admire during your future visit to the Prado Museum in Madrid.

Summary: Visiting the Prado Museum in Madrid:

Visit the Prado Museum: skip-the-line ticket, audio guide and prices
The Prado Museum and its works
Times to visit the Prado Museum
Access to the Prado Museum in Madrid
My opinion on the visit to the Prado Museum

Book your visit:
This link allows you to book your entry directly to visit the Prado Museum. Book your entry

Visit the Prado Museum: skip-the-line ticket, audio guide and prices

Before introducing you to the Prado Museum and the various works present inside, here are some practical tips if you wish to book your visit to the Prado Museum directly.

Skip-the-line ticket and audio guide

Probably the simplest and most common solution: opt for entrance with a skip-the-line ticket and get an audio guide in the language you want once inside.

Skip-the-line ticket
To get a skip-the-line ticket, nothing could be simpler: it can be taken online, it's quick and in addition, the electronic ticket is accepted at the entrance so no need to print anything. Once there, you can go directly to the entrance, avoiding the queue at the counter. A very practical alternative.

Admission to the Prado Museum:
Book your entrance to the Prado Museum in Madrid in advance to avoid the queues. Whatever the period, this museum is one of the most famous in the world and attracts many visitors. See prices

Once inside the museum, you will first have to put your backpacks in a cloakroom (bags are forbidden in the museum, as are cameras, to my great regret). Don't forget to bring a map of the museum (in French), which is essential for finding your way around during your visit! They are right at the entrance, close to the counter for the audio guides.

L’audioguide
In the large rotunda, you can get an audio guide at the dedicated counter. Many languages are available, including French of course.
Different circuits will be offered to you depending on the time you wish to spend inside the museum: from 1h to 4h.
You will also have the possibility to choose which part(s) of the museum you wish to visit by following your audio guide.
The comments in the audioguide take you on a discovery of the most remarkable works. Whichever circuit you choose, you will go through the entire museum in order to see as many works as possible. Then, you are free to stop where you want and listen to the comments of the works that interest you.

Credit photo : Agustín Martínez © Madrid Destino

Guided tour

You have the option of opting for a guided tour of the Prado Museum, in French. This tour is a tour with a private, English-speaking guide. This will allow you to personalize the discovery of the museum according to your expectations and what you want to discover inside. Go to your hotel to discover the city by going to the museum or go directly to the museum, the choice is yours!

Guided tour of the Prado Museum:
Treat yourself to this private guided tour in French with an art historian to learn all the secrets of the museum's works. See prices

The rates

Now let's talk about the prices of the different possibilities mentioned above.

Direct entry with the skip-the-line ticket will cost you 15,50 € per person.
Buy your skip-the-line ticket
free : Please note that admission is free for children and young people under 18.
But also from 18 p.m. to 20 p.m. from Monday to Saturday and from 17 p.m. to 19 p.m. on Sundays and during the holidays.
Regarding the audio guide, you can choose different options depending on the parts of the museum you want to visit. The audioguide in French for the classic visit is at 4 € per person with the possibility of paying by credit card.
Let's finish with the private guided tour in French. This visit is a little more expensive than the previous solutions. The prices will be decreasing the more you will be numerous to participate. For two people, the price will be 140 € per person. For 4 people, the price decreases to 75€ per person.
Book your private guided tour

The Prado Museum and its works

As mentioned at the beginning of the article, the Prado Museum can be compared to the Louvre Museum in Paris and is one of the richest museums in the world. The works inside are unique and were created by the best known artists. So whether you are art lovers or novices in the field, I strongly recommend this visit.

A well-appointed museum

First of all, let's start by understanding how this great museum is laid out so that we can find our way around more easily later on. Each floor is dedicated to an era, depending on the origin of the artist. The works are mainly Spanish, German, Italian or Flemish. Some will also be French or Dutch.

Floor 0:
This floor hosts various paintings and sculptures dating from the 12th century until the beginning of the 20th century. It is one of the floors with the most works of art in the museum.
Floor 1:
This floor, meanwhile, houses works by a wide variety of artists, ranging from the middle of the 16th century to the end of the 19th.
floor 2:
Finally, this floor is more restricted and is devoted to the 18th and 19th centuries.

So much for the Villanueva Building, the main building.

A second building is accessible by floor 0, it is theJeronimos building. This part mainly hosts temporary exhibitions. It was also in this building that you will find a conference room or a café, for example. On floor 2 of this building, there is a cloister.

Some of the most famous works of art

And yes, to be one of the richest museums in the world, you have to own a few works of art! And not least when it comes to the Prado Museum in Madrid…
It's no less than a hundred rooms to show you the most beautiful of the many treasures of the museum!
Each floor and each room competes to offer you the greatest stars of the painters of the last centuries: Goya, Rembrandt, Raphaël, Velásquez, Rubens, … to name only a few of the best known.

Credit photo : José Barea © Madrid Destino

Among the essential works of this museum, you can admire The Cardinal by Raphael, The Knight with his hand on El Greco's chest, The Meninas by Velásquez, The Immaculate Conception by Murillo or that by Tiepolo, The Three Graces by Rubens, The Three May 1908 in Madrid by Goya or sculptures such as the Offering of Orestes and Pylades or drawings such as the collection of drawings and engravings by Goya.
The titles of these works don't mean much to you? It does not matter, I am sure that the names of the artists on the other hand are not unknown to you.

And among the most famous paintings arousing the interest of visitors, there is one of the most famous replicas of La Joconde. A very qualitative copy with some questions about its author. A priori, it would have been painted by a pupil of Leonardo da Vinci at the same time as the Mona Lisa herself and in the same workshop. These are the elements that make it so special compared to other copies of this masterpiece.

Featured artists

The museum has, for some painters, a large number of different works. The layout of the different rooms groups together these works as much as possible according to themes and periods.
For example, you will have the opportunity to admire works by Goya side by side in many rooms on the 3 floors of the museum. Ditto for many artists like Tiziano, Velásquez or Murillo for floor 1 or Rubens, Rembrandt or Mengs on floor 2.

Let's take the example of a room dedicated to El Greco, where numerous paintings on display represent noble, well-dressed men. The very particular style that characterizes this painter can therefore be observed on several paintings side by side.

The Prado Museum website is very fun and allows you to find works of art very easily according to the author, their origin, the room where they are exhibited, etc.

Times to visit the Prado Museum

Let's now move on to more practical questions such as opening hours or access to the museum.
The Prado Museum in Madrid is open all year round, except on January 1, May 1 and December 25.

Monday to Saturday : open from 10 a.m. to 20 p.m.
Sunday and off days : open from 10 a.m. to 19 p.m.
Special hours for January 6, December 24 and 31: open from 10 a.m. to 14 p.m.

You can access the museum up to 30 minutes before it closes, but it would be a shame not to enjoy it longer than a slim half hour.

Access to the Prado Museum in Madrid

Access to the Prado Museum can be done in various ways.
Personally, we opted for the option on foot. From the center of Madrid (we slept close to the Plaza Mayor), it took us about 30 minutes and this allowed us to discover new districts.

You can also get there by public transport:

Metro, you will have to take lines 1 or 2 and get off at Banco de España or Estación del Arte respectively;
by bus, the lines serving the Prado Museum are more numerous: 9, 10, 14, 19, 27, 34, 37 or 45.

Finally, Madrid's Atocha Renfe station is near the Prado Museum. If you go by train in Madrid, you can plan a visit to the museum on your arrival or departure very easily.
In addition, the Madrid train station is really special, as you can see in the photo below:

My opinion on the visit to the Prado Museum

This museum is undeniably rich. We opted for the audio-guided tour in French. Our program that day was busy, so we followed the shortest circuit (1h30). We were able to see all the same a large part of the most famous works of the museum. The circuit is designed to take us through the entire museum. So we could stop in front of the paintings we wanted and the time we wanted.
The comments on each work were very qualitative. Clear explanations on the works but also a short presentation of the authors and the context of the time.
A small downside on the number of visitors: many groups visit this museum. Some works were inaccessible while the groups were in front. And yet, we were at the museum when it opened, in the middle of the week and in February. Hence the importance of booking your tickets well in advance during peak tourist season!
This museum nevertheless remains a must on a visit to Madrid and the works on display remain magnificent.