Frequently asked questions

The Palacio Real is on Calle de Bailén in central Madrid, beside the Almudena Cathedral and Plaza de Oriente. The closest Metro station is Ópera (lines 2, 5 and the Ramal), a 3-minute walk to the entrance on Plaza de la Armería. From Puerta del Sol it is a 12-minute walk. City buses 3, 39 and 148 stop nearby. There is no dedicated visitor car park; use the public garages around Plaza de Oriente or Plaza de España.

The palace is open every day. In summer (April–September) it opens Monday to Saturday 10:00–19:00 and Sunday 10:00–16:00; in winter (October–March) Monday to Saturday 10:00–18:00 and Sunday 10:00–16:00, with last admission about an hour before closing. It is closed on 1 and 6 January, 1 May and 25 December, and occasionally at short notice for official state ceremonies, royal audiences or banquets — these are the main reason a particular date can become unavailable, so we confirm availability before issuing your ticket.

Plan 75–120 minutes for the standard self-guided route through the Grand Staircase, the State Rooms and the Royal Armoury. Visitors who add the Royal Kitchen, the Royal Pharmacy and the painting galleries typically spend around 2.5 hours.

The standard ticket covers the public route of the palace: the Grand Staircase, the Hall of Columns, the State Rooms (including the Throne Room, the Gasparini Room and the Hall of Mirrors), the Royal Chapel, the painting galleries and the Royal Armoury — plus the Gallery of Royal Collections, the major museum that opened beside the palace in 2023. The Royal Kitchen and any temporary exhibitions are sometimes sold as separate add-ons; the gardens (Sabatini Gardens and Campo del Moro) are free public parks.

Free entry exists for EU citizens, EU residents and Ibero-American citizens during certain late-afternoon windows on weekdays. The free passes are issued only at the on-site ticket office on the day, on a first-come basis, and cannot be reserved online. They have a daily cap that often sells out before the window opens, and the queue can be long. Non-EU visitors (US, UK, Canada, Australia, Japan, China, etc.) do not qualify and should book the normal timed ticket. Our skip-the-line ticket is the only way to guarantee a specific entry time.

Yes. A relief of the guard takes place at the palace on Wednesdays and Saturdays (outside July, August, September and on ceremony days), and a larger Solemn Changing of the Guard is held on the first Wednesday of most months. Both happen outdoors at the Puerta del Príncipe and are free to watch from Plaza de la Armería — no ticket needed. If you want to combine the spectacle with your visit, book a palace slot for after it finishes, as the plaza and the entrance queue are at their busiest on guard mornings.

Photography without flash is generally permitted in the State Rooms, but it is prohibited in the Royal Armoury and in some temporary-exhibition galleries; signage and staff indicate where. Large bags and backpacks must be left in the entrance cloakroom. Selfie sticks and tripods are not allowed inside. The Royal Chapel is a consecrated space.

Yes — the operator sells a multilingual audio guide at the entrance for a small additional fee. Languages usually include Spanish, English, French, German, Italian, Portuguese, Japanese and Chinese. The audio guide runs roughly 60–90 minutes for the full State-Rooms route.

Most of the public State-Rooms route is accessible via lifts and an adapted itinerary; a few stepped thresholds remain. Staff at the entrance provide the accessible-route map and can advise on the best path. Accessible toilets are signposted from the main entrance.

Yes — all three are run by the same official operator, so the ticketing and QR-scanning work the same way. A common itinerary is El Escorial or Aranjuez in the morning (both are short train rides from Madrid) and the Royal Palace in the late afternoon. Allow time for the transfer; book a late-afternoon palace slot so an earlier site over-running doesn't cost you the entry.

The streets around Plaza de Oriente and Ópera are full of cafés and restaurants; the Plaza de Oriente terraces face the palace. For something more local, the Mercado de San Miguel and the bars around Plaza Mayor are a 10-minute walk east. The Café de Oriente is the classic grand café directly opposite the palace gardens.

Spring (April–June) and autumn (mid-September–October) offer the most comfortable weather and slightly lighter crowds than high summer. July and August are hot in Madrid but the palace interior is cool. Winter is the quietest period and the State Rooms are at their most atmospheric. Whatever the season, the first hour after opening and the last 90 minutes before closing are the calmest windows of the day.

The Salón del Trono keeps its original 1760s decoration completely intact — one of the few European throne rooms to do so. The walls are hung with crimson velvet, the chandeliers are Venetian rock crystal, and bronze lions flank the twin thrones. The ceiling carries Giambattista Tiepolo's fresco The Apotheosis of the Spanish Monarchy, painted in 1764, one of the last great works of the Venetian master. It is the single most-photographed room on the route.

The Real Armería is one of the finest collections of arms and armour in the world, built up by the Habsburg and Bourbon kings. Its centrepieces are the parade and battle armours of Emperor Charles V and his son Philip II, several of them shown on full-size horse-and-rider mannequins. It occupies a separate building off the main courtyard and is included in the standard ticket. Photography is not permitted inside the Armoury.

Children under 5 are admitted free at the gate, accompanied by a paying adult — no separate ticket needed. Under-25s and visitors aged 65+ qualify for the reduced rate on presentation of photo ID showing age.

Tickets are issued for a specific date and time slot. All sales are final — we are unable to offer customer-initiated refunds or rebookings once the operator has issued the ticket. The only refund cases are operator-side failures (an unscheduled closure for a state ceremony on your date, a strike, or similar) in which we contact every affected customer and refund in full when no equivalent slot is available within your trip dates.

Photography without flash is generally allowed in the State Rooms and is the rule that most visitors care about for the Throne Room and the Gasparini Room. It is prohibited in the Royal Armoury and in certain temporary exhibitions. Tripods and selfie sticks are not allowed inside. The exterior — Plaza de la Armería, the south facade and the views from Plaza de Oriente and the Sabatini Gardens — is freely photographable.