Prado Museum
Madrid, Spain
Museo Nacional del Prado
Spain's royal picture collection: Velázquez, Goya, Bosch and Titian under one roof.
Checked 6 October 2026
The Prado holds the Spanish royal art collection, with Las Meninas, Goya's Black Paintings and Bosch's Garden of Earthly Delights among its best-known works. A timed ticket costs €15 on the museum's own shop, entradas.museodelprado.es, and everyone gets in free for the last two hours of the day (18:00–20:00 Monday to Saturday, 17:00–19:00 on Sundays and holidays), but those free tickets are only handed out at the ticket office and the queue is long. Under 18s and students aged 18 to 25 get in free at any time.
About Prado Museum
The Prado is Spain's national art museum, on the Paseo del Prado boulevard in central Madrid. Its core is the collection of the Spanish kings, who bought and commissioned work from painters in Spain, Italy and Flanders. That is why the museum is strongest on a handful of names: Velázquez, Goya, Bosch, Titian and Rubens.
The main building was designed by Juan de Villanueva in 1785 as a natural history cabinet for King Charles III. His grandson Ferdinand VII turned it into a royal museum of paintings and sculpture, and it opened to the public in November 1819. Rafael Moneo's extension beside the Jerónimos church, the biggest in the museum's history, holds the modern entrance hall, the temporary exhibitions, the café and the shop.
Inside you walk from 15th-century Flemish altarpieces through the Venetian Renaissance to the Spanish Golden Age. Velázquez's Las Meninas has its own room, Bosch's Garden of Earthly Delights fills a gallery with its strange crowds of bodies and birds, and Goya's career runs from cheerful tapestry designs to the war scenes of 1808 and the Black Paintings he painted on the walls of his own house.
The museum is large and busy: it had record visitor numbers in 2025, and in January 2026 it announced 'Plan Host', a plan to cap visitor numbers and shrink guided groups, without saying yet where the cap would be set. Pick five or six works you really want to see, book a morning slot and go to them first.
What to see
Las Meninas, Velázquez (Room 12)
Velázquez's 1656 painting of the Infanta Margarita, her maids, a dwarf, a dog and the painter himself, with the king and queen reflected in a mirror. It is over three metres tall and hangs on the first floor. Expect a crowd in front of it from late morning onwards.
The Garden of Earthly Delights, Bosch (Room 56A)
Bosch's triptych of Eden, a garden of sinful pleasures and a musical Hell, painted in the 1490s. It is on the ground floor in the reinstalled Bosch gallery. The outer faces of the wings, painted in shades of grey, show the creation of the world.
Goya's Black Paintings (ground floor)
Fourteen dark murals Goya painted on the walls of his country house around 1820–1823, later moved to canvas, including Saturn devouring one of his sons and the half-buried dog. They are on the ground floor, in Rooms 66 and 67 according to independent visitor guides (check the museum map on the day, as rooms are sometimes rehung), and easy to miss because most visitors stay upstairs. Saturn is graphic; prepare children.
The 3rd of May 1808, Goya (Room 64)
Goya's 1814 picture of French soldiers shooting Madrid civilians the night after the uprising of 2 May 1808. Ground floor, in the same Goya galleries as the Black Paintings, so see them together.
Titian's Charles V at Mühlberg (Room 27)
Titian's 1548 portrait of the emperor on horseback in armour, celebrating his victory over the Protestant princes at Mühlberg in 1547. The armour he wears was made around 1545; the museum reads the image as the emperor shown both as heir to Rome and as a Christian knight.
Van der Weyden's Descent from the Cross (Room 58)
A painted altarpiece from before 1443 with life-size figures in a gilded box, among the finest Flemish paintings anywhere. Ground floor, a few rooms from Bosch.
Goya's Naked Maja (Room 38)
Goya's reclining nude of 1795–1800, painted for the royal favourite Manuel Godoy, who later commissioned The Clothed Maja as its companion. One of the few nudes in Spanish art of its time.
Prado Museum tickets: which to buy and where
Most visitors should buy the €15 general ticket on entradas.museodelprado.es: it includes the collection and the temporary exhibitions, comes with a date and an entry time, and lets you walk past the ticket office queue to the entrance. If you are under 18, a student aged 18 to 25, over 65 or hold a Youth Card (Carné Joven), you pay nothing or €7.50, but you must show a valid official document at the ticket office on the day.
The official ticket site
Museo Nacional del Prado online ticket shop
The museum's own shop is entradas.museodelprado.es, linked from the 'Tickets' button on museodelprado.es and labelled 'Página Oficial'. Prices are €15 general, €7.50 reduced, with an optional €5 audio guide or €10 guided tour added at checkout.
General admission
€15
Official ticketsSkips some lines
- Includes
- Timed entry to the permanent collection and temporary exhibitions. Skips the ticket office queue; everyone still goes through the bag scanner
- Best for
- Most adult visitors
Official site · as of October 2026See this ticket → (opens in a new tab)Reduced admission
€7.50
Official ticketsSkips some lines
- Includes
- Same as general. For over 65s, European Youth Card (Carné Joven) holders and members of Spanish large families; proof checked at the ticket office
- Best for
- Over 65s
Official site · as of October 2026See this ticket → (opens in a new tab)Free admission (eligible visitors)
€0
Official ticketsDoes not skip lines
- Includes
- Free entry at any time for under 18s, students aged 18–25, disabled visitors (33% or more) and others on the museum's list. Show ID or a student card at the ticket office
- Best for
- Children, teenagers and students
Official site (ticket office) · as of October 2026See this ticket → (opens in a new tab)Free hours ticket
€0
Official ticketsDoes not skip lines
- Includes
- Collection only (temporary exhibitions half price) in the last two hours before closing: Mon–Sat 18:00–20:00, Sun and holidays 17:00–19:00. Tickets only at the ticket office, until capacity is reached
- Best for
- Budget visitors who only want a few works
Official site (ticket office) · as of October 2026See this ticket → (opens in a new tab)Paseo del Arte card (Abono Paseo del Arte)
€32.80
Official ticketsDoes not skip lines
- Includes
- One visit each to the Prado, the Reina Sofía and the Thyssen-Bornemisza within a year of purchase. A 2024 forum report says it does not skip any queue at the Prado
- Best for
- Adults paying full price at all three museums who will not use their free hours
Official site · as of October 2026See this ticket → (opens in a new tab)Madrid: Prado Museum Entry Ticket
from €18
ResellerSkips some lines
- Includes
- The same timed general ticket plus a booking fee; non-refundable; no reduced or free rates
- Best for
- Only if you want to pay in another currency or keep all bookings in one app; the official €15 ticket is cheaper
GetYourGuide · as of October 2026See this ticket → (opens in a new tab)
How to buy
- Go to museodelprado.es and press 'Tickets', which takes you to entradas.museodelprado.es. Pick a day on the calendar, then the ticket type and an entry time.
- At checkout you can add the audio guide (€5) or the museum's own 90-minute guided tour (€10). The 'Guía del Prado' option (€24) is the ticket plus the printed guidebook.
- Under 18s, students aged 18–25 and other free or reduced visitors: bring the valid document; the museum checks it at the ticket office on the day of the visit.
- On the day, go to the Goya entrance (ticket offices and collection) or the Jerónimos entrance (collection and temporary exhibitions), both on Calle Felipe IV, with your ticket on your phone. Last entry is 30 minutes before closing, and staff start clearing the rooms 10 minutes before closing.
- The free hours cannot be booked online: free tickets are handed out at the ticket office (which opens at 9:45) until the museum is full.
Look-alike sites
The only official sellers are the museum's site museodelprado.es and its shop entradas.museodelprado.es. In 2023 the museum reported a cloned site that copied its design and took card details without issuing tickets, and in June 2026 it told Spanish fact-checkers that more look-alike reseller sites appear 'every day', often at the top of search adverts. These buy ordinary tickets on the official site and resell them with a 'management fee'. Check the address bar for museodelprado.es and the price: €15, with no booking fee.
We can never guarantee a ticket seller, tour company or deal. Prices, opening hours and what is included change, often without notice: check the details on the seller’s own page before you pay, and book through the official site where you can. How to avoid ticket scams · Disclaimer.
Guided tours of Prado Museum
The museum's own guided tour is the best value: a 90-minute masterpieces tour for €10 on top of the ticket, in English at 11:00 and 13:00. For a self-guided visit the €5 audio guide covers more than 250 works and runs on the museum's devices or your own phone. Paid tours from platforms mainly add a guide who picks the route; the only one that buys something the museum does not sell individuals is early entry before opening.
Official guided tour
Masterpieces from the Collection
Museo Nacional del Prado
Book it at checkout on the official ticket shop. English at 11:00 and 13:00; Spanish at 10:30, 11:00, 12:30, 13:00, 15:15 and 17:00.
€10 plus admission
See this tour → (opens in a new tab)Group guided tour with entry
Prado Museum Guided Tour with Skip-the-Line Ticket
Fun and Tickets (sold on GetYourGuide)Highlights tour in English or Spanish, meeting by the Neptune fountain (Plaza de Cánovas del Castillo 5). The provider warns the museum may move the entry time by up to an hour. Free cancellation up to 24 hours before.
Group guided tour with entry
Prado Museum Skip the Line Guided Tour
Civitatis (local suppliers such as Amigo Tours)Las Meninas, the Black Paintings and The Garden of Earthly Delights with an English-speaking guide; meets by the Velázquez statue beside the museum. Wheelchair users should say so when booking. Free cancellation up to 24 hours before.
Early-access small-group tour
VIP Prado Exclusive Pre Opening Museum Tour
Walks (sold on GetYourGuide)Enters an hour before the public opening and covers Las Meninas, Bosch and the Black Paintings while the rooms are empty; you can stay on afterwards. English only; meets at the Goya statue on Calle Felipe IV. Free cancellation up to 24 hours before.
from €139
See this tour → (opens in a new tab)
We can never guarantee a ticket seller, tour company or deal. Prices, opening hours and what is included change, often without notice: check the details on the seller’s own page before you pay, and book through the official site where you can. How to avoid ticket scams · Disclaimer.
Prado Museum deals and discounts
The official €15 ticket is the best buy for a paying adult, and resellers only add fees. The real savings are free entry for under 18s and students aged 18–25, free entry for everyone in the last two hours, and the Paseo del Arte card if you will pay full price at all three big museums.
Free for under 18s and students aged 18–25
The museum's price list gives free entry to under 18s and to 'students between 18 and 25', and states no nationality condition. Bring a passport or ID card and, for students, a valid student card: the museum asks for an official, valid and current document at the ticket office on the day.
Free last two hours every day
Mon–Sat 18:00–20:00 and Sundays and holidays 17:00–19:00, the collection is free for everyone, and temporary exhibitions are half price. Tickets only at the ticket office, until capacity is reached. The queue starts well before 18:00, and Sunday is the busiest.
€7.50 for over 65s and Youth Card holders
Reduced admission for over 65s, holders of the Carné Joven (European Youth Card) and members of Spanish large families. Proof is checked on the day.
Paseo del Arte card, €32.80
One visit each to the Prado, the Reina Sofía and the Thyssen-Bornemisza within a year of purchase. It only saves money if you would pay full adult price at all three. Visitors in a 2024 forum thread found it clumsy (a card bought at one museum had to be exchanged at the others) and went back to buying each museum's timed ticket online.
Free for disabled visitors, with priority access
Visitors with a disability of 33% or more get in free, with priority at ticket desks 1 and 2 and at the Jerónimos entrance. Tickets and time slots can be reserved by email at accesibilidad@museodelprado.es.
Best time to visit Prado Museum
Time of day: be at the door for the 10:00 opening and go straight to the busiest rooms (Las Meninas in Room 12, Bosch in 56A). Late morning to mid-afternoon is the most crowded, when most group tours run.
Week and season: weekdays are calmer than Saturdays. The museum is open every day except 1 January, 1 May and 25 December, and closes at 14:00 on 6 January, 24 and 31 December.
Avoid: the free Sunday slot (17:00–19:00), the busiest of the week, unless you only want a quick look. On free evenings arrive well before the start and expect to queue around the building.
Tips and tricks
Gathered from travel forums, locals and the sight’s own advice, rewritten in our own words. What worked for others, not a guarantee.
Use the free hours for one or two rooms, not a first visit
The free-hours queue is much longer and slower than at the Reina Sofía, and once inside the popular rooms are packed. Visitors with only a passing interest find it enough; anyone who came to Madrid for the art should pay €15 for a morning slot.
From Rick Steves Spain forum, 2024
Buy online and walk straight in
Visitors who bought timed tickets on the museum's own site report walking in at their slot with only the security check, no ticket queue. Resellers do not get you in any faster.
From Rick Steves Spain forum, 2024
Start at the far end
Most people work through the rooms in order from the entrance. Head first to the rooms you most want, especially the ground-floor Goya and Bosch galleries, and work back.
From Rick Steves Spain forum, 2014; museum floor plan
Leave big bags at the hotel
Suitcases and bags over 40 × 40 cm are not allowed in, and the free cloakroom at each entrance has limited space. Scooters and bicycles are also banned.
From Museo del Prado visitor rules, 2026
No photos in the galleries
Photography and filming are not allowed in the rooms, and attendants do tell people off.
From Museo del Prado visitor rules, 2026
Get the audio guide on your own phone
The €5 audio guide covers more than 250 works in 15 languages and can run on your own smartphone, so bring earphones.
From Museo del Prado, Visit the museum page, 2026
Book the museum's own tour at checkout
The official 90-minute masterpieces tour costs €10 on top of the ticket and runs in English at 11:00 and 13:00. Forum visitors call it a bargain compared with platform tours.
From Rick Steves Spain forum, 2024; museodelprado.es
Use the museum's ready-made routes
The Prado publishes 1-hour, 2-hour and 3-hour itineraries of masterpieces with floor locations. Load one on your phone before you go.
From museodelprado.es itineraries, 2026
How to get to Prado Museum
- Metro: line 1 to Estación del Arte (about 800 m) or line 2 to Banco de España (about 650 m), then walk along the Paseo del Prado.
- Bus: lines 001, 10, 14, 27, 34, 37, 45 and C03 stop at Museo del Prado – Jardín Botánico, right outside.
- Train: Atocha station (Cercanías and long-distance trains) is about 1 km away up the Paseo del Prado; Recoletos Cercanías station is about 1.1 km. From the airport take Metro line 8 and change to lines 4 and 2, or the C1 or C10 train to Atocha, or bus 203.
- Parking: public car parks at Plaza de las Cortes and Calle Montalbán 4. Disabled parking bays are on Calle Ruiz de Alarcón and Calle Moreto.
Scams and problems to watch for
Look-alike ticket sites
Sites with Prado in the name appear at the top of search adverts and sell the ordinary ticket with a 'management fee', and in 2023 a cloned site took card details without issuing tickets. The tell-tale sign is any domain other than museodelprado.es, or a price above €15.
Pickpockets around Atocha and the Paseo del Prado
Spanish press reported in September 2024, citing a citizens' patrol group, that pickpocket gangs had started working the Atocha and Paseo del Prado area, as well as city bus lines. Keep phones and wallets in front pockets, especially in the free-hours queue and on crowded buses.
'Skip-the-line' tickets that skip nothing extra
A plain €15 timed ticket from the museum already lets you bypass the ticket office. Resold 'skip-the-line' tickets cost more and still go through the same security scanner; one platform tour even warns the museum may move your entry by an hour.
Assuming free hours mean walk-in
Free entry still needs a free ticket from the ticket office, and handing out stops when the museum is full. People who arrive at 18:00 on a busy day can miss out.
Accessibility
The museum is step-free inside, with lifts, ramps, platforms and adapted toilets. Wheelchairs and pushchairs are lent free at the cloakroom, and guide dogs are welcome. The Jerónimos entrance gives priority access to visitors with reduced mobility and pushchairs. Visitors with a disability of 33% or more get in free, with priority at ticket desks 1 and 2; reserve a ticket and time slot by email at accesibilidad@museodelprado.es. The museum also arranges car drop-off near the entrance on request by the same email. Sign-language video guides, audio description and induction loops are lent free at the audio guide desks.
Combine it with
Museo Reina Sofía
Spain's modern art museum, home of Picasso's Guernica, 10 minutes' walk south by Atocha. One of the three museums on the Paseo del Arte card.
Museo Thyssen-Bornemisza
A private collection that fills the gaps in the Prado, from early Italians to Impressionists and Pop art, 5 minutes' walk north on the Paseo del Prado.
Retiro Park
Madrid's great park, with the boating lake and the Crystal Palace, just behind the museum up Calle Felipe IV. Good for a break between museums.
Real Jardín Botánico
The 18th-century botanic garden right next to the Prado's Murillo entrance, a quiet walk after the galleries.
Questions people ask about visiting Prado Museum
How much does it cost to visit the Prado?
General admission is €15 and reduced admission €7.50 (over 65s, Youth Card holders) as of October 2026. Under 18s and students aged 18 to 25 get in free, and everyone gets in free in the last two hours of each day.
When is the Prado free?
Monday to Saturday 18:00–20:00 and Sundays and public holidays 17:00–19:00 (2026). Free tickets are only given out at the ticket office until the museum is full, and the queue starts well before. Under 18s and students aged 18–25 are free all day.
Do I need to book Prado tickets in advance?
It is not essential, but a timed online ticket from entradas.museodelprado.es lets you skip the ticket office queue and costs the same €15. A day or two ahead is usually enough outside holidays; the calendar was open about two months ahead in October 2026. The museum announced in January 2026 that it will cap visitor numbers, so booking ahead may matter more once that starts.
How long do you need at the Prado?
Two to three hours covers the highlights: Velázquez, Goya, Bosch and the Venetians. The museum publishes 1, 2 and 3-hour routes. Art lovers can easily spend a full day; the ticket is for one timed entry, so plan a break at the café inside rather than leaving and coming back.
Is a guided tour of the Prado worth it?
The museum's own 90-minute tour for €10 on top of the ticket is good value, in English at 11:00 and 13:00. Platform tours start at about €45 and mainly add a guide-chosen route or a smaller group; the early-access tour (from €139) gets you in front of Las Meninas before the public.
Can you take photos in the Prado?
No. Photography and filming are not allowed in the galleries, and staff enforce the rule. Bags larger than 40 × 40 cm are also not allowed in.
Where are Las Meninas and the Black Paintings?
Las Meninas hangs in Room 12 on the first floor, and Bosch's Garden of Earthly Delights in Room 56A on the ground floor (museum collection pages, October 2026). Goya's Black Paintings are on the ground floor near The 3rd of May 1808 (Room 64), in Rooms 66 and 67 according to visitor guides; check the museum map on the day.
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Before you go
The things that apply at every big sight: booking ahead, what skip-the-line really means, and the scams that follow tourists everywhere.