The Madrid Card is a city pass or tourist card. It’s the best way to enjoy the city’s top tourist, cultural and leisure attractions.
If done properly, you can plan your whole holiday with a couple mouse clicks from home.
This is without a doubt the best Madrid discount pass in circulation at the moment: having everything booked from the comfort of home, skipping lines, and saving money… but it really depends what you’re planning to do.
Why waiting to get to Madrid? Get your Madrid Card online right now.
What’s included in the Madrid Card?
Each Madrid Card includes the following for visiting Madrid:
- Prado Museum: Skip the line access + self-guided tour audio guide.
- Royal Palace: Fast track, skip the line access.
- A 1-day pass (24h) or a 2-day pass (48h) for a panoramic tour through Madrid on the Red hop-on hop-off tourist bus.
- City Tour of Madrid app (100+ spots with audio guide from local experts).
- A 1-hour audio tour of the Prado Museum masterpieces.
You also get a digital discount code giving you 10% off major purchases like:
- Museo Reina Sofía, Museo Thyssen-Bornemisza, and Las Ventas.
- The Santiago Bernabeú Tour and the Cívitas Metropolitano Tour.
- Guided tours, flamenco shows, the city’s best amusement parks, and much more.
How does the Madrid Card work?
The Madrid Card is 100% digital.
During the booking process, you select dates and times for visiting the Prado Museum and the Royal Palace (here selecting a time is also mandatory).
You then receive your tickets via email. There’s no need to print them out – just show them on your phone. This has the advantage that on arrival in Madrid, you hit the ground running and can head straight to the city center, with no need to pick anything up.
You also get an audio guide app to listen to on your smartphone (don’t forget to bring earphones), plus a coupon code that gives you a 10% discount on Madrid attractions, tickets and tours purchased from the Madrid tourist card website.
There’s no time limit on when you use the discount code and no booking fees. This is a bonus if you’ll be staying in Madrid for more than just a few days because you can spread your sightseeing out over a longer period.
After booking, you receive a link to the Madrid tourist card website. When booking through this link, there is an extra text field in the shopping cart where you enter the discount coupon code. When you validate the code, the 10% discount is automatically applied to your order.
Is the Madrid Card worth it?
Buying a Madrid City Pass will be well worth your money if you’re planning to spend a while in the city and want to see many of Madrid’s attractions. If you do buy the pass for your visit, be sure to use the City Bus Tour bus in the first 24 hours to maximize the benefits of your card.
If you’re only in Madrid for 1-2 days on your journey through Spain, consider buying the Madrid’s museum pass instead. Paired with a Madrid Travel City Pass to cover the transport costs, seeing Madrid will be a lot easier.
That said, if you’re coming to Madrid with culture in your eyes, and want to check off the major themes of Madrid’s top things to do like the Prado Museum and the Royal Palace (without any stress) then it’s something you should seriously consider.
Here are a few reasons:
1. Save money
It’s the reason you looked for a discount card in the first place, isn’t it?
The 10% discount you’ll get on subsequent attractions is the highest discount percentage available on the market for any of the major attractions.
Some math: the 3 tickets included in the basic pass (Prado Museum, Royal Palace, and the City Bus Tour) cost 58€ with the two audio guides adding 5€ of value each – making 68€.
If you buy the pass and nothing else you’re already saving 11€.
That said, if you decide to use the pass for just 3 items like Museo Reina Sofía, Santiago Bernabéu, and Museo Thyssen using the 10% discount you end up saving 5€ more.
If you go on by getting an entrance to Las Ventas, a flamenco show, an amusement park pass, or anything else on the long list of discounts it starts to really add up.
2. Skip the line at Madrid’s most popular attractions
If you’re still wondering if this city pass is worth it, ask yourself how much your time is worth.
Because some attraction entrances can have incredibly long lines, which results into an incredible waste of time.
With the Madrid Card you use your personal discount code to book all your attraction tickets online in advance, skip the lines, and enjoy your visit hassle free.
If your time is, let’s say, worth 30€ an hour you’re now way into savings.
3. No need to waste your time collecting anything
Unlike other Madrid discount cards you’ll benefit from the Madrid Pass being all digital.
That way you won’t have to worry about picking anything up in busy Madrid city center during rigid office hours, printing out tickets, or even losing them.
Just book them at your own pace at home, then show the tickets on your smartphone.
Madrid Card FAQ
Does the Madrid Card include public transport?
No, the Madrid Card doesn’t include public transport. There’s a specific travel city pass that you’ll need to get as well.
Do I have to pick anything up?
No, all tickets and discount codes are done online.
Do I absolutely have to select my visiting dates for the Prado Museum, the Royal Palace and the City Bus Tour?
Yes, it’s fundamental to get your tickets sent.
Keep in mind that time slot selection is super standard as you’re benefiting from a fast-track ticket to enter the Royal Palace.
I suggest you book the City Bus Tour as your first activity, so you can overview the city’s main sights and landmarks as soon as you get to Madrid.