Private Palace and Prado in Four Hours, with the Taxi Between Included

Four hours, privately, covering the Royal Palace and the Prado in one morning.

The detail that makes that timing work is the transfer. The two buildings are at opposite ends of the old centre, and most combined tours spend forty minutes walking between them. Here a taxi is included, which turns dead time into gallery time and matters more on a four-hour booking than on a full day.

The palace comes first, the official residence of the kings of Spain and known as the Palacio de Oriente. It was built between 1738 and 1764 on the ruins of the fortress that stood here from the time of Emir Mohamed I in the 9th century, which is the same wall Madrid was founded behind. The rooms are worth slowing down for both for the materials they were built with and for what was put on them afterwards.

Because the guide is yours, questions get answered where they arise, and any point can be dwelt on for as long as it interests you.

At the Prado, fast entry is included in the booking, so there is no queue at that end either.