Madrid

How to visit the Prado Museum (Madrid) for free: all options

Prado Museum in Madrid
Prado Museum in Madrid
All options to visit the Prado Museum in Madrid for free: schedules, dates of free tickets, buses, discounted tickets

When you consider the visit of the Prado museum trust your trip to Madrid, it is good for you to know that apart from accessing by paying the standard ticket price, 15 euros, you have several options that allow you to make the free visit.

Not only because you can belong to one of the groups that benefit from this advantage, but also because you go to visit the Prado museum on specific dates or times.

Specifically, do you know how you can visit the Prado museum for free?

How and when to visit the Prado Museum in Madrid for free

To begin with, any day of the week is possible visit the Prado Museum for free to see the permanent collection if you do it late in the day.

Specifically, the schedules have now been normalized after the pandemic, from Monday to Saturday la entrance to the Prado is free from 18 to 20 p.m., and on Sundays and holidays, from 17 to 19 p.m.

Of course, I can tell you that before the start time of the free period, long lines usually form to enter the museum.

Dates with free entry to the Prado Museum

In addition there are other specific dates of the year in which the access is freeand International Museum Day (May 18) or Anniversary of the Prado Museum (November 19).

But keep in mind that with this entry you can only visit the permanent collection, and during these times you will not have free access to the usual temporary exhibitionss.

Prado Museum in Madrid
Prado Museum in Madrid

Yes, the price of admission to visit these exhibitions during the last two hours of free access to the museum has a 50 percent discount.

Who can visit the Prado museum for free

Now, if you meet certain conditions, the Entry to the Prado Museum in Madrid is free all day, in this case, including temporary exhibitions.

The groups that benefit from free entry to the Prado Museum They are the following: citizens under 18 years of age who are legally unemployed; students between 18 and 25 years old, including those from other community countries; People with disabilities.

If you are not in these circumstances, there are other groups that also benefit from the free visit; here you can consult the complete list of beneficiaries of free visits to the Prado Museum.

For get free tickets You cannot use the automatic terminals that are located next to the ticket office, but you must go there to collect them.

Prado Museum in Madrid
Prado Museum in Madrid

I remind you that the ticket office is located at the bottom of the Goya Gate, on the north façade of the building.

Discounted tickets to visit the Prado Museum

If you do not fall into this group of beneficiaries, you may be able to access with the reduced price entry (7,50 euros), from which they benefit:

  • People over 65
  • Members of large families
  • Youth card holders

With these reduced price You also have the option of seeing not only the permanent collection, but also the temporary exhibitions if you visit the museum every day, from Monday to Saturday, from 18 to 20 p.m., and on Sundays and holidays, from 17 to 19 p.m.

If you prefer, to visit the historic center from the capital, you can sign up for a Free Tour of Madrid lasting two hours, in which you visit some of the most emblematic points of the Medieval Madrid and the Madrid of the Austrias, and here are others alternatives for Free Tours in Madrid

Finally, if instead of visiting the museum on your own for free you prefer to visit it with the advice from a tour guide, here you have information to sign up for guided tours of the Prado Museum.

About the Author

José Luis Sarralde

Journalist and traveler throughout his life, José Luis Sarralde is the founder of Guías Viajar, where since 2008 he has been capturing his travel experiences around the world, specializing in cultural and scenic destinations in Spain and Europe.

Comments

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  • Taking into account that we were doing the visit with a group of 4th ESO students. That is, under 18 years of age, could we access the museum for free during the next year 2024?

  • Good morning, are those over 64 within the group of free tickets, Monday to Friday?
    Is the ticket collected when entering the museum or does it have to be reserved through a website?

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