Picture your first morning in Madrid: coffee on a terrace near Plaza Mayor, Velázquez waiting at the Prado, the Royal Palace glittering down the road, and a flamenco show booked for later. Now picture doing it with one QR code on your phone instead of five separate bookings. That's what a Madrid city pass promises. The catch is that there are several, and they work in completely different ways. Whatever name you typed into Google (Madrid City Pass, Madrid City Card, Go Madrid Pass), you'll end up choosing between the same four real options. One is a pick-your-own bundle, one is an all-you-can-sightsee day pass, one lets you spread a few attractions over two months, and one is purely for art lovers. Pick right and you save money and skip queues. Pick wrong and you've prepaid for attractions you'll never have the energy to reach.
## The four Madrid passes compared side by side Here's the quick version. Each "from" price is the entry-level option for that pass, so a longer All-Inclusive or a bigger Explorer costs more.
PassFromWhat you getValidityBest for
The Madrid Pass€993 big-ticket picks (Prado or Bernabéu, Royal Palace or Reina Sofía, bus tour or flamenco) + audio guide appSeparate e-tickets sent by email for each pickFirst-timers who want the headline sightsBuy The Madrid Pass
Go City All-Inclusive€7425+ attractions, including guided museum tours and day trips1 to 5 consecutive days from first useHigh-energy sightseers packing in 3+ stops a dayBuy All-Inclusive
Go City Explorer€79Choose 3 to 7 attractions from 15+60 days after first activationSlow travellers and longer staysBuy Explorer
Paseo del Arte Card€40One entry each to the Prado, Reina Sofía and Thyssen-BornemiszaOne year from purchase dateArt lovers who care about paintings more than palacesBuy Paseo del Arte
One thing none of them cover: public transport. Budget separately for the metro, or grab Madrid's Tourist Travel Pass if you plan to ride a lot. ## The Madrid Pass: the best of Madrid in three picks Of all the options, The Madrid Pass is the simplest way to see Madrid's big three without a spreadsheet. You make three choices. First, the Prado Museum or the Bernabéu Tour & Museum, so art lovers and Real Madrid fans are both covered. Second, the Royal Palace of Madrid, the official royal residence with fast-track entry, or the Reina Sofía with skip-the-line access and Picasso's Guernica. Third, a 1-day hop-on hop-off bus or a flamenco show at Tablao Torres Bermejas, a short walk from Gran Vía. On top of that you get an audio guide app with 100+ points of interest around the city, commentary from local experts and offline navigation, so you can wander from Plaza Mayor to Retiro Park without burning mobile data. Tickets arrive by email, and there's a 10% discount code for other Madrid attractions, valid for a month. **Worth it if** this is your first trip to Madrid and you want the famous names without planning. **Skip it if** you've already seen the Prado and the palace, or you want day trips to Toledo or Segovia: nothing here leaves the city. ## Go City All-Inclusive: for travellers who sprint The Go City Madrid All-Inclusive Pass is a digital pass that opens 25+ attractions for 1, 2, 3, 4 or 5 consecutive days. The clock starts when you activate it at your first stop. The line-up includes guided tours of the Prado, the Royal Palace and the Reina Sofía, the Thyssen-Bornemisza, a Big Bus panoramic tour, a flamenco show with tapas at Torres Bermejas, the Las Ventas bullring, walking tours, the wax museum, and full excursions to Toledo, Segovia and El Escorial. The math only works if you keep moving. Each attraction can be used once, and the value comes from stacking three or four paid stops into every day. Start before 10am, book the museum tours in the Go City app ahead of time (popular slots go fast), and plan your itinerary around one big excursion day. Free cancellation is available up to 24 hours before your visit date. **Worth it if** you have two or three packed days and want a day trip thrown in. **Skip it if** you like long lunches and slow afternoons. Two sights a day and this sightseeing pass costs more than paying at the door. ## Go City Explorer: fewer attractions, more breathing room The Go City Madrid Explorer Pass flips the model. Instead of a set number of days, you choose a number of attractions: 3, 4, 5, 6 or 7, picked from 15+ options including the Prado and Royal Palace guided tours, the Reina Sofía guided tour, the Big Bus tour, Las Ventas, bike rental, and a self-guided Toledo trip. After activation you have 60 days to use the rest, so there's no pressure to rush. The trade-off: it's non-refundable and can't be rescheduled. Only buy it once your dates are fixed. **Worth it if** you're in Madrid for a week, visiting in stages, or travelling with someone who needs rest days. **Skip it if** you only want three attractions that are cheap on their own. The Explorer earns its keep on guided tours, not budget entries. ## Paseo del Arte Card: three museums, zero time pressure The Paseo del Arte Card covers the "Golden Triangle of Art" along the Paseo del Prado: the Prado, the Reina Sofía and the Thyssen-Bornemisza. You get one skip-the-line entry to each, including the permanent collection plus some temporary exhibitions at the Prado and Reina Sofía (the Thyssen's temporary shows aren't included). The museums sit within walking distance of each other, and the card is valid for a year, so you can do Goya on Wednesday and Guernica on Friday. A few rules worth knowing. At the Prado and Reina Sofía you swap your voucher at the ticket office; at the Thyssen you walk straight in. The card can't be used at the Thyssen on Mondays, and the Reina Sofía is closed on Tuesdays. It's also non-refundable. **Worth it if** art is the reason you came. **Skip it if** you only want the Prado, or if you're travelling with teenagers only: under-18s enter all three museums free anyway. [tip] Madrid's big three museums all have free entry windows, and the Paseo del Arte Card can't be used during them. On a Monday you could, in theory, do all three for nothing: the Thyssen collection is free 12:00 to 16:00, the Prado 18:00 to 20:00, and the Reina Sofía 19:00 to 21:00. The catch is the queue, which often wraps around the building, and the fact that two hours in the Prado is barely enough for Las Meninas and a sprint past the Black Paintings. Use the free hours for a second visit to a favourite gallery, and the card for the museum you actually want to savour. [/tip] ## Which Madrid city pass should you buy? I'd narrow it down with three questions. **How many days, and how hard will you go?** Two or three full-throttle days point to the All-Inclusive. A relaxed week points to the Explorer. **Art or football?** Pure art lovers should take the Paseo del Arte Card. Real Madrid fans who also want the Royal Palace get the neatest deal from The Madrid Pass, where the Bernabéu is one of the core picks. **Day trips?** If Toledo or Segovia is on your list, only Go City covers it: the All-Inclusive includes guided excursions, while the Explorer has a self-guided Toledo option. And sometimes the honest answer is none of them. If your trip to Madrid is about tapas, markets and wandering Malasaña, buy the one or two tickets you actually want and spend the rest on dinner. ## Frequently asked questions [faq] Q: Is the Madrid City Pass worth it? A: It depends on your pace. Visitors who see three or more paid attractions a day usually come out ahead with the All-Inclusive, while first-timers who just want the Prado, the Royal Palace and a flamenco show get the most straightforward value from The Madrid Pass. Q: How do I activate a Go City Madrid pass? A: Sync the pass in the Go City app using the link in your confirmation email, then scan the QR code at your first attraction. That first scan starts the activation, and for the All-Inclusive it starts the countdown of consecutive days. Q: Do I need to reserve time slots with a Madrid pass? A: For some attractions, yes. Guided tours of the Prado and Royal Palace have limited slots, so reserve them as soon as you have your pass instead of turning up on the day and hoping. Q: Which Madrid pass is best for a 3-day trip? A: For a first 3-day trip to Madrid, The Madrid Pass covers the essentials without locking you into a schedule. If you'd rather cram in more, a 2-day All-Inclusive plus one free day for Retiro Park and the markets is a strong itinerary. [/faq] ## Make the pass work for your Madrid A longer list of attractions only helps if you'll actually reach them. So be honest about your pace: headline sights, a sightseeing marathon, a slow burn over a week, or three great art museums. Buy that pass, then put the phone away. Madrid is at its best in the gaps anyway, the vermouth on a sunny plaza after the Prado, the late dinner that runs past midnight.