Anyone comparing the free hours of Madrid’s three big museums runs into the same unanswered question. The Collection is free, fine. But what happens to the exhibition being advertised on the banners outside?
The Museo Nacional del Prado answers it with a third option that neither of its neighbours uses. During the free window the Collection costs nothing and tickets to the temporary exhibitions are sold at a 50 % discount. Not included, not shut out, but half price.
That window is the last two hours before closing, on every day of the year the museum opens. Monday to Saturday it closes at 8pm and the window runs 6pm to 8pm. Sundays and public holidays it closes at 7pm and the window runs 5pm to 7pm.
Half price on the temporary show, and why that is unusual
In its published conditions the Prado allows free entry to the Collection during its final two hours and applies a 50 % reduction to temporary exhibition tickets in the same stretch. A visitor who came to Madrid for a specific exhibition is not forced to choose between paying full price and missing it.
Neither neighbour offers that middle path. At the Thyssen-Bornemisza the Monday window is labelled Collection and the temporary shows sit outside it entirely, at full price, as the breakdown of the Thyssen free Monday sets out. At the Reina Sofía the free window carries the whole building. The Prado is alone in discounting rather than deciding.
Seven days a week, which makes it the flexible one
There is no weekly closing day at the Prado. The free window therefore repeats every day of the week, and that is what makes it the easiest of the three to fit into a short trip.
Compare the calendars and the gap is obvious. The Reina Sofía shuts on Tuesday, so its daily window has a hole in it, and the reason its Sunday window moves to lunchtime is covered in the Reina Sofía free-hours timetable. The Thyssen-Bornemisza gives four free hours on Monday and two on Saturday night, and nothing at all in between. The Prado gives two hours, every single day, without exception.
The first Saturday of the month runs until 11.30pm
Once a month the Prado extends its Saturday hours to 11.30pm under the programme it calls El Prado de noche, and that late opening is free, with last admission at 11pm.
For a visitor this is the most comfortable free slot the museum offers, and it is the one least likely to appear in a summarised timetable. It replaces a 90-minute scramble at the end of a working day with a three-hour evening. Anyone whose trip includes a first Saturday should plan the Prado around that night rather than around the ordinary window, and treat the 6pm window as the fallback for the rest of the month.
The date moves with the calendar rather than repeating on a fixed number, so it needs checking against the specific month of travel. A trip from the second Saturday onward will not meet it at all.
Two free hours give you ninety minutes
Admission to the Prado closes 30 minutes before the museum does, and that cut-off applies inside the free window too. The usable stretch for getting through the door is 90 minutes rather than 120.
Monday to Saturday that means entering between 6pm and 7.30pm; Sundays and holidays, between 5pm and 6.30pm. The same mechanism runs across the neighbourhood at different strengths. At the Reina Sofía the cut-off also leaves 90 minutes, while at the Royal Palace of Madrid, where the box office shuts a full hour early, the free window collapses to 60 minutes.
Free entitlements, and the paperwork they need
The Prado admits under-18s free, along with students aged 18 to 25, students over 25 enrolled on an arts degree or postgraduate course within the Spanish education system, visitors with a disability of 33 % or above, and legally unemployed people. Reduced admission of €7.50 covers over-65s, youth card holders and members of large families, against a general rate of €15.
Two details matter more for a visitor arriving from abroad than for a resident:
- Accreditation happens at the ticket office, on the day. The Prado requires official, valid and current proof of status in person. Declaring it when booking online does not settle the matter, so a free entitlement still means queueing.
- The over-25 student category is tied to the Spanish education system. A postgraduate arts student enrolled elsewhere does not fall inside that particular exemption, although the 18-to-25 student category has no such wording attached.
| Ticket | Price | What it requires |
|---|---|---|
| General admission | €15 | n/a |
| Reduced admission | €7.50 | Over-65, youth card or large family, with accreditation |
| Under-18s | Free | Accreditation at the ticket office on the day |
| Students aged 18 to 25 | Free | Accreditation at the ticket office on the day |
| Unemployed visitors | Free | Official accreditation at the ticket office |
| Disability of 33 % or above | Free | Official accreditation at the ticket office |
| Evening free window | Free Collection | No accreditation. Temporary shows at 50 % |
Checking the price against the Paseo del Arte pass
The Paseo del Arte pass costs €32.80 and covers the Prado, the Reina Sofía and the Thyssen-Bornemisza at a 20 % discount on the three tickets bought separately.
The arithmetic is worth running because it doubles as a check on the figures. The three general tickets come to €41, made up of €15 at the Prado, €12 at the Reina Sofía and €14 at the Thyssen. Take 20 % off €41 and the result is exactly €32.80. If a listing quotes three prices that do not add up to €41, at least one of them has gone stale.
Three days the Prado does not open
The museum closes on 1 January, 1 May and 25 December. Those are the same three dates the Thyssen-Bornemisza closes, so two of the three collections on the Paseo del Prado go dark together.
Since the Prado otherwise opens every day, these three dates are the only interruption to its free window all year. A trip that lands on one of them loses two museums at once rather than one, which is worth knowing before booking a flight around a public holiday.
Context
The Museo Nacional del Prado is a national museum, as is the Reina Sofía, and its free window follows from state ownership rather than from any commercial arrangement. The Thyssen-Bornemisza, a private foundation, funds its free Monday through a sponsor.
Prices here are worth checking against the source rather than against a round-up, because the €15 general rate and the 50 % reduction on temporary shows do not match what many free-museum listings for Madrid still carry. The fastest test is the pass arithmetic above.
Frequently asked questions
What time is the Prado free?
Free admission at the Prado runs for the last two hours before closing. Monday to Saturday the museum closes at 8pm, so the window is 6pm to 8pm. Sundays and public holidays it closes at 7pm, making the window 5pm to 7pm. There is no weekly closing day.
Does the free evening at the Prado include the temporary exhibition?
Not free, but not excluded either. During the free window the Collection costs nothing and tickets to temporary exhibitions are sold at a 50 % discount. Neither of the other two museums on the Paseo del Prado handles temporary shows that way.
How much is a ticket to the Prado Museum?
General admission to the Prado is €15 and the reduced rate is €7.50, which covers over-65s, youth card holders and large families. Under-18s, students aged 18 to 25, unemployed people and visitors with a disability of 33 % or above enter free at any hour.
Is the Prado free on Saturday nights?
On the first Saturday of each month the Prado extends its hours to 11.30pm under the El Prado de noche programme, and that late opening is free, with last admission at 11pm. It is the longest free stretch the museum offers and it happens once a month.
Free Collection, half-price exhibition, seven days a week. Of the three, the Prado is the one that bargains instead of choosing for you.