El Escorial is Philip II’s monastery-palace, 50 km from Madrid: the library, the Pantheon of Kings, the king’s room. How to get there, tickets and hours.
The Liria Palace is the Madrid home of the Dukes of Alba, with Goya’s portrait of the duchess in white and Columbus’s letters. The visit and tickets.
The Royal Collections Gallery shows the treasures of the kings of Spain in rotation, in a building set into the hill below the Royal Palace. Hours and tickets.
The Royal Palace of Madrid has 3,418 rooms and is the king’s official residence, though he lives elsewhere. The rooms to see, free hours and tickets.
The Thyssen-Bornemisza Museum in Madrid has the painters the Prado lacks, from Van Eyck to Van Gogh. The works to see, free Mondays and tickets.
Eight works to see at the Prado Museum, from Las Meninas to Goya’s Saturn, and how to get in free during the last two opening hours of every day.
The Palacio de las Dueñas is the Seville home of the dukes of Alba, where Antonio Machado was born. The courtyard, the gardens, free Monday afternoons, tickets.
The Museo Picasso Málaga opened in 2003 in the Palacio de Buenavista, above the walls of Phoenician Málaga. The collection, free Sundays, tickets.
You can visit the Mezquita of Córdoba for free from Monday to Saturday between 8:30 and 9:30. The forest of arches, the mihrab, the cathedral inside, tickets.
Seville Cathedral keeps two parts of the Almohad mosque: the orange-tree courtyard and the minaret of the Giralda. Columbus’s tomb, opening hours, tickets.
The finest palace in the Real Alcázar of Seville looks Arab, but it was built for Pedro I of Castile in the 1300s. The Patio de las Doncellas and tickets.
At the Alhambra in Granada you enter the Nasrid Palaces only at the time printed on your ticket. The Court of the Lions, the Generalife, which ticket to buy.
Montserrat is the monastery on the mountain near Barcelona: La Moreneta, the boys’ choir, a museum with a Caravaggio and the sanctuary ticket. How to get there.
The Museu Picasso in Barcelona tells the story of the young Picasso in five Gothic palaces: his training, the Blue Period, Las Meninas. Free times, tickets.
The Fundació Joan Miró opened in 1975 on Montjuïc, in a building by Josep Lluís Sert made of natural light and courtyards. What to see, opening hours, tickets.
The Poble Espanyol is a village of 117 buildings copied from all over Spain for the 1929 Exhibition, and meant to vanish after the fair. What to see, tickets.
The Mies van der Rohe Pavilion was built for the 1929 Exhibition, taken down in 1930 and rebuilt in 1986: the onyx wall, the Kolbe statue, the November hours.
Palau Güell is the town house Gaudí built for Güell: stables under the street, a hall three storeys high under a pierced dome, twenty chimneys. Visiting tips.
Casa Vicens is Gaudí’s first house, finished in 1885 and opened to the public only in 2017: its tiles, gate and smoking room show where the architect began.
The Palau de la Música Catalana was paid for by public subscription for a choir. The sun-shaped skylight, the eighteen muses, Wagner on stage and the hours.
The Sant Pau Art Nouveau Site was a hospital until 2009: pavilions among gardens, underground tunnels and a cross in the plan. The route and the tickets.
Gaudí’s La Pedrera has no load-bearing walls and no main staircase, and on the roof an arch frames the Sagrada Família. Façade, attic, chimneys, tickets.
Casa Batlló is an 1877 building that Gaudí transformed instead of pulling down. The light well, the dragon roof and which ticket includes the terrace.
Park Güell was meant to be an estate of sixty villas and got two: how to read the dragon, the hypostyle hall and the square, and how the ticket works.
Seine boats in Paris: the Batobus is a hop-on-hop-off, the sightseeing cruises last about an hour. Stops, prices and differences, checked in 2026.
How to get to Paris from Charles de Gaulle, Orly and Beauvais-Tillé: RER B, Orlyval, bus 9517, shuttle and taxi, with prices and tickets updated for 2026.
Where to stay in Montmartre: the touristy streets and the liveable ones, the real climb, the metro stations and the funicular, and who this district suits.
The 7th arrondissement around the Eiffel Tower is elegant and quiet at night: Champ de Mars or Invalides, getting around by metro and RER, and who it suits.
Marais, Latin Quarter, Oberkampf, Eiffel Tower, Montmartre or outside the centre: six areas of Paris compared, with metro links, atmosphere and price range.
Paper tickets have been gone from the Paris metro since 2025: a guide to Navigo Easy, digital tickets and the Semaine pass, with prices checked in 2026.
The Paris stations for Versailles, Giverny, Chartres, Provins, Saint-Denis and Soissons: where to buy your ticket and whether you need to reserve a seat.
The Palais Garnier in Paris in 6 stops: Grand Staircase, Grand Foyer, the chandelier, the 1896 accident and the underground lake. Prices, hours and Museum Pass.
Visiting the Sacré-Cœur in Paris: free entry, a paid dome with 280 steps, the crypt, the 475 square metre mosaic and how to get there from Montmartre.
Arc de Triomphe in Paris: history, four sculpted reliefs, the 284 steps to the terrace, the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. Hours, prices and closures checked.
The Madeleine church in Paris: why it has no cross or bell tower, Marochetti’s statue above the altar, the Saint-Saëns organ. Free admission.
The Grand Palais in Paris: the 1900 glass Nef, Récipon’s two quadrigas, the restoration just finished and where to see the Pompidou’s works today.
