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 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 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.
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 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.
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.
Chartres Cathedral: the nave is free and always open, the Treasury charges separately. Windows, labyrinth, crypt and how to get there from Paris.
Giverny: Monet’s house and garden close on 1 November 2026, with no 2027 reopening date yet. Prices, hours and how to get there from Paris.
Palace of Versailles: the just-restored Hall of Mirrors, the real price of the Passeport, Trianon opening hours and how to get there from Paris.
The Conciergerie in Paris in 8 rooms: the salle des Gens d’armes of 1300, the kitchens of John the Good and Marie Antoinette’s cell.
The Panthéon in Paris in 8 stops: the pediment, Soufflot’s dome, Foucault’s pendulum and the 81 burials in the crypt. The colonnade view is closed.
How to read the Ara Pacis of Augustus: the procession of the imperial family, Aeneas, the Lupercal, the Tellus, the acanthus scrolls and the altar inside.
Pontormo’s Deposition in the Capponi Chapel at Santa Felicita: why the title is misleading, and what remains of Brunelleschi’s chapel.
San Miniato al Monte in Florence: white and green Romanesque marble, the apse mosaic and Gregorian vespers at 18:30, with hours and how to get there.
The basilica of San Lorenzo in Florence: Brunelleschi’s Old Sacristy, the bare façade and when the Laurentian Library actually opens, with hours and tickets.
The three churches of Spaccanapoli in Naples: Gesù Nuovo, the Aragonese Tombs at San Domenico Maggiore and Donatello’s tomb at Sant’Angelo a Nilo.
The Florence Baptistery and the Opera del Duomo Museum: Ghiberti’s doors, where the originals are, the dome mosaics, with hours and the three passes.
The Brancacci Chapel in Florence: Masaccio’s Expulsion, the fig leaves the restoration removed and the Sala della Colonna, with hours and booking.
San Gregorio Armeno in Naples: how a nativity shepherd figure is made, the church frescoed by Luca Giordano and the cloister, with hours, price and timing.
