The Prado and the Thyssen privately, rooftop dinners and a city that dines after dark.
The Prado and the Thyssen privately, rooftop dinners and a city that dines after dark. Here is Madrid, arranged privately — browse it by the occasion you're marking, by what moves you, or by the season that suits you best.
What an advisor can open that an algorithm cannot. Each of these is staged on your terms — the access, the timing, the people.
Velázquez's Las Meninas after the last visitor — a private walk of the Spanish Golden Age galleries with the museum's senior curator, who can explain the mirror at the back of the painting and what it changes.
A tablao closed to the public for one hour — a master guitarist, a cantaora who learned from her grandmother in Cádiz, a space with sixteen chairs. The kind of flamenco that is not performed but shared.
One of Madrid's Michelin-starred restaurants between the afternoon close and the evening service — the chef walks your party through the menu before anyone sits down, the kitchen still warm, the plates already composed in his mind.
Not a package — a starting point. Each is a journey we have designed and refined; your advisor reshapes it for the version only you would recognise.
An anniversary or milestone marked in Madrid, with a setting worthy of the occasion.
The Prado's Golden Age gallery after the last visitor, the Reina Sofía's Guernica at the hour the light comes from the north, and the Thyssen-Bornemisza walked with the curator who can tell you what each collector was trying to say.
The markets, cellars and private kitchens that define Madrid.
Warm enough, quiet enough — Madrid at the connoisseur's moment.
Each a starting point — our advisors weave them into a single, seamless journey.
Spring, from April to June, and autumn, from late September to November, offer the most pleasant weather and a full cultural calendar at the Prado, Thyssen and Reina Sofia. July and August are hot and many Madrilenos leave the city, so some restaurants close, though the heat is dry and evenings remain lively. The San Isidro festivities in May are a notable cultural highlight.
Yes. Forest Travel can arrange privileged access at the Prado and the Reina Sofia, including before-hours visits and private guiding with an art historian who can focus on Velazquez, Goya or Picasso's Guernica according to your interests. The Royal Palace can similarly be toured privately. These arrangements should be requested well in advance.
The Salamanca district is the natural home for affluent visitors, with the city's grandest hotels, the luxury boutiques of Calle Serrano and a refined residential calm. The Retiro and Jeronimos areas place you beside the park and the museums, while central Centro suits those wanting to walk to the Plaza Mayor and Gran Via. Two to three nights captures the city well before continuing south.
A private evening of flamenco in an intimate tablao, a tasting of Iberian ham and Spanish wines, and a behind-the-scenes visit on a non-event day at the Plaza de Toros de Las Ventas are all distinctive. Day excursions to the imperial city of Toledo, the monastery of El Escorial, or the wineries of Ribera del Duero add depth. Evening dining begins late, rarely before nine.
Madrid is the ideal opening to a Spain itinerary, connecting by high-speed AVE train to Seville in around two and a half hours, to Cordoba, and to Barcelona in under three hours. Many clients combine two or three nights in Madrid with Andalucia to the south. Private chauffeured transfers from Barajas airport and within the city are recommended, with the AVE used for the intercity legs.
Formula 1 returns to Madrid from 11 to 13 September 2026, after 45 years, at the new Madring circuit in the IFEMA and Valdebebas district beside Barajas airport, with the race on Sunday the 13th. The city holds a long-term contract, so that weekend is now the tightest hotel market of the Madrid year. Either build the trip around the race deliberately or move your September dates a week either side of it.
Largely no. Under Madrid's Plan Reside, tourist apartments are no longer authorised in buildings where residents live, so the serviced-flat option in central Madrid has largely gone. Forest Travel places clients in hotels, suites and whole-building residences instead, in districts such as Salamanca, near Calle Serrano, Retiro and Jerónimos, beside the park and the museums, or Centro for those who like to walk.
A private flamenco recital in Madrid's La Latina takes place in a tablao closed to the public for one hour, in a space with sixteen chairs. A master guitarist plays alongside a cantaora who learned from her grandmother in Cádiz. It is the kind of flamenco that is not performed but shared, arranged privately for your party rather than staged for an audience.
Yes, a museum day in Madrid can be split across two of them without any transfer. The Prado, the Thyssen-Bornemisza and the Reina Sofía sit along the same avenue, within a fifteen-minute walk of one another. The Art & Culture journey builds on this: the Prado's Golden Age gallery after the last visitor, Guernica at the hour the light comes from the north, and the Thyssen walked with its curator.
Yes. One of Madrid's Michelin-starred restaurants can be opened for your party between the afternoon close and the evening service. The chef walks you through the menu before anyone sits down, with the kitchen still warm. It suits Madrid's rhythm well, since dinner rarely starts before nine and the good tables fill at ten.
Every journey here is a starting point a private advisor reshapes entirely around you — your pace, your people, the Madrid only you would recognise.
