The tour starts at the main office of Fun and Tickets, located at Calle Mayor, 43
Puerta del Sol is a square in the Spanish city of Madrid. It has been home to the so-called Zero Kilometer of the country's radial roads since 1950. The oldest building in Puerta del Sol is the Casa de Correos and it highlights the tower clock that was built and donated in the 19th century by José Rodríguez de Losada. Puerta del Sol is a meeting place, a crossing point between different parts of Madrid. It is a must visit for those who come to Madrid.
Calle del Arenal is a popular historical road in Madrid, which connects Puerta del Sol and Plaza de Isabel II (Ópera) . Its name comes from the primitive stream that ran along its layout before the area was developed, with the one that appears already labeled in the plan of Teixeira of 1656, as well as in the successive cartographies of the Villa of Madrid.
Plaza de Isabel II (better known as Plaza de Ópera) is an open space between the neighborhoods of Sol and Palacio, in the central district of Madrid, with Calle del Arenal coming from Puerta del Sol, and dedicated minor roads. to Arrieta, Campomanes, Caños del Peral, Escalinata and Vergara. Formed by filling the ravine created by the Arenal stream and the fountains of the Caños del Peral, the square occupies part of the site where the old Teatro de los Caños del Peral was between 1738 and 1817.
The Royal Palace of Madrid is the official residence of the King of Spain; However, the current kings do not live in it, but in the Zarzuela Palace, so it is used for state ceremonies and solemn acts. Now is when our visit really begins.
You will visit next to the Royal Palace, the Almudena Cathedral built where the Church of Santa María de la Almudena used to be, which was in turn built on a mosque and dedicated to the Virgen de la Almudena, patron saint of Madrid. The name of this virgin and cathedral derive from the Arabic word al-mudayna, which means "citadel". The cathedral is located in the historic center of the city of Madrid; the main façade is in front of the Royal Palace, while the transept façade faces Calle de Bailén and access to the crypt is via the Cuesta de la Vega, at the end of Calle Mayor. Unlike most Christian temples, which are oriented east-west, the cathedral has a north-south orientation, the result of its conception as an integral part of the Royal Palace complex.
Very informative, fast moving tour through the history of the palace and adjacent cathedral. Having at it alone would have been a great disservice. Well worth the money.
Wonderful tour not only of Palace but also a talk on background history of Spain. Jesus, our guide, was very knowledgeable with a delightful sense of humor
A full 30 minutes of the 1.5 hour tour was spent waiting for others and then walking several blocks to the palace. The guide, while friendly, had his microphone on his collar and I heard road noice and other ambient noise so much that I couldn’t always understand what he was saying. I asked him if he could move his mic closer to his mouth and he said no. He said it would break. Perhaps better audio equipment for the guides would be a good improvement. Also, there was very little in the way of historical content. I learned more about the rooms in the palace by reading the one placard in each room. There was just no depth to the educational part of the tour. My ticket also said it was a tour of the palace and the cathedral, but there was no tour and no information provided about the cathedral. He collected our sound equipment after the palace and said to just go see the cathedral. We didn’t even get a little bit of info on the cathedral. I used google to learn about the cathedral. We basically paid to get inside the palace, but I was expecting more detailed information about the history of the building and the monarchs.
Jesus our tour guide was exceptional. The building is beautiful. Viator or vendor changed the meeting place and the start time but only notified us if new meeting place. We missed first part of tour and several others did as well.
Wonderful for solo tours or with families and partners! Lots of knowledge and fun facts. Tour guide interacted with guests which made it more fun
The palace was very opulent. The guide provided minimal information. At the end of the palace tour an option to see the royal armory, as we chose to follow through with this option we were told we could not have the guided tour of the church that was part of this package. No other option was offered. Not to return to the royal armory after the guided tour or to have guided tour of church at a later time. Very lack luster experience.
Very delayed start- we waited 30 minutes in a line to leave the meeting point- thus our actual tour was very rushed. Be careful booking- we did not get a guided tour of the cathedral, only the palace. Paid extra for cathedral. Guide was very vague about entrance to cathedral on our own and we could find a way in. Guessing it was closed- he didn’t tell us.
One of the locations on our list to visit while in Madrid was the Royal Palace. Upon doing the research, we learned that lines could be a bit long, so finding a tour that allowed us to skip the line was important. Our tour guide, Ander, was great. He had a wonderful sense of humor and made the tour an enjoyable experience. He was very knowledgeable about everything in the Royal Palace. He shared some interesting nuggets of information about historical points on our way to the Palace. Our group consisted of about 12-15 people. Not a large group, but large enough that the receivers and headphones certainly came in handy to ensure we could hear everything Ander was sharing. Here are the two reasons why I couldn't rate this tour as excellent. The check-in process was a bit clunky. Not horrible, but we had to wait on the side of the street to get checked in one by one, and it felt a bit disorganized, especially in an area where there are a lot of tourists and easy to get lost in the shuffle. Here is the primary reason that I knocked down the rating. The title of the tour is a bit deceiving. We booked the tour as it noted that it was a Royal Palace and Almudena Cathedral guided tour. The guided tour itself was only for the Royal Palace. Our guide left our group after the Palace tour, and we walked over to the Cathedral, where we entered on our own and walked around. I thought perhaps I had read the description incorrectly; however, I looked over it again, and it states that it is a guided tour for both the Palace and Cathedral. It was a bit disappointing that the description didn't align with the tour itself. However, I cannot knock on the great job Ander did during the part of the guided tour in the Palace. It was a great tour, but not sure if the cost aligns with what the actual tour was.
One of the locations on our list to visit while in Madrid was the Royal Palace. Upon doing the research, we learned that lines could be a bit long, so finding a tour that allowed us to skip the line was important. Our tour guide, Ander, was great. He had a wonderful sense of humor and made the tour an enjoyable experience. He was very knowledgeable about everything in the Royal Palace. He shared some interesting nuggets of information about historical points on our way to the Palace. Our group consisted of about 12-15 people. Not a large group, but large enough that the receivers and headphones certainly came in handy to ensure we could hear everything Ander was sharing. Here are the two reasons why I couldn't rate this tour as excellent. The check-in process was a bit clunky. Not horrible, but we had to wait on the side of the street to get checked in one by one, and it felt a bit disorganized, especially in an area where there are a lot of tourists and easy to get lost in the shuffle. Here is the primary reason that I knocked down the rating. The title of the tour is a bit deceiving. We booked the tour as it noted that it was a Royal Palace and Almudena Cathedral guided tour. The guided tour itself was only for the Royal Palace. Our guide left our group after the Palace tour, and we walked over to the Cathedral, where we entered on our own and walked around. I thought perhaps I had read the description incorrectly; however, I looked over it again, and it states that it is a guided tour for both the Palace and Cathedral. It was a bit disappointing that the description didn't align with the tour itself. However, I cannot knock on the great job Ander did during the part of the guided tour in the Palace. It was a great tour, but not sure if the cost aligns to what the actual tour was.
Mitch was a fun guide who was very knowledgable. Gave great value to the tour without boring you to death with too much history. Fabulous palace. Definitely worth a visit. .
Sara proved to be a great guide around Madrid and the Royal Palace. She was very informative, friendly, and approachable. She provided a lot of local color. She made the tour a lot of fun. We highly recommend this tour. Don't miss the armory!
While our guide did an outstanding job and truly elevated the experience, the tour unfortunately did not match what was advertised. The inclusions mentioned about the Guided tour of the Cathedral in the description was not done, when I asked the tour guide, he said that he could direct us to the door, but he cannot come in and give a guided tour. I paid extra for this part of the tour and it was a waste of money. There was another couple who had similar tickets and asked the same question of The tour guide. I want to emphasize that the guide was not the issue — he was fantastic. The problem lies with the tour operator’s inaccurate listing. With honest, updated information, this could be a five‑star experience, but as it stands, it fell short of expectations.
I booked a "skip the line" tour. That did not happen. We had to wait in line for an hour and a half in the rain. We were told that the tour operator was not able to buy tickets in advance because they were not being sold on the day before the tour. The tour operator should have known that the day before the tour was May 1, a holiday in Madrid. We did not go into the Cathedral at all. We deserved some sort of refund. On the other hand the tour guide was very good.
Informative and timely with excellent guide Nacho would recommend him to others interested in this tour.
Nice tour. Beatrice was delightful. Good onfo shared of Cathedral, Palace and buildings and Plaza along the way to palace
Fantastic tour of the Royal Palace with our guide Frederico. Despite rather large crowds he migrated our small group very nicely to keep us comfortable. Great history of an amazing historic building.
David was a knowledgeable and witty guide. Very patient with all of his guests. Tour company gets priority access over daily ticket holders.
Our tour in Royal Palace was excellent. Our tour guide is knowledgeable and sharing fascinating details,that made the experience more fascinating
Professional tour guide and good learning on Spain and the palace history. Highly recommended tour in Madrid
Great trip to the Royal palace with our amazing guide Ander. No waiting anywhere very efficient. Highly recommend!
The guide was very knowledgeable and friendly! She provided a wealth of information on the history of the Palace and Spain in general!
It was interesting and very informative. I learned a lot of things from this tour. Our guide Pablo was was very knowledgeable, professional and kind. Highly recommended.
The tour was very interesting and informative. The Palace and Cathedral are both amazing places to visit The tour took longer than expected and the guide seemed to take quite lot of time going into much detail. We felt more of a broad summary would have suited us better.
Loved this experience. The palace is breathtaking and our guide was great! Loved hearing about the Spanish Royal family!
The group is large and bilingual. There are stairs to ascend and descend which means good ambulation is essential. The tour is beautiful and well organized as was Christina, , our guide
Excellent tour of the museum and cathedral. Guide was very knowledgeable and answered all the questions from our group. Great experience
I was really looking forward to this tour. I confused my dates by one day as my family and I traveled from the states and unfortunately experienced some jet lag. The tour guide would not allow us to change the date from 8/4 to 8/5 and said we would need to pay full price to book for 8/5. This was a mistake and it would have been nice to have been given grace. I pray for the tour guide to allow for God to soften his heart and this doesn’t happen to other travelers.
Welll organised tour Booked early time slot before the crowds really started. Was a festival day & Mass happening so the Cathedral was missed Good commentary on the way round
4 Stars because it was supposed to be 1 hour or so and it took 3 hours. They need to sell the tour for the time it takes. People on vacation has plans and other items in the schedule. The tour guide lost track of time.
Incredible experience and a great guide. She was very knowledgeable and really knew her history. I was a few minutes late because I was on the wrong side of the street. One of the Managers personally took me to find the group which I very much appreciated.
My husband and I had a spectacular experience in Madrid yesterday. Arantxa who was the tour guide was fantastic. She was very knowledgeable, professional and kind. We would highly recommend Arantxa to anyone.
A wonderful experience from both the Madrid Royal Palace and the Almudena Cathedral Guided Tour. My last day in Madrid and wanted to squeeze in more sights to my many experiences in Spain. Glad I did and Sergio, our guide was amazing. Amazing experience and highly recommend.
Pilar was excellent in giving us a very informative tour. Her overall attitude and enthusiasm was very positive and made us feel like we were immersed in royal history. I especially want to thank her for giving me a quick tour of the cathedral. ¡Muchas gracías!
The tour of the Palace was great but when we got to the Almudena, the guide just dropped us off at the entrance and recommended that we go up the stairs and look at the ceiling and then left us. It would have been nice to have the same attention and actually given the tour as he did for the Palace.
I booked this trip for 5 of my friends visiting Madrid for the first time. I took them to the meeting location and I thought they would have a great tour and tour guide, but unfortunately they had a horrible experience. This is what they let me know after their tour: The tour guide was NOT well versed in the history of the Royal Palace and could not answer basic questions. The tour guide did not provide a guided tour of the Almudena Cathedral and told the group to go on their own through a side door. The tour guide needed more training on how to answer questions and interact with a group appropriately. Out of all the activities I organized for my friends on our trip, this one is the one I opted out to participate. I felt really bad for sending them on their own. They told me it was not worth the $$ spent on the activity.
Our guide was so nice and very informative. This was a great tour and thought the amount of time was perfect.
The royal palace was amazing and we had a very nice and knowledgable guide. There was however no guided tour of the cathedral as advertised. Our guide in fact explained that there was really no need for a guided tour of the cathedral, and she was right. She even pointed us to the armory which is inside the palace gates that we wouldve never known existed. So we did that which was good and walked the cathedral by ourselves. We chose not to go up to the done which cost extra. So our issue is with Viator for false advertising. We nay have even overpaid but be clear the palace is a must just be careful what you reserve!
The palace is beautiful and we did the audio tour headsets. This allowed us to walk at our own pace and it took about 2 hours inside and out. I would not pay for the tour guide for this one. The audio was great. Go early in the morning--9:30am to get in line for the general admission. Not many people and by 10:30 the line was incredible. Even if you get tickets and they are not early in the morning, you will be fighting a crowd of people in all of the inside areas. Beautiful place to tour and well worth the general admission price.
We had a nice experience ! Our tour guide was very good and we enjoyed the palace. The Cathedral was not part Of the guided tour, despite that being part of the description. The price included just tickets to enter the cathedral (from what was explained to me).
Excellent tour. No regrets. Rodrigo was an excellent tour guide was witty and knowledgeable. I definitely recommend this tour
This trip was sold as a 2 part tour, a palace and a cathedral. The cathedral was NEVER intended to be part of the tour, it never happened. They ask you to show up on time, and then you wait, and wait, and wait for all the late people to show up. There are much better tours around. I tried to give this company a chance to make things right since the cathedral tour isn’t a tour at all. They refunded me a measly $5. What a joke.
I think we were overlooked. We booked 10am tour of Palace and Cathedral. Day before the tour we received an email saying our tour was changed to 11am. Sergio was our guide. He did a great job. Very informative, organized, helpful and answered questions. When the tour of the Palace was done he collected headphones and began to leave. Apparently no one else was on the combo tour to the cathedral except us. Sergio had no idea. No fault of his. The tour company apparently made the error. Sergio was gracious enough to walk us to the cathedral and usher us in but could not stay or give us a full tour as he was schedule by the company to take on another tour. I emailed the tour company but my email bounced. They really should offer us a partial refund. Overall however, I do recommend a guided tour. It will give you much more insight and detail than just doing the tour on your own.
Our giude Sergio was really good. He was very knowledgable and answered everyones questions. We only had a limited number of days so a guided tour was perfect for us. We purchased a tour of the palace and cathedral. Unfortunately there was a misunderstanding on the tour company’s part and we really did not get a guided tour of the cathedral as our guide was scheduled to move on. He was gracious enough to walk us in to the cathedral. But we probably should have been refunded the difference from the cost of the tours.
I would give 5 star but I had to downgrade it yo 3 because the cathedral part was completely skipped. Our tour guide was great but she said that no one told her about the Cathedral tour so she had to end the tour after we completed the palace tour.
It's definitely worth to see the palace. Our tour guy was very knowledgeable and fun. Picture taking is not allowed inside the palace. If you like taking pictures you can take outside in front of of the palace at the square which is so beautiful. Just one tip if you book both the palace and the Cathedral make sure before you leave the palace you take your pictures because while you leave for the cathedral tour you are not allowed to go back. Our tour guy was not much into picture taking so missed, he took us outside of palace directly to the cathedral tour and he didn't offer if we like to take pictures so we missed it and we regret it.
Excellent tour guide in English. Group was kept to 8 persons. Most interesting details re the massive Royal Palace. Took all 2 hours near and in the Palace. Afterwards we were guided to the entrance to the Cathedral and spent some good time there.
Our guide was great! We learned a lot during this tour. Very well organized and informative. Make sure to wear comfy shoes!
We signed up for the Palace and Cathedral tour. The Cathedral was never mentioned. The tour started half an hour late and our headset was awful. Half of the time we could not hear anything out if the earbuds. When we could hear, it was full of static and cutting in and out. We love Viator and have never been disappointed until this tour. Would not recommend this tour.
Guide commentary was good but the organisation was poor, and cathedral tour a waste of time. Overall a below average performance
The tour itself was fine. It was our guide who was terrible. She did not wait for the group to gather before she explained things so by the time we got there it we had missed it. She was abrupt and did not appear that she liked her job. We had booked for the cathedral tour also. She lost us. We happened by chance to find her in the cathedral. She gave a 2 minute explanation and left without saying goodbye. A very disappointing experience.
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