Private City Kickstart Tour: Madrid

Tour guide was accommodating to the slow pace of walking that my husband needed and planned her tour accordingly. She was also very personable and informative.

Our only regret is not booking more time! Julio was absolutely amazing—warm, knowledgeable, and incredibly engaging with the kids. He made the tour both fun and informative, and even helped us plan out the rest of our stay in Madrid with great recommendations. It was the perfect way to kickstart our holiday, and we’re so grateful for the experience. Highly recommend!

Thank you Majo, for showing us the main spots of Madrid to get an overview. We had a very good time, lots of information and a sympathic, experienced guide. Highly recommended!

Strolling the streets of with Ari felt like meeting a friend for a few hours to learn about the city. The food was a bonus! I thoroughly enjoyed our tour and the way Ari answered my questions. She was funny, knowledgeable, intentional and just an all-around great tour guide. Thank you for making my time in Madrid so memorable!

Beatriz showed us around Madrid. She showed us the most important buildings, she gave us an insight of the history of the city and gave some tips for drinks and food. Exactly what we where looking for in a kickstarter tour. Thank you, Beatriz!

We did the Kick Start tour of Madrid the first day we arrived. Great way to get a lay of the land. 90 minutes was perfect. Our guide Ariadna was wonderful. Energetic with an exuberant love of the city she has grown up in. We went by the major sights in the city center. She shared a wonderful street that is frequented by locals, which we ended up loving for dinner, or just stopping in for wine and tapas. Booking was easy and there was great communication prior to our tour. Ariadna also sent names of favorite restaurants and places to see after our tour was over. I highly recommend this tour and especially Ariadna!

Majo was very flexible in tailoring the tour to my needs. She helped me get comfortable in my new neighborhood, took me to local shops and to Retiro Park. She really went above & beyond to make sure that I got what I wanted out of the tour. And afterward, she followed up with links to places we had discussed. I plan to use her again to tour a museum

Private one on one tour, fabulous ! Our guide was very informative and was able to answer any and all questions. We were me at the opera house and we started our tour. Wish we did this on day one instead of day two

Our guide julio was fantastic and gave us a great tour of Madrid. Very enthusiastic and friendly. First day of Madrid so great tour and Indio into finding out bearings and what to do. Highly recommend

My husband and I highly recommend the Kick Start Tour of Madrid with Julián! Although Julián did not personally boast of being a historian, his passion and vast knowledge about the history of Madrid was evident. As we toured this city, he shared fascinating details to enhance our perspectives and experience. With each inquiry, he discussed aspects that only a studied historian would share. As we set out for the rest of our week in Madrid, we did so with the sense of familiarity and the necessary knowledge to better navigate the central area of this beautiful and historic city. We were truly sorry to see our time with Julián come to an end. Thank you, Julián and WithLocals for this unforgettable experience!

I have done a couple With Locals tours now and in general, they will now be my go-to source for travel guides! Beatriz in particular was the perfect guide for what I wanted to experience. Her tour opened up many questions she answered and created a real conversation along the tour. I felt like I left the tour better informed and with a new friend in Madrid!

Mateo showed us the main sites in the central area of Madrid on our first day in Madrid, which really set us up nicely for the rest of our stay here. Mateo was a great guide, with excellent information to share and a warm, and fun personality. Highly

Our first day in Madrid with flight arriving at 9 am. Rather than try to roam Madrid streets with jet-lag we chose to tour with Patricia. She was very helpful and gave us a good overview of the city center. Definitely got us energized to explore on our own. The only reason for a 4 vs a 5 review is that it was hard to hear her unless walking side-by-side.

Our guide, Julian, was excellent. We learned so much about the history of Spain—he was so knowledgeable but also very approachable. He gave us so many recommendations about where to eat and things to see. All of his food recommendations were amazing and he kept us away from typical tourist places. We used his suggestions throughout our time in Madrid!

Our time spent with Beatriz was excellent. She is warm, knowledgeable and gives an excellent overview of the city! We highly recommend that you book with her, you will not be disappointed!

We were in Madrid for less than 24 hours during a layover. We booked a tour with Drica and she was fantastic. Very knowledge and friendly. She also gave us some great recommendations for places to pop into for tapas and drinks without reservations. It was an all around great experience.

We had a great time with Majo. Everyone should have this kick start tour. Majo gave us a very good overview of Madrid and it’s history, it gave us a very good perspective keeping the knowledge that she gave us into account while we enjoyed the rest of our time in Madrid. We took the tapas tour with her as well and the Prado Museum. We tasted the best tapas while continuing to learn more about Madrid, the people, the customs etc. Majo had a real good knowledge of the PRADO museum. We hit the best paintings/ sculpture in the 3 hour timeframe. You can feel her passion for her work and her enthusiasm to share her knowledge. Would recommend Majo on any of her tours.

Spending time with Julian was an excellent way to begin our Madrid vacation. Knowing very little about the city, Julian's wealth of knowledge and passion for the history of Madrid set the perfect tone for our explorations. Through his eyes, the old town of Madrid came alive. Julian showed us fascinating bits and pieces that would have eluded us otherwise. Icing on the cake was his excellent lunch recommendation where we ate the best potatoes bravas of our trip.

Our guide Julio Cesar was exceptional with this tour. He was able to thoroughly describe Madrid during this short tour. Perfect run-down of Madrid. Definitely recommend!

We decided it would be fun to see Madrid through the eyes of a young person and this walking introduction was a great way to do it. We found Mateo to be a calm, engaging person who was very amenable to tailoring things to what we wanted to see. Just the right touch with historical facts, enough but not too much.

Reached out to Mateo to explain limited walking ability he created a tour that fit my needs and it was perfect for me amazing

Julian was a great guide. In our 90 minute walk around Madrid, we saw many key sights and learned a lot about the history of the city. Julian is very knowledgeable, and it's clear he loves his city. Our two teenage boys were very jet lagged, but he kept them engaged and entertained. I would definitely book with Julian again!

Patricia was great to spend time with and learn from. She knew a lot about the history of Madrid, the architecture, the people, and spots that weren’t as “touristy” as some of the other popular areas visitors might check out. We ended near the market which was a great place to eat after the tour.

Thank you Julian for guiding us through Madrid yesterday; we covered so much ground and in a most relaxed way. Your local knowledge was encyclopaedic. You gave us a fabulous flavour of this most beautiful city. Enormous thanks to you! Wishing you a wonderful festive time. Maura and Flo.

We absolutely loved our veggie tapas tour with Drica. She was so friendly and knowledgeable, which made it easy to have a great time. Every bite (and sip!) we tried was delicious, and we learned about the neighborhoods and dishes along the way. I would recommend this tour – and especially Drica – to anyone! Thank you for a wonderful time, Drica!

Our tour guide, Dawinson (Dowie), was awesome! He was so warm, funny, hospitable, interesting and flexible to our family's needs. He made our visit to Madrid extra special. The tour far surpassed our expectations with lots of insights and local perspective that you can't get in any guide book. I would highly recommend this tour!

Matteo was an excellent guide! Very knowledgeable and a joy to talk with! This was a great way to get a nice history lesson about the city without being boring. He even shared some secrets we will long Remember!

We had a short afternoon in Madrid and wanted to get an overview of the highlights and make a plan to explore more next time. Dawinson provided this along with recommendations for food, wine and shopping. We will be back and next time plan on a longer tour with Dawinson for sure ! 100% recommend !

Maria is such an amazing guide that we booked her for two separate tours. For the first one, our plans changed a couple times, but Maria remained flexible and accommodating. The end result was an in-depth tour of Thyssen-Bornemisza National Museum and the surrounding area. Normally museums are not high on our list of things to do, but Maria’s knowledge and passion made it far more enjoyable than we could have ever imagined. She extended the tour by an hour and yet we found ourselves wanting to explore the museum more after she left. That’s saying something! Note: we actually visited in May, 2022, but I wanted to make sure Maria gets the props she deserves.

Ari was a great local guide. Was a heat wave in the city but the tour was easy going with stops at some of the major sites as well as a few tapas stops. A local tour on foot is the best way to see the city of Madrid!

Thanks to Patricia, we had a very kind and nice introduction to the lovely city of Madrid. She did not only give us personal advices for the kind of vacation we were looking for, she also gave us information about that beautiful city and showed us locations we would have never discovered without her. We really enjoyed the time walking around the centre of Madrid and talking to her. I guess it was not only us, forgetting about time, because our trip lasted longer than we expected, we were walking around nearly 30 minutes longer than we „should“. Again, thank you very much!! :-)

This tour was a great way to understand the history of Madrid and very useful in being able to familiarize yourself with the city. Our guide was very nice, and well spoken. She was prideful and knew a lot about the city and it's history

I had reached out to Majo beforehand with some questions and she replied very quickly. I had a great time walking around the city, learning lots about Madrid. I would recommend doing this tour as soon as you arrive, as it gives a good overview of the city.

We had a one and half hour city tour with Dawinson just after checking into our hotel as we did not know the city very well. He is a very personable and friendly young man. He showed us the main sights and made several very helpful recommendations with regards the best tapas places to go to and where to avoid. The places he recommended were ones that we would have not have noticed had we explored on our own and his recommendations were excellent. He also helped us book a flamenco show which was fantastic. All in all a great way to get your bearings in this lovely and vibrant city. We would certainly recommend you go with Dawinson

Our guide, Julio, was fantastic, and the tour was a great way to get oriented to the city. Highly recommend to first-time travelers to Madrid!

Mateo was our tour guide and did a great job. We had an awesome time touring the city and he was very knowledgeable about the history.

Great history knowledge about the city and sites, the first night in and trying to stay awake from a red-eye flight, did a great job getting my 2 teenagers engaged. Loved getting a head start to Madrid, made the rest of the trip much nicer to actually know where we were and what we wanted to do

We loved our kickstart tour of Madrid with Mateo as a family of 4 with 2 older teens. Mateo was a great ambassador for Madrid and Withlocals and gave us a great insight into the city on our first day. He even walked us to the Metro station and assisted with our purchase of a ticket. Would thoroughly recommend Mateo as your tour guide.

We had a wonderful tour with Julián. I can’t recommend going on a private tour enough. It’s a much better experience to the group tour as you get to converse with your guide, ask questions, and focus the tour on your interests. We learned a lot about Spain, it’s people and it’s history from Julián, and his restaurant recommendations were excellent!

For my first trip to Madrid, I'm so glad I had a chance to meet Maria. I thoroughly enjoyed the tour, it was very interesting. It was a fantastic way to get to know Madrid!

Patricia was a great guide. Showed us areas we probably would not have seen on our own. Great experience.

We thoroughly enjoyed our tour of Madrid with Drica. Knowledgeable, articulate, engaging, and a lovely personality. It was like visiting from out of town and hanging out with a good friend who knows the city and all it has to offer inside out. Greg and Louise.

We had a great walking tour with Julio Cesar: not only he customized the tour exactly for our needs but he was so well prepared on every sight, showing us both the "must" but also hidden curiosities. Super nice person and definitely recommend to everyone! Thank you so much for everything!!

Beatrice’s knowledge of the city & history. She was great. We really enjoyed the sites that she showed us and the stories that she shared.

Maria have us so much history information in a fun way. She also recommended some great restaurants for us to visit and we did. Our flight was late and she rescheduled our trip for an hour later. We would do this again!

Great walking tour to become acquainted with Madrid. Our guide was very knowledgeable for sure and provided lots of information.

We arrived in Madrid only hours before our tour, and this was the perfect start to our vacation. Julian helped us get our bearings while we learned some history, and got some suggestions and tips on what to do. As far as guide, Julian is top notch. As previous reviews stated, he is accommodating and you can tell he flexs his tours to match his audience. If you are debating who to choose, we would tell you to pick Julian.

Patricia was very personable and so friendly. She customized the tour to fit our families wishes. She even encouraged us to contact her if we had any questions about Madrid. We did contact her and she was so helpful.

We had a private tour with Julio César and it was exceptional. We arrived in Madrid the day before we did our walking tour, so we'd inadvertently already explored some of the area the original tour would have covered. No worries! Julio quickly came up with an alternate route for us to take that would explore parts of the city we hadn't seen yet.