Madrid is not a city of famous silhouettes. There is no cathedral dome you photograph from across a river, no tower everybody knows. What there is instead is a very wide, very flat sweep of nineteenth century rooftops with a wall of mountains behind it, and on a clear evening in winter that view, with snow on the Guadarrama and the light going orange over the tiles, is one of the better things in Spain. You just have to get above the fourth floor.
The paid ones
Circulo de Bellas Artes, on Gran Via, a small ticket to a rooftop with a full circle over the centre. The best value view in Madrid.
Faro de Moncloa, an observation tower with a glazed deck, modest, complete and never busy.
The Riu hotel terrace at Plaza de Espana, glass floored and very high, with an entry charge.
Department store terraces, cheap, with food and drink and a view over the old centre.
Hotel rooftop bars across the centre, priced as a drink rather than a ticket, several requiring a booking.
The free ones
The Temple of Debod, west of the centre, an Egyptian temple with a reflecting pool and the sierra behind it, which is where Madrid watches the sun go down.
Cerro del Tio Pio, hills in a southeastern residential district, entirely local, with the whole skyline in front of you and the mountains behind.
The cathedral steps and the palace forecourt, looking west over the river valley.
Retiro’s high ground, modest but green.
The gardens at Las Vistillas, small, old and much loved, with terraces below.
Timing
Winter afternoons give the clearest air and snow on the mountains.
Sunset, obviously, and Debod fills a good hour before it.
After dark for the rooftop bars, when the city lights and the terraces come into their own.
Midday in summer is the one time to avoid, since a rooftop at forty degrees is a hot roof.
Weekdays rather than weekends at the popular terraces.
Practical notes
Dress codes exist at some hotel terraces and are lightly enforced.
Minimum spends are common in the summer months.
Debod has no facilities and no bar, so bring what you want and take it away.
Cerro del Tio Pio is a metro ride out and worth it for anyone who likes seeing a city from where it lives.
The Faro closes on some days of the week, so check before crossing town.
Wind on the high terraces in winter is real, and a layer helps.
Where this fits in a Madrid trip
Viewpoints are the last hour of the afternoon, and they orient the rest of the trip.
For the districts you will be looking down on and which to sleep in, our guide to Madrid’s neighbourhoods covers the map.
For the green space that is the other way to see the city, from underneath rather than above, our guide to Retiro Park covers the ground.
And for the version of these terraces designed for two people and a slow evening, our guide to Madrid for couples covers where to go.
The short version
Buy the small ticket for the Circulo de Bellas Artes rooftop, which is the best value view in the city, and go up the Faro de Moncloa if you want the widest one and no queue. Take a hotel terrace if you were going to have a drink anyway, and book it two or three days ahead in summer rather than turning up. And go to the Temple of Debod at least once for the sunset, an hour early, because it costs nothing and it is the view Madrid keeps for itself.
