Madrid is a good city for children for a reason that has nothing to do with attractions: Spanish public life simply includes them. Nobody looks at a family with a four year old in a restaurant at half past nine. Playgrounds fill up after dark. There is no children’s section of the city because the whole city is the children’s section. What that means in practice is that the trip works if you adopt the local timetable and stops working if you insist on your own.
The things that reliably work
Rowing a boat on the Retiro lake, which is cheap, chaotic and the single most popular thing here with children.
The cable car over Casa de Campo, a genuine ride with a view rather than a novelty.
Casa de Campo itself, an enormous semi wild park on the western side with the zoo aquarium and the theme park inside it.
The railway museum, in an old station, with locomotives you can climb into.
The science and technology museum, hands on and largely ignored by visitors.
Street performers on the pedestrian axes, which occupy small children for longer than any museum.
The parks
Retiro, the big central one, with the lake, the peacocks, the puppet theatre at weekends and a great deal of space.
Casa de Campo, five times larger, with woodland, a lake and the cable car across it.
Madrid Rio, along the river, which is essentially a linear playground with water features.
El Capricho, small, formal and quiet, with a closed weekday schedule worth checking.
Neighbourhood playgrounds, which are everywhere and which fill in the evening.
Eating with children
High chairs are common and welcome is genuine.
A childrens menu is less common, because portions of adult food are the norm.
Tortilla, croquettes, grilled meat, bread and fruit cover most young eaters without difficulty.
Lunch at two, dinner at nine, which is the timetable you are working with.
Churros at half past five, which is the local snack and solves the long gap.
Terraces in mild weather, where a child who needs to move around is not a problem.
Practical notes
Step free metro stations exist and are marked, and plenty of central ones are not; check your specific stations.
Buses are an easier option with a pushchair and cover the centre well.
Summer heat is the real constraint, not distance.
Water bottles and shade, constantly, from June to September.
Pharmacies are everywhere, well stocked and used as the first stop for minor problems.
Free entry hours at the big museums are the busiest hours, which is the wrong trade with children.
Where this fits in a Madrid trip
Madrid with children is the same trip at a different rhythm rather than a different trip.
For the practical basics of a first visit, our first time guide to Madrid covers the ground.
For the park that will absorb more of your days than you expect, our guide to Retiro covers the lake and the rest.
And for the season that changes everything about a family day here, our guide to the Madrid summer heat covers how to work around it.
The short version
Take the local timetable rather than fighting it: museum at ten, park or hotel from two until five, playground and dinner in the evening. Row a boat on the Retiro lake, ride the cable car, and use Casa de Campo when you need space. Book an apartment with a kitchen so you can feed children early and still eat out. Check step free metro stations for the ones you will actually use, and take the buses otherwise. And avoid July and August with young children if you have any choice in it.
The bigger theme park sits south of the city and needs a full day plus transport planning. Our guide to Warner Bros Park Madrid covers the rides, the queues and how to get there without a car.
