Real Academia de Bellas Artes — Visit Guide | Cheap Hotels Madrid
cheaphotelsmadrid
Find a hotel
Real Academia de Bellas Artes de San Fernando
Museums · €10 · 1h30

Real Academia de Bellas Artes

Thirteen Goyas two minutes from Sol — the great museum everyone walks past.

The Academy of Fine Arts sits on Calle de Alcalá a two-minute walk from Puerta del Sol, holds thirteen Goyas including two celebrated self-portraits, an Arcimboldo, a Rubens room and Picasso’s student file — and is routinely empty. It is the single best effort-to-reward ratio in Madrid’s museum landscape.

Free all day Wednesday, done in ninety minutes, zero queue. If your hotel is in the Sol–Huertas triangle, this is the museum you can do between breakfast and lunch without it costing you a day.

The minimum you must see

01
Self-portraits — Goya
📍 First floor, Goya rooms — the 1815 self-portrait is the honest, tired one.
02
The Burial of the Sardine — Goya
📍 Goya rooms — Madrid’s carnival painted by its sharpest witness.
03
Spring — Arcimboldo
📍 First floor — the face made of flowers; one of four in the world.
04
Picasso and Dalí student records
📍 They both studied (and dropped out) here; the archive display rotates.

Tips

Closes at 15:00 — morning museum. Wednesday free + closing rhythm makes 10:30 Wednesday the ideal slot.

The Calcografía Nacional on the ground floor sells real Goya-plate prints for less than a Prado poster.

Questions, answered

How does it fit with the Prado?
Perfectly — the Prado’s Goya rooms show the public painter; the Academy shows the private one. See the Academy first if you can.
Booking needed?
Never in practice. Walk in.
How much is a ticket?
€10 — and free all day on non-holiday Wednesdays.
What are the opening hours?
Tue–Sun 10:00–15:00, closed Monday. It closes at 15:00 — a between-breakfast-and-lunch museum.
How long do you need?
Ninety minutes; the thirteen Goyas alone reward half of that.
What is the nearest metro?
Sevilla (L2) is one minute away and Sol (L1/L2/L3) two — very likely the museum closest to your hotel.

Hotels near Real Academia de Bellas Artes

See all stays →

Curated picks are coming — meanwhile, the live search covers every bookable property at the same price or better.

More museums

Need help? Chat to us
even book a hotel 👋