The lesser-known museums in Madrid (and how to combine them with the big ones)

Among the lesser-known museums in Madrid that surprise visitors most are the Museo Cerralbo, the Museo del Romanticismo, the Museo del Traje, the Museo Geominero, the Museo Nacional de Antropología, the Museo Nacional de Artes Decorativas, the Lázaro Galdiano, the Museo de San Isidro, the Casa Museo Lope de Vega, the Museo ABC, the Museo de Escultura al Aire Libre de La Castellana and the Museo del Aire. They are small, quiet and very different from one another, and since they are spread across the city, the most practical approach is to group them by area and move between areas by taxi or metro.

If it is your first visit to Madrid, you will probably also want to see one of the big ones. So, after the gems off the beaten track, we explain how to fit in the Paseo del Arte, with the Prado, the Thyssen and the Reina Sofía, and we go through the rest of the city's museums by theme so you can choose according to your tastes.

• Museo Cerralbo, next to the plaza de España: the palace of the Marquis of Cerralbo, preserved just as he left it at the end of the 19th century, with its ballroom, its armoury and its painting collections. It is like stepping into an aristocratic home of the period.
• Museo del Romanticismo, on calle San Mateo: a 19th-century middle-class home with furniture, fans, paintings and a garden with a café, right in the Chueca neighbourhood.
• Museo de San Isidro. Los Orígenes de Madrid, on the plaza de San Andrés, in La Latina: the city's archaeology and the story of its patron saint, in the house where, according to tradition, he lived.
• Casa Museo Lope de Vega, in the Barrio de las Letras: the house where the playwright spent his last years, with its small vegetable garden.
• Museo ABC, near the Conde Duque cultural centre: a museum devoted to drawing and illustration in a restored former brewery.

• Museo Nacional de Artes Decorativas, a stone's throw from the Retiro: furniture, ceramics, glass and a complete tiled Valencian kitchen that is among its most photographed pieces.
• Museo Nacional de Antropología, opposite Atocha station: Spain's first anthropological museum, with objects from the cultures of Africa, Asia, the Americas and Oceania.
• Museo Lázaro Galdiano, on calle Serrano: a great collector's collection in his mansion, with paintings by Goya, El Greco and Bosch, enamels, ivories and jewellery.
• Museo de Escultura al Aire Libre de La Castellana: works by Chillida, Miró, Pablo Serrano and other Spanish sculptors under the flyover linking calle Juan Bravo and calle Eduardo Dato. It is out in the street, so you can see it at any time.

• Museo del Traje, in the Ciudad Universitaria: the history of fashion and dress in Spain, from historical pieces to contemporary designers such as Balenciaga. It is very close to the Museo de América, so you can see both in the same morning. The taxi in Moncloa page will help if you are staying in the area.
• Museo Geominero, on calle Ríos Rosas: thousands of minerals, rocks and fossils in wooden display cases, under a spectacular early 20th-century iron and glass hall. One of the most beautiful and least known interiors in Madrid. If you are looking for accommodation in the neighbourhood, see the taxi in Chamberí page.

On the outskirts: the Museo del Aire

At Cuatro Vientos aerodrome, next to the A-5, the Museo del Aire (air museum) brings together historic aircraft, helicopters and engines across several hangars and a large open area. It is a perfect visit for aviation enthusiasts and for going with children. As it is outside the centre, the easiest way to get there is by car or taxi; if you are staying in south-west Madrid, the taxi in Cuatro Vientos page also explains how to get to Barajas Airport.

The Paseo del Arte (Art Walk) is the stretch of the Paseo del Prado between the glorieta de Atocha and the plaza de Cibeles, where Madrid's three great museums stand. Together they cover the history of Western painting from the Middle Ages to contemporary art, and they are a short walk from one another. This stretch, together with the Retiro, forms the Landscape of Light, a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

• Museo Reina Sofía, opposite Atocha station, in a former 18th-century hospital with a contemporary extension: modern and contemporary art, with Picasso's Guernica and works by Dalí, Miró and Juan Gris.
• Museo del Prado: one of the finest collections of European painting in the world. Go with a list of must-sees: Velázquez's Las Meninas, Bosch's The Garden of Earthly Delights, Goya's The Third of May 1808 and Black Paintings, and El Greco's The Nobleman with his Hand on his Chest.
• Museo Thyssen-Bornemisza, next to the Neptune fountain, in the Villahermosa palace: it complements the other two with Italian primitives, Dutch painting, Impressionists such as Monet, Renoir, Degas and Van Gogh, German Expressionism and 20th-century American art, with Hopper and pop art. It is usually less crowded than the Prado.

How to plan it without wearing yourself out

1. One big museum per day, or two at most if you choose just one part of each. Seeing all three in one day is possible, but exhausting.
2. Start at one end: from Atocha towards Cibeles (Reina Sofía, Prado, Thyssen) or the other way round, so you are not going back and forth along the boulevard.
3. Buy your ticket online and check each museum's official website for opening hours, free entry slots and the combined ticket covering all three, because their conditions change.
4. Combine a big museum with a small one nearby. After the Reina Sofía, the Museo de Antropología is a short walk away, opposite Atocha station; after the Prado, the Museo de Artes Decorativas is next to the Retiro. It is the best way to take a break from the crowds without losing the day.

If you are staying near the station, the taxi in Atocha page explains how to get to or from the airport from the start of the boulevard.

As well as the small ones and the big three, Madrid has first-rate museums for almost any interest. These are the most notable, grouped so you can pick your own:

Art

• Real Academia de Bellas Artes de San Fernando, on calle Alcalá, near Sol: Goya, Zurbarán, Murillo and Rubens, with far fewer people than at the big ones.
• Galería de las Colecciones Reales, next to the Royal Palace: tapestries, paintings and objects belonging to the Crown in a modern building above the Campo del Moro gardens. It fits in well with a visit to the Royal Palace.
• Museo Sorolla: the house, studio and garden of the Valencian painter, with a light that seems to come straight out of his paintings.
• CaixaForum Madrid, on the Paseo del Prado, with its vertical garden and temporary exhibitions.

History and archaeology

• Museo Arqueológico Nacional, on calle Serrano: from prehistory to the early modern age, with the Lady of Elche as its star piece.
• Museo de América, in Moncloa: cultures of the Americas, with the Quimbaya Treasure and one of the few surviving Maya codices.
• Museo Naval, on the Paseo del Prado: models, navigation instruments and Juan de la Cosa's chart, one of the first maps to show America.
• Museo de Historia de Madrid, on calle Fuencarral: how the city has evolved, with a large model of 19th-century Madrid.

Science, family and sport

The Museo Nacional de Ciencias Naturales, with its dinosaurs and the megatherium; the Museo del Ferrocarril (railway museum), in the old Delicias station; the Planetarium, in the Tierno Galván park, and the Wax Museum, in Colón, are children's favourites, and you will find many more ideas in travelling with children in Madrid. For football fans, the Santiago Bernabéu stadium tour is one of the most popular visits.

• Check the official website before you go. Small museums tend to have shorter opening hours than the big ones, and many close one or two days a week, not all on the same day.
• Do not string together more than two big museums a day. The small ones, on the other hand, can be seen at a relaxed pace in a short time, so you can fit two or three into a day.
• Group them by area and use a taxi only for the long hops, such as from Atocha to Serrano or from Moncloa to Ríos Rosas.
• Ask about guided tours and family activities, which several of these museums offer regularly.

Almost all the museums in this guide, except the Museo del Aire, are inside the M-30. If you arrive in Madrid by plane, a taxi to your hotel in the centre costs €33 with the Inside M-30 fixed fare. And if after the museums you fancy more spots that the guidebooks leave out, carry on with our selection of Madrid's lesser-known neighbourhoods.