Of Madrid’s eight state museums, the Cerralbo shares the ticket price with the rest and almost nothing else. It costs 3 € like all of them, but its free entry does not fall on Saturday afternoon: it runs Thursdays from 5pm to 7pm and every Sunday. It shuts at 3pm on every day but Thursday, and on 18 May, when the others open free for International Museum Day, this one closes.
When can you enter the Cerralbo Museum free? On Thursdays from 5pm to 7pm, an extra opening that does not run on public holidays, and every Sunday. It is not free on Saturday afternoon, unlike the other state museums. The general ticket is 3 € and the reduced one 1.50 €, and it closes every Monday.
The Cerralbo Museum is the nineteenth-century town palace of the Marquis of Cerralbo, preserved with its collection and its original display, and run directly by the Ministry of Culture as one of Madrid’s eight state museums. That membership invites visitors to assume a shared calendar which, in its case, does not exist.
The extra hour nobody sees coming
Inside the Thursday opening there is a cut that does not match the closing time.
The museum opens on Thursdays from 5pm to 8pm, but free entry runs only from 5pm to 7pm. That last hour is charged, so arriving at a quarter past seven on the assumption that the whole evening is free means paying the 3 €. It is the operational detail that most often surprises people at the desk.
A timetable that stops at three
The first surprise is not the free window but the closing time, which is half a day for most of the week.
| Day | Hours |
|---|---|
| Tuesday to Saturday | 9.30am to 3pm |
| Thursday, additionally | 5pm to 8pm, except holidays |
| Sundays and holidays | 10am to 3pm |
| Monday | Closed all year, bank holidays included |
Anyone planning an afternoon visit has only Thursday. Every other day ends at 3pm, against the 8pm that the National Archaeological Museum keeps from Tuesday to Saturday, in Madrid state museums at 3 €.
The closing dates, and the one that jars
The closure calendar contains a date that contradicts its own group.
It closes every Monday, bank holidays included, along with New Year’s Day, Epiphany, Labour Day, both mid-May holidays and the Christmas and New Year’s Eve dates. One of those mid-May closures is International Museum Day, an annual free-entry date for the other state museums: they open free and the Cerralbo does not open at all. The other is San Isidro, Madrid’s local holiday, in what closes on Madrid’s public holidays.
What it genuinely shares with the other seven
The list is short, and worth knowing so as not to extrapolate.
It shares the 3 € general and 1.50 € reduced tariff, which the Ministry of Culture sets for all eight at once, and its status as a directly run museum. It shares neither hours, nor the evening free window, nor the closure calendar. The group regime is in Madrid state museums at 3 €, and the Sorolla, currently shut for works, in Sorolla Museum hours and closure.
Fitting it into a museum day
Its short timetable makes it a morning plan, which decides what it pairs with.
Closing at 3pm, it sits before the free windows of the big museums, which are all late in the day: the Prado opens its window at the end of the afternoon, in what the Prado free evening covers, and the Reina Sofía shifts its window on Sundays, in Reina Sofía free hours. The full picture is in free museums in Madrid.
Frequently asked questions about the Cerralbo Museum
When is the Cerralbo Museum free?
On Thursdays from 5pm to 7pm, in an extra evening opening that does not run on public holidays, and every Sunday. It is not free on Saturday afternoon, which is when the other state museums in Madrid are.
Is the whole Thursday evening free?
Not quite. The museum opens on Thursdays from 5pm to 8pm but the free window runs only to 7pm, so the last hour is charged at 3 €. Arriving at a quarter past seven expecting a free evening means paying.
What are the Cerralbo Museum’s hours?
Tuesday to Saturday from 9.30am to 3pm, plus Thursday evenings from 5pm to 8pm except on public holidays, and Sundays and holidays from 10am to 3pm. It closes every Monday of the year, including bank holiday Mondays.
Does it open on 18 May, International Museum Day?
No. The museum closes on 18 May, which is precisely one of the two annual free-entry dates for the other state museums. It also closes for San Isidro in mid-May, for New Year’s Day and Epiphany, for Labour Day and over the Christmas and New Year’s Eve dates.
How much does it cost?
3 € general and 1.50 € reduced, the same tariff the Ministry of Culture sets for all eight directly run state museums in Madrid at once. What it does not share with them is the timetable or the free-entry calendar.
It shares a price with seven other museums and not a single opening hour.