Two royal palaces stand inside the same municipality, and the cheaper one is reachable on an ordinary city bus. The full ticket at El Pardo costs what the Royal Palace of Madrid charges as a concession.
The Palacio Real de El Pardo is a Patrimonio Nacional royal site inside the Madrid municipal boundary, with a €9 full ticket and a Monday closure. It is also the only one of Madrid’s Patrimonio buildings with step-free access. The reduced rate is €4, and the Casa del Príncipe in the same grounds is a separate €5 ticket with no advance sale at all.
How much is the Palacio Real de El Pardo and when does it open? The Palacio Real de El Pardo charges €9 full and €4 reduced. It opens Tuesday to Sunday, 10:00 to 18:00 from October to March and to 19:00 from April to September, with the box office closing an hour earlier. The separate Casa del Príncipe ticket is €5 and has no advance sale.
The one Patrimonio building in Madrid with step-free access
Accessibility is where El Pardo differs from every other Patrimonio Nacional building in the city, and it is the reason to plan around it rather than around the centre.
The Palace has step-free access and keeps manual wheelchairs available, both in the Palace itself and in the Casa del Príncipe. Neither of the two central convents does: the Descalzas Reales and La Encarnación both state that no access exists for people with disabilities, as covered in the two convents you can only enter with a guide.
Photography without flash is allowed for personal use except where marked, and tripods and selfie sticks are not.
Bus 164, bus 179, and no train involved
El Pardo is at Calle de Manuel Alonso, with no street number, and city bus lines 164 and 179 run there. Because the stop lies inside the municipality, an ordinary single fare covers it, and the current price is in what a metro and bus ticket costs.
By car it is 14 kilometres from the centre on the M-30, taking the M-605 turn-off for El Pardo. That distance is short, but it falls outside the commuter-rail logic that shapes day trips from Madrid, which is part of why El Pardo is missed.
The free afternoon starts after the last guided tour
Free entry falls on Wednesdays and Sundays, and the window changes with the season: 15:00 to 18:00 from October to March and 15:00 to 19:00 from April to September. It applies to EU citizens, residents or work-permit holders in that area and Ibero-American nationals, on proof of nationality, and those tickets are sold at the box office only.
The guided-tour timetable thins out on exactly those two days. Tuesday, Thursday, Friday and Saturday carry seven sessions, hourly from 10:00 to 16:00. Wednesday and Sunday carry five, hourly from 10:00 to 14:00, so the free window opens an hour after the last published tour.
Each tour runs about an hour, and every tour sold online is in Spanish.
Nine euros, and the only reduced rate of the three
The full fare is, according to Patrimonio Nacional, €9, with a €4 concession. That concession covers ages 5 to 16, with identity document or passport required from 14, over-65s, and students up to 25 holding a current national or international student card.
| Patrimonio site in Madrid | Full | Reduced |
|---|---|---|
| Descalzas Reales | €9 | none |
| La Encarnación | €9 | none |
| Palacio Real de El Pardo | €9 | €4 |
Three Patrimonio buildings, one price, and only El Pardo has a middle rate at all: the two convents charge a flat fare with nothing between full and free. Against the Royal Palace of Madrid the gap is wider still, since its own full ticket is €18 and its concession €9, with the conditions set out in who gets into the Royal Palace free.
Groups run on a third scale: tourist groups and travel agencies pay €7, cultural groups €9 and educational groups €4 plus a flat €10 booking fee. The visit also accepts the Bono Cultural Joven, the Ministry of Culture’s youth culture voucher.
A second house inside the grounds, booked by phone
Within the same grounds a second building can be visited on its own €5 ticket, the Casa del Príncipe Don Carlos, and its purchase rules match nothing else in the network.
Getting in takes three steps that exist nowhere else in the network:
- No advance sale online, so the ticket cannot be bought through the Patrimonio platform at all.
- A telephone booking on 913 76 15 00, made before travelling.
- A separate entrance on the Paseo del Pardo, past the Cuartel del Rey, while the Palace itself has a single box office on Calle de Manuel Alonso.
The site closes on Mondays plus, according to Patrimonio Nacional, six fixed dates: 1 and 6 January, 1 May and 24, 25 and 31 December. Patrimonio Nacional also warns of extra closures for official events, a condition no city-run venue carries, and part of the split described in who sets Madrid’s opening hours.
Frequently asked questions about the Palacio Real de El Pardo
How do you get to El Pardo from central Madrid?
On city bus lines 164 and 179, since El Pardo lies inside the Madrid municipal boundary, 14 kilometres from the centre. By car it is the M-30 and then the M-605 El Pardo turn-off.
How much is the Palacio Real de El Pardo?
The full ticket is €9 and the concession €4, covering ages 5 to 16, over-65s and students up to 25 with a valid card. The Casa del Príncipe is a separate €5 ticket.
Is the Palacio Real de El Pardo wheelchair accessible?
Yes. It has step-free access and manual wheelchairs available in both the Palace and the Casa del Príncipe, which is not the case at the Descalzas Reales or La Encarnación in the centre.
When is the Palacio Real de El Pardo free?
Wednesday and Sunday afternoons, 15:00 to 18:00 from October to March and 15:00 to 19:00 from April to September, for EU citizens, residents and Ibero-American nationals, at the box office only.
Nine euros, fourteen kilometres, a city bus, and a second house you can only book by calling.