The Palazzo counter on Puerta del Sol has a queue, and the one twenty minutes away has none. They sell the same ice cream, made in the same place, delivered the same morning.
Heladerías Palazzo is a Madrid ice cream chain with thirteen shops of its own and more than fifty years in the city. It makes its ice cream and delivers it daily to every branch, in its own words. Four of the thirteen sit in the tourist centre — Puerta del Sol 11, Calle del Carmen 27, Gran Vía 56 and Bailén 11 beside the Royal Palace — seven more are spread across residential districts, and two stand outside the city, in Majadahonda and Pozuelo de Alarcón.
Where are the Palazzo ice cream shops in Madrid? Palazzo runs 13 shops. Four sit in the tourist centre — Puerta del Sol 11, Calle del Carmen 27, Gran Vía 56 and Bailén 11 by the Royal Palace. Seven more are spread across residential districts, and two stand outside the city, in Majadahonda and Pozuelo de Alarcón.
One workshop, thirteen counters
A thirteen-shop chain can work in two ways, and which one it is changes how you should use it.
Palazzo makes its own ice cream and delivers it to all thirteen shops every day. It is not a franchise where each branch produces its own batch, which is why the flavour list is the same wherever you walk in.
The other name with a central presence works the opposite way, with six shops and twenty-litre batches, in Mistura ice cream.
That has one useful consequence and one liberating one:
- There is no good branch and no weak branch. Crossing the city for a particular address buys you nothing.
- The only variables are the queue, the seating and the hour at which you end up eating it.
The four you will actually walk past
Only four of the thirteen sit inside the area most visitors cover on foot, and they are not interchangeable in terms of where they catch you.
| If you are at… | Shop | Address |
|---|---|---|
| Puerta del Sol | Sol | Puerta del Sol, 11 |
| The Preciados shopping streets | Preciados | Calle del Carmen, 27 |
| Gran Vía | Gran Vía | Gran Vía, 56 |
| The Royal Palace and Ópera | Bailén | Calle Bailén, 11 |
Bailén 11 is the one worth remembering, and according to Palazzo it is the only branch on the palace side of the centre. Anyone coming out of the Royal Palace or the neighbouring Royal Collections Gallery reaches it in a couple of minutes, rather than walking back to Sol.
None of the thirteen is inside the Mercado de San Miguel, which is where a lot of people look for ice cream by default after the Plaza Mayor. Bailén is the nearest counter to that corner.
Sherry ice cream, and why it is the one to order
The flavour list runs from classic chocolate to sherry, according to Palazzo, and that range is the whole character of the place.
Sherry is the one that will not be waiting for you at home. No Italian-style counter carries it, and ordering it is the shortest route to tasting something specifically from here rather than a very good version of something you already know.
For carrying it, the company sells transport tubs built to keep the ice cream intact on the way. That turns a cone you must deal with in ten minutes into a tub that survives the walk to a park bench.
When the centre fills, and where to go instead
The four central shops fill at the same hours as everything else around them, and those hours are easy to predict.
Weekend afternoons on Sol and Preciados coincide with the shops, which trade on Sundays because the area is classified for heavy tourist footfall, explained in which shops open on Sunday. A Tuesday afternoon in Chamberí or by the Retiro is a completely different experience with the identical ice cream inside it.
In summer the real competition is the municipal pool, which runs in fixed sessions until 9pm and costs €2.25 for an adult, set out in Madrid’s summer pools. Pool then ice cream is the cheapest good afternoon the city offers.
Frequently asked questions about Palazzo ice cream shops
Is the Palazzo shop on Puerta del Sol a tourist trap?
The shop sells the same ice cream as the other twelve, because one workshop supplies all of them daily. What you pay for at Sol is the location and the queue, not a different or worse product.
Where is the nearest Palazzo to the Royal Palace?
Bailén 11, on the same street as the palace itself. It is a far shorter walk than either of the two shops around Puerta del Sol, which most visitors default to without checking.
Does Palazzo make its own ice cream?
Yes. The company makes it and distributes it every day to all thirteen shops, in its own words. It is not a franchise where each branch produces its own, which is why the flavour list matches everywhere.
Can you take Palazzo ice cream away with you?
Yes. The company sells transport tubs meant to keep the ice cream intact on the way, which turns a ten-minute cone into something that survives a walk to a park or back to a hotel.
Thirteen counters, one workshop, and a sherry ice cream you will not find at home.