Two adults and three children can walk into the Royal Botanical Garden for 8 € in total. A single adult ticket to the Prado Museum next door costs 15 €.
The garden answers to the CSIC, the Spanish national research council, which is why its fares look nothing like those of the museum across the road. A general ticket is €4, the reduced one €1, and a group of ten or more pays €2 a head. On Tuesdays from 10:00 to 13:30 everyone enters free. Its other neighbour, the Retiro, is city-run and closes outright in a red alert, covered in why the Retiro shuts in high winds.
The two sit on the same square, Plaza de Murillo, and answer to different bodies. The garden is run by the CSIC, Spain’s national research council, which is neither a national museum nor a foundation nor Patrimonio Nacional.
How much does the Royal Botanical Garden in Madrid cost? A general ticket to the Royal Botanical Garden costs 4 € and the reduced rate is 1 €. Under-18s enter free on any day of the year on showing proof of age, and on Tuesdays from 10:00 to 13:30 admission is free for every visitor. None of those rates covers the Villanueva Pavilion exhibition.
The cheapest gate on the Paseo del Arte
There are four prices that the CSIC publishes for the garden, and the gap between them is unusually wide. The reduced rate is 1 € for students aged 18 to 25, over-65s and large families, a group of ten or more pays 2 € each, and the general ticket is 4 €, all on production of proof where it applies.
Set against the neighbours, the arithmetic is blunt. A Prado ticket at 15 € buys fifteen reduced admissions to the garden, or three general ones with change left over.
| Who qualifies | Ticket | Price |
|---|---|---|
| Adults with no special condition | General | 4 € |
| Groups of ten or more | Group | 2 € |
| Students 18 to 25, over-65s, large families | Reduced | 1 € |
| Under-18s, unemployed, CSIC staff, ICOM members, visitors with a disability | Free | 0 € |
Nobody under 18 pays, on any day
Free admission for under-18s is not tied to a window or a weekday. It runs all year, in any opening hour, on showing proof of age at the desk, which is the structural difference from the Paseo del Arte museums, where free access is compressed into one or two hours.
Four other categories are free at all times as well:
- Unemployed visitors, on production of proof and identification
- CSIC staff
- ICOM members
- Visitors with a disability
Then there is the window that asks nothing at all, and it is the garden that sets it: Tuesdays from 10:00 to 13:30. Three and a half hours, free to everyone, with no age, nationality or accreditation requirement.
That morning is well placed. The Reina Sofía closes on Tuesdays and the Thyssen-Bornemisza has no Tuesday free window either, so the garden is the only free gate on the Paseo del Arte at that hour. The other windows are mapped in Madrid’s free museums and their weekly fit in how many days you need.
Seven closing times, and how they pair with the Prado
Opening is always at 10:00, and it is the CSIC that publishes the closing calendar. Closing moves with the season across seven bands: 21:00 from May to August; 20:00 in April and September; 19:00 in March and October; and 18:00 in January, February, November and December.
That is a three-hour spread between the longest day and the shortest, and it decides whether the garden pairs with the Prado’s free window or misses it. In December the garden shuts at 18:00, exactly when that slot begins. In May it is still open at 20:00, well inside it.
What the 4 € does not buy
One exclusion is worth reading before paying. The 4 €, 2 € and 1 € rates all cover entry without the Villanueva Pavilion exhibition, and the free admission for under-18s does not extend to it either.
The Villanueva Pavilion is the exhibition building that the Garden runs separately, and its contents change by season, so seeing it requires a separate ticket. Everything else inside the walls, glasshouses included, comes with the basic entry.
Against the capped sites of the region, the Garden is the only one settled with a fare, as compared in how Madrid rations its countryside. The Prado handles the same problem differently. In the window that the Museum publishes, 18:00 to 20:00, the permanent collection costs nothing and the temporary exhibition drops by 50 %, as explained in the Prado’s free evening hours. The garden offers no equivalent discount on the Pavilion.
The municipal nurseries work the other way round from a ticketed botanical garden, because two of the three take booked group tours only and the third runs 8am to 3pm.
Frequently asked questions about the Royal Botanical Garden
How much is the Royal Botanical Garden in Madrid?
The general ticket costs 4 €, the reduced one 1 € for students aged 18 to 25, over-65s and large families, and groups of ten or more pay 2 € each. Anyone under 18 goes in free on any day of the year.
Is the Royal Botanical Garden free at any point?
Yes, on Tuesdays from 10:00 to 13:30 it is free for everyone, with no age, nationality or documentation requirement. Under-18s, unemployed visitors, CSIC staff, ICOM members and visitors with a disability are free at all times.
What time does the Royal Botanical Garden close?
It always opens at 10:00 and closes at 18:00 in January, February, November and December; 19:00 in March and October; 20:00 in April and September; and 21:00 from May to August, which is seven distinct bands across the year.
Does the Botanical Garden ticket include the Villanueva Pavilion?
No. The 4 €, 2 € and 1 € rates all cover entry without the Villanueva Pavilion exhibition, and the free admission for under-18s does not cover it either. The rest of the grounds, including the glasshouses, is included.
Four euros, seven closing times and a research council quietly running the cheapest gate on the Paseo del Arte.