Monasterio de las Descalzas Reales

Beautiful collection of art, tapestries, and lots of history, very interesting place to visit. The guide was very knowledgeable about the art, but a little monotone. The place is incredible beautiful and clean; the nuns take care of it. Tickets are only 14€ for tourists but free for EU citizens.

This is an extraordinary monastery with superb tapestries & paintings but you can only go round with a guide who speaks Spanish which makes it a little bit more challenging. A wall painting in the hall that has the family in the famous Velasquez painting.

If you've done it all in Madrid and want to mix it up, this place is interesting and has some breathtaking art. Make a reservation to make sure you can get in, and I would not recommend it if you don't speak Spanish. You must go with a guided tour, which focuses on the art and is only given in Spanish. Before I went, I was a bit worried by the reviews. I had a lovely time. Our guide, Antonio, was excellent. My recommendation is to, courteously, ask questions if you have them. He knows about everything in the museum. People who complained about time given to look at the art must have never taken a guided tour, or possibly they had a different tour guide. We had plenty of time, keeping in mind that you are on a schedule and have to finish in an hour. You can't stand and gaze for hours. Also, no one at all was rude to us. If you want to go with realistic expectations, though, here are my two complaints: 1. You cannot enter with any bags or backpacks. You must have a euro coin to put into a locker before going in. That's fine, but they will not give you change if you have bills. Just charge me an extra dollar for the entrance and have some spare coins on hand. Or just fix the lockers, like many Mercadonas have done, so that you don't need a coin. Overall, a very small complaint, but now that you know, go prepared! It will make your life and everyone else's easier. 2. The behavior of the other people on the tour. If the guide mentions a painting, don't be a jerk and run to the painting and stand right in front of it so no one can see. Several people did this. It was extremely annoying. These people were adults (so it was super weird). Reading other reviews, it sounds like the tourists were the problem, not the guide or the security guard. Also, this is not a visit for children or people who can't stand for an hour. We are guests in the nuns' (beautiful) home. I am not religious at all, but I realized that it was a privilege to be here. Keep quiet while the guide is speaking, so that he doesn't have to talk loudly, and don't sit on the furniture that is not yours. We were very pleased with our visit. I would love to go back in the winter when they have the baby Jesus collection on display.

What to say about this place? It is a convent which was endowed by several members of the Hapsburg Spanish royal family and consequently became very rich. To visit you have to join a guided tour (c. every 15 minutes, all in Spsnish when I went, and you may have yo buy tickets in advance). You can see a remarkable renaissance trump d'oeil staircase, a number of chapels, the choir containing a couple of tombs and then a number of rooms furnished with paintings and tapastries. I'll say again, the staircase is remarkable, but if you've been to the Prado, the Royal Palace, El Escorial etc, you won't have lacked for these. It is worth it? I thought so, despite my limited spanish, but if you are happy with just a taste of these things you may prefer to spend your time elsewhere.

Beautiful place with amazing art and history. The Rubens tapestries are not to be missed. I just would have liked more time here. The 1 hour tour doesn’t give you time to really absorb and examine the art and religious objects.

Entrance must be done by guided tour. The guide that we met was strict. The group was herded by two staffs at the back. I know they need to keep discipline within the monastery, we respect, but they need not treat tourists as pupils intending to commit crime. This marked the most unpleasant experience in Madrid.

While the monastery was objectively beautiful, containing astonishing art pieces, chapels and other artifacts. The main issue rises from the fact that you are mandated to experience the museum through a tour that is done almost exclusively in Spanish. The people there were as if speaking English to engage in a simple interaction or pass on information was a chore and something disgraceful to their ethos. The Tour guide spoke broken English, which doesn't constitute an issue as proficiency is subjective, but he only spoke in 4-5 occassions while the rest of the explanations were in Spanish. Also, a staff member that was along to monitor kept closing the lights in rooms that I was in to shoo me away to move faster. Would recommend visiting, but only if you are really ardent with behaviours such as these.

Very informative tour that focused on the art collection. Was educational and illuminating. If you are interested in great works of art in a quiet setting - visit. Buy your tickets online.