Museum Madrid Reina Sofia Tickets

Ana Caballero

Ana Caballero

9 min read

Museum Madrid Reina Sofia Tickets

Detail of Guernica by Picasso | ©Citizen59

In 1990, what is now one of the most important museums in Spain was born. Picasso, Miró, Dalí, Juan Gris, Delaunay, Yves Klein and Francis Bacon are just some of the artists at the Reina Sofía.

Buying tickets in advance and online is the best option. It is not unusual to find a queue of visitors several metres long in front of the stairs of the museum. Here are the best ways to visit the museum:

The cheapest option and at your own pace: general admission to the Reina Sofía

Girl in the window by Salvador Dalí| ©Gabriela Rondon
Girl in the window by Salvador Dalí| ©Gabriela Rondon

It is not unusual to find a long queue at the doors of the museum formed by those who have not yet got their tickets to see the permanent collection or its temporary exhibitions and are waiting to go to the ticket office.

You can save yourself the wait by booking your tickets online for the Reina Sofía: all you have to do is choose the day you want to visit the museum. Once you have booked your tickets for the Reina Sofía online, you will receive a receipt by email to exchange for your ticket at the museum on the day of your visit.

Why I like this option: this is the cheapest option to visit the museum at your own pace.

Recommended if... you want to visit the museum on a budget.

Book tickets for the Reina Sofía Museum

The premium option: guided tour of the Reina Sofia Museum

Exhibition Hall of the Reina Sofía| ©LARS77722
Exhibition Hall of the Reina Sofía| ©LARS77722

If you want to see the museum in an hour and a half without missing the main highlights of its collection, I recommend this guided tour that includes a skip-the-line ticket. The experience of visiting the museum with a guide will make you discover the works in a much more intimate and personal way and, of course, learn important lessons about contemporary art.

A guided visit to the Reina Sofía is worthwhile in any museum and certainly even more so in this one, as contemporary art has behind it a cultural context rich in nuances that are not perceived at first glance.

Why I like this option: visiting a museum with a specialised guide to help you contextualise everything you see seems essential to me, and the Reina Sofía Museum, with the amount of art it houses, could not be less.

Recommended if... you want to know what lies behind the essential works of the Reina Sofía with a specialised guide.

Book a guided tour of the Reina Sofía Museum

The most complete option: guided tour of the Reina Sofía and the Prado Museum

Group following the explanations in front of Guernica| ©Javier Majan
Group following the explanations in front of Guernica| ©Javier Majan

The Reina Sofía and the Prado Museum are a must for all art lovers visiting Madrid. The Spanish art tour is not complete without one of these two museums as they both cover different periods.

On a joint guided tour of the Prado and Reina Sofia you can have access to both with an expert guide who will explain their main works.

If you have little time to visit these museums, this is a highly recommended option: the price is around £55 and tickets for both museums are included without queuing.

Why I like this option: with this very affordable pack you can visit the two most important museums with an expert guide.

Recommended if... you want to enjoy the art of these two museums in Madrid accompanied by a guide and save time and money, as it is cheaper than if you booked both visits separately.

Book a guided visit to the Reina Sofía and the Prado

We compare the options

  • Madrid Reina Sofia Museum Tickets
  • From £13
  • At your own pace
  • Tickets to the Reina Sofía Museum
  • Access to permanent and temporary exhibitions
  • Without guide
  • Book now
  • Madrid Reina Sofia Museum Guided Tour
  • From £22
  • 1 hour and 15 min
  • Access to permanent and temporary exhibitions
  • Guided tour+tickets to the Reina Sofía Museum
  • With guide
  • Book now
  • Madrid Prado Museum and Reina Sofia Museum Guided Tour
  • From £55
  • 4 hours
  • Guided tour+tickets to the Reina Sofia Museum
  • Guided tour + tickets to the Prado Museum
  • With guide
  • Book now

How to buy tickets for the Reina Sofia at the box office

Façade of the Reina Sofía Museum| ©Son of Groucho
Façade of the Reina Sofía Museum| ©Son of Groucho

If you haven't booked your ticket, you can go to the ticket office and buy it there to gain direct access, but you will probably have to wait in line during the high season or in the middle of the day. You won't save much by buying your ticket at the ticket office, but if you are going to do it, it's better to go first thing in the morning so you can visit the museum with more peace and quiet and less tourists.

Book tickets to the Reina Sofia Museum

What works to see at the Reina Sofía

Enlargement of the Reina Sofía Museum| ©saia.neogaia
Enlargement of the Reina Sofía Museum| ©saia.neogaia

The differences between contemporary art and classical art are notable: classical art tells a story or a point of view framed within a historical and cultural context. Contemporary art is different: it seeks experimentation, rupture and emotion. This does not mean that 20th century works do not have a context behind them; they do, and they also have a series of influences. For this reason, I recommend you go to the Reina Sofía knowing the following:

Picasso's Guernica

It is the museum's most famous work and one of the most famous of the 20th century. This enormous canvas occupies a room in the museum and with its dimensions you can appreciate in detail the historical episode it represents. It is interesting to note how the cubist technique and the black and white manage to convey a high emotional charge. If you use the audio guide, you can set aside about twenty minutes for a commentary on this painting, as it presents many of the characters and elements of the canvas.

The Open Window by Juan Gris

The author of this work is considered one of the great masters of Cubism. He coincided with Pablo Picasso in Paris and it was there that he developed this technique with the variant of combining different elements on the canvas to give the final sensation of collage. This work is a good example of this.

The House of the Palm Tree by Joan Miró

We usually associate Miró with surrealism, but this work shows that this is not the only artistic period through which the artist passed. The House with the Palm Tree belongs to one of his earliest periods, when he decided to become a painter while recovering from a serious illness. Although it is an ordinary landscape, a certain dreamlike air can be perceived in it that would later lead to surrealism.

Girl at the Window by Salvador Dalí

Dalí also had other more conceptual stages before plunging fully into Surrealism, and this supposed portrait of his sister is an example of this. He painted the picture during his formative years when he was still developing his technique, and to this day it remains one of the most admired of his oeuvre.

Francis Picabia's Totalisator

In the 20th century, machines and technology had an important presence in art. Picabia, after having experimented with Dadaism, applied the idea of mechanisation to the sexual act in this work, using circular forms.

A World of Holy Angels

Avant-garde art was also dominated by men, which is why this artist was until recently unknown. This three-metre high by three-metre wide canvas is the result of the intuition of its author, who, due to her condition, was not as familiar with the new artistic currents as her male colleagues, who were perfectly integrated into the artistic circuit. To paint this picture, the author said she was inspired by some verses by Juan Ramón Jiménez.

The Great Masturbator by Salvador Dalí

This is one of the best-known paintings by Dalí, who was fiercely criticised by his contemporaries for refusing to fight in the Spanish Civil War and for staying in the country afterwards during the Franco dictatorship. However, Dalí's genius was recognised by all. This work is intended to reflect the transformation that the appearance of his lover Gala meant for a painter who was always obsessed with sexuality or sanity.

Joan Miró's Painting (Snail, Woman, Flower, Star)

In this painting we can recognise more of the surrealist profile we associate with Miró. The joyfulness of his earlier paintings gives way in this canvas to the drama and anguish experienced during a period when fascism was on the rise throughout Europe and Spain was preparing for civil war.

Characters leaving a rock concert by Guillermo Pérez Villalta

Who hasn't heard of the Madrid movida? The painting by this artist from Cádiz is a tribute to this period. With a technique closer to narrative, he incorporates figurative strokes in this work in which he represents different stereotypes or characters from the Madrid nightlife.

Woman in Blue by Pablo Picasso

Picasso is best known for Cubism, but we often forget that there were other periods in the artist's life. This painting, for example, belongs to his so-called blue period, marked by the pain in which the artist was plunged after the suicide of a friend and characterised by the use of this tone in his paintings.

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How to get to the Reina Sofía

The museum is located opposite Atocha station. The main entrance is in the square renamed "Juan Goytisolo", but few know it by that name. The easiest way to get there is by metro. If you get off at the Estación del Arte metro station, you can get there by going straight on from the exit and turning right a few metres further on.

The surroundings of the Reina Sofía

The museum is located in one of the most central areas of Madrid, so you will find the area very lively. I recommend that you look for Calle Argumosa, where you can enjoy a few beers in any of its pleasant terraces in the traditional neighbourhood of Lavapiés.

Book tickets to the Reina Sofía Museum

Organise your visit to the Reina Sofía Museum

When to go

The Reina Sofía Museum is closed on Tuesdays. On Sundays it is open from 10am to 2.30pm and the rest of the days it opens at 10am and closes at 9pm. As the free opening hours start at 7pm in the evenings, it tends to be much more crowded, so it is best to go early in the morning on any weekday. You'll need about two hours to see the museum, so if you're taking advantage of the free opening hours, get there around 18:00 or 18:30 in the evening to get in the queue.

Audioguide

The audio guide costs around 4.50 euros, reduced for students and groups. I recommend a first visit to the museum without it to enjoy the works in general and see what each one conveys to you without being conditioned by their context. On a second visit you can revisit the works that have had the greatest impact on you and put them in context with the information provided by the audio guide. You'll be in for more than one surprise.

Where to eat

There are several places to eat in the area around the museum. One of the most legendary is El Brillante, a bar where you'll be served the famous squid sandwich for which Madrid is famous. However, the prices are quite high, so I recommend any other restaurant in the area; you are spoilt for choice. If you finish seeing the museum at brunch time, the museum restaurant, Nubel, is a very nice place where the brunch is very good.

Book tickets to the Reina Sofía Museum

Going to the Reina Sofía with children

The museum has different activities to bring children closer to both the permanent collection and the temporary exhibitions. Before you visit, find out how you can make the visit more accessible to the little ones at home because there are also guides in the museum shop to help you with this task.

Other interesting museums

If you are still hungry for more, don't miss a visit to the Prado Museum. Located just a few metres from the Reina Sofía, the Prado is a cultural jewel that art lovers should not miss. I tell you how in my article on Madrid Prado Tickets.

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Other interesting activities in Madrid

Tourist bus in Madrid| ©Son of Groucho
Tourist bus in Madrid| ©Son of Groucho

Madrid is a big city, very well prepared for walking and touring the whole city. That's why I can't recommend you enough to take a guided tour of the city. Well, because of that and because, as you will have already seen, Madrid breathes history in every corner. In this article about Madrid Tours you have all the information you need to choose the best guided tour for your trip.

And if you prefer to rest a bit between walks, you can continue enjoying Madrid aboard its famous tourist bus. Although at first glance it may seem a bit of a 'guiri' option, it is still comfortable and practical to move from one end to the other from the top of the bus. Here you have all the information you need to know: Madrid Hop on Hop off Bus Tours.

Book tickets to the Reina Sofía Museum