Passion & Paella: 7 Romantic Days in Madrid

After an overnight flight, I always recommend you pay for a night at a hotel, so you can immediately get in and sleep and shower! I love the Pestana Mayor for the historic square, for Alejandro (one of the best concierges I’ve ever worked with), and the walkability to just about everything!

As dinner is later in Spain, there is plenty of time for Tapas. Caution though, as this area is busy, there are both excellent and mediocre restaurant choices—do your research before going! I recommend Casa Revuelta, it’s a two-minute walk, and their specialty is bacalao or battered salt cod—light and buttery, it’s the perfect first night meal!

I almost always have a Tuk-Tuk on day two pick my clients up at the hotel for a first-city-visit. I find the guides, pace, and orientation to a new city a great value for myself and my clients. After the tour, you can have the driver drop you literally anywhere! Today I would choose the Mercado de San Miguel to enjoy Madrid’s culture and food! Then, enjoy an easy walk back to your hotel for a rest and shower before a spectacular dinner experience at the oldest restaurant in the world.

Yes, Restaurante Botin in Madrid has been serving since 1725 without interruption. Definitely make your reservation a couple of months in advance or have the concierge handle this for you—request to eat in the cellar, and order the famous Roast Suckling Pig! A very Instagram-worthy evening.

Today—time to enjoy history and museums! Of course, no visit to Madrid complete without a skip-the-line tour at the Prado Museum. Though I normally love having lunch in Museo del Prado, I would choose to do the three-hour morning tour, and instead go outside to one of the fabulous restaurants in the neighborhood for lunch and a rest after a lot of walking. Be sure and choose a small tour with English guide! There’s definitely too much too see in one visit, so again, do your research and choose in advance. It’s really a museum of artists’ collections: Goya, Velazquez, Rubens, El Greco, and more. My choice for a traditional lunch is Restaurante TriCicio, it's a small menu, and they offer half portions as you need to save room for dinner!

Today we’re off to the Royal Palace of Madrid! Again, I always do a private, or semi-private skip-the-line tour, worth every penny! They see over 2 million visitors per year! It is truly enormous, which is why you need the guide. It’s 135,000 square meters and 3,418 rooms. Here I choose the tour with tapas included. Afterwards, you walk to a lovely place nearby to rest your sore feet and enjoy lunch and some wine!

Insider Tip: Tickets sell out months in advance, so buy early and/or use your concierge.

I like to leave some open days, and today is a great day to leave our day open to simply enjoy! Included in our hotel stay is an enormous European breakfast, which includes meats, cheeses, and enough to get us to dinner. Now it’s off to do some serious shopping!

As I said, my recommendation for shopping in Europe is typically art pieces and/or clothing. One of the things that is different in Europe is the vast amount of specialty clothing boutiques for men and women, generally with tailoring on-site. These are clothes that are an investment—but you’ll wear them for 20 plus years. If you buy too much, just ship them home! I also tend to buy my gift beneficiaries clothes, so they remember my trips as well!

Tonight, it’s time to see the best Flamenco Show in Madrid with dinner! A trip to Madrid would not be complete without it; again this is a tough ticket to get, but my concierge had access to which I did not! Here I always go to, and send clients to, Corral de la Moreria. Taxi over and leisurely walk back to your hotel.

As I like a varied agenda, and it being our last full day before flying home tomorrow, it’s a great day to attend a Paella Cooking class. I like to skip dinner the night before heading home, so a big lunch works great! I highly recommend this activity in any city you visit or send your clients too! Cooking and eating like a local gives you more of an immersion into the culture than just going to a restaurant!

My husband happens to be a Paris-trained chef, so he really enjoys these events! In Madrid, I HIGHLY recommend The Cooking Clubhouse. They can do private and corporate events as well as just for leisure travelers. The venue is a gorgeous, 19th century building. You or your clients will cook, eat, and drink, leaving with both great pictures and memories.

Early up for breakfast, and use a private car service to the Madrid airport for a direct American Airline flight to Charlotte!

Insider Tip: Whenever I can I always try and find direct flights; when not possible I try for a US connection! I also always ensure my clients already have Global Entry or I send them to the US Customs Website where I onboard them to make the travel experience as seamless and relaxing as possible!