Day Trip to Madrid from the UK: What 9 Hours Actually Cost Us

Madrid in 9 Hours: Our First DayTrip Test Run

If you've landed here with no idea what a BudgetBro DayTrip is, don't worry, the concept isn't new. Fly out at breakfast, be home for bedtime. What's new is the level of detail we're building for each city, priced up properly from real trips and real receipts, not a guess.

We've been planning and building this for weeks and we've finally hit a point where it works. Not finished, but working. So we tested it on ourselves during a 24 hour layover on the way to Rio de Janeiro.

The idea is simple. Catch a flight at breakfast, home by bedtime. What happens in between is completely up to you. My vibes are mainly food and beer. Fine, entirely food and beer!

Full disclosure before we go any further - this wasn't a pure day trip. We were breaking up a long-haul to Brazil, so we had a hostel and stayed the night. That cost us time (a check-in, a shower, quick nap) that a real day tripper wouldn't lose, and it meant a couple of our stops ran later than a same-day return would allow. I've flagged where that matters. Everything else is exactly what we did and exactly what we paid.

The Costings

We booked one way from Manchester about 8 weeks out, £32pp. The return, had we needed it, was £71pp at the time of booking. Book inside 48 hours and you'll pay a lot more than either, so treat these as "planned ahead" prices, not walk-up prices.

• Flight out: £32pp
• Return (quoted, not booked): £71pp
• Departed: 07:00
• Landed: 10:30
• In the city: by midday

What We Actually Spent On The Ground

Me and Samar, everything we spent accept the flight.

Rate used: £1 = €1.167, mid-market, 31 August 2026. Check the live rate before you budget, it moves. (can find this free to use in the BudgetBro app too!)

So What Does A Real Madrid Day Trip Cost?

Add the flights back in and be honest about it:

• Ground spend: £49.90pp
• Return flight, booked 8 weeks out: £72pp
• All in, no accommodation: roughly £122pp

That's for a day where two grown men ate at five places, drank steadily from midday, and didn't say no to anything. Trim the beer, skip one sit-down meal and use the metro instead of the express bus and you'd take £30 to £40 off that ground spend without much suffering. Do that and you're looking at under £90pp for a day in Madrid.

Put that next to a day trip to London from the north and it starts to look daft. A return train alone will often beat £122 before you've eaten anything. That's the actual pitch, and it holds up without any exaggeration.

The Day, Stop by Stop

Every place gets two scores, because "good value" means different things depending on why you're there.

• Budget traveller = you're counting every euro and stretching a trip.
• Day tripper = you're here for one day only and you want the day to be worth it.
  

Getting from the airport

Exprés Aeropuerto (bus line 203) Budget traveller: 4/5 · Day tripper: 2.5/5

Most day trippers won't lose sleep over a few euros between the airport bus and an Uber. In true traveller style, me and Samar got the bus.

It was hectic. Rammed, borderline unpleasant, and it does not get you into the city any quicker. €5pp, runs 24 hours a day, takes 20-30 minutes into Cibeles or Atocha. The Uber at the time was €23 for the two of us, so about €11.50 each. If I ever go back to Madrid I'm getting the Uber, and that should tell you something coming from a penny pincher like me.

Worth knowing: Metro line 8 is the third option and works out around €4.50 to €5 once you add the airport supplement, so it's no cheaper than the bus and involves a change. The bus is the better public option. The Uber is the better option full stop if there's two of you splitting it.

10:30 to 13:00

Between the bus and our first beer we had to check into the hostel, so we lost time you wouldn't lose. Even so, we got a lot done.

I'd watched a few TikToks in the airport and one of them put me onto the tapas scene in La Latina. That made it the first stop, no debate.

Lamiak

Budget traveller: 4/5 · Day tripper: 4/5
Spent: €31.60 for two

Cava Baja is the most famous tapas street in Madrid, so this is not exactly a hidden gem, but Lamiak had strong reviews and a cheap menu and that'll do me.

What we ordered:

• 1 x Smoked ham and Tetilla cheese with cayenne pepper
• 1 x Minced beef moussaka with aubergine cream
• 1 x Chicken bread with tomato, bacon, gouda cheese and chimichurri sauce
• 1 x Cod brandade
• 1 x Local beer
• 1 x Spanish IPA
• 2 x Coca Cola

When we walked in the place was dead. I had to hover in the doorway looking for permission to sit down, and I'm fairly sure they'd only just opened. Within 30 minutes it was packed and we were sharing our big table with strangers. That's usually the sign you've picked right.

Great opening statement for the day. They did everything well and the barman was sound.

Highlight: the cod brandade. Not the cod itself, but what they'd done with the skin, crisped into strips like pork belly. Seriously good.

One gripe: I'd have liked more traditional tapas options. It's my first time in Spain in years though, so it's fair to say different areas run different tapas themes and I might just need to read up.

Click here to view on Google Maps.

13:00 to 17:00

After stuffing ourselves, Samar wanted to freshen up properly since we'd only dumped the bags earlier. That cost us an hour in the hostel charging phones and getting sorted. Again, time you wouldn't lose.

Mercado de San Miguel

Budget traveller: 2.5/5 · Day tripper: 4/5
Spent: €0, we looked and left

Right opposite our hostel and rammed from open until the early hours.

It's a proper looking building, built in 1916 and one of the best cast-iron market halls in the city, and it's been a gourmet food market rather than a working produce market since 2009. That's the bit worth knowing. It's a food hall aimed at visitors, and it's priced like one.

There's a vibe to it, no question, but it felt very touristy and a lot of the food leaned fusion and upmarket (pardon the pun). We'd have tried a few bits but I'm not a fan of crowds and the tables are limited. Judging by the reviews, plenty of people feel the opposite, so this could easily be your cup of tea.

Open: Sunday to Thursday 10:00 to midnight, Friday and Saturday until 01:00.

Scores here are my read on the crowd and the pricing, not on the food, since we didn't eat.

Click here to view on Google Maps.

Bar La Ideal

Budget traveller: 2/5 · Day tripper: 2/5
Spent: €7 for two

What we ordered:

• 1 x Calamari sandwich
• 1 x Coca Cola

The queue was huge and my expectations were higher. Thankfully the queue was for dining in, they run a separate line for takeaway, so we grabbed ours and sat by a fountain.

I'll be blunt. I hated it. The calamari should be crispy, sprinkled with zest. It was soggy, the bread wasn't fresh and it was bone dry all the way through. Hard pass from me, and I'd call myself a real foodie.

Highlight: nothing.

Here's the thing though, and I've since read up on it. The bocadillo de calamares is a proper Madrid institution. Madrid is landlocked, but seafood used to get fast-tracked into the city for the Royal Court, and by the mid-1900s cheap squid had turned into a working-class street food staple. Traditionally it's served exactly how I got it: bread, fried squid, maybe a squeeze of lemon, and no sauce. So the dryness I moaned about isn't the bar getting it wrong, it's the dish being correct. Some places will give you aioli or brava sauce if you ask.

Knowing that, my score is a score for my own taste, not for the sandwich. €3 to €8 is the going rate across the city and this one is one of the most sold in Madrid, from a bar that's been at it for decades. I'm clearly in the minority, so don't let me put you off. Ask for the sauce.

Click here to view on Google Maps

99 Cheesecake

Budget traveller: 5/5 · Day tripper: 5/5
Spent: €3.99 for one, shared

No idea how Spanish this is, but it's damn tasty.

Complete accident, this one. It hadn't shown up in any of my TikTok research. We just clocked the queue, checked Google, saw thousands of reviews averaging brilliantly, and that settled it.

The menu is simple. Baked cheesecake, then whatever topping you fancy. Samar went the opposite way to me and picked passionfruit. She was right and I was wrong. The passionfruit popped and cut through a cheesecake that isn't heavy to begin with. I wish we'd got one each, but with a full day of eating still ahead of us, sharing was the sensible call.

Highlight: loads of topping options, ideal walking snack, very moreish.

Worth knowing: the plain base cheesecake starts around €2.49, which is where the name comes from. Toppings are what took ours to €3.99. There's more than one branch in the city, so you'll likely walk past one.

Click here to view on Google Maps

17:00 to 22:00

Royal Palace of Madrid

Budget traveller: 4/5 · Day tripper: 4/5
Spent: €0 (didn't go inside)

We were heading to the Debod Temple and walked straight into this. Huge queues, street entertainment, one very big palace. Had to have a look.

Slight detour, well worth it. The whole area is beautiful. There are several parts you can wander, and honestly, walking the perimeter gave us the same views over the city that you'd get from inside. Several gardens too, and a good spot to just sit.

On the ticket price. I had it in my head as €16. It's actually €18 for general admission and €9 reduced (kids, students, over 65s), so if anything I've undersold what you'd be spending. Not something I want to part with. If it were €3 or €4 I'd have done it.

The free entry catch: EU citizens get in free Monday to Thursday, late afternoon (17:00 to 19:00 in summer, 16:00 to 18:00 in winter). If you're travelling on a UK passport, that no longer includes you. Worth knowing before you turn up expecting a freebie.

Open: April to September, Monday to Saturday 10:00 to 19:00, Sunday 10:00 to 16:00. October to March, daily 10:00 to 18:00.

Scores are for the grounds and the exterior, which is what we did. We didn't go inside.

Click here to view on Google Maps

Temple of Debod

Budget traveller: 4/5 · Day tripper: 3.5/5
Spent: €0

Another TikTok find, and this one promised a sort of mini sunset rave. Sounds odd, the video was great.

The day was overcast with patches of drizzle, so I was sceptical we'd find many people there, never mind music. Went anyway, purely for the viewpoint. I never knew Madrid sits high, and the temple is where you feel it.

I was right. No music, barely anyone, hazy skies and a mediocre view. Still worth going.

Worth knowing, because it's a genuinely mad story: this is an actual Egyptian temple from the 2nd century BC. Egypt gave it to Spain in 1968 as a thank you for helping rescue the Nubian monuments before the Aswan High Dam flooded them. It was taken apart, shipped over and rebuilt stone by stone in Parque del Oeste. It's free to visit, the interior is capped at 30 people at a time for 30 minutes, and the park around it stays open and free regardless. On a clear evening it's one of the best sunset spots in the city. We just didn't get a clear evening.

Click here to view on Google Maps

Lamucca

Budget traveller: 2/5 · Day tripper: 4/5
Spent: €17 for two
A bar we passed walking down from the temple gardens back towards the city. We only stopped because I wanted to ring my daughter and it looked quiet enough for a proper chat without music or noise ruining it.

Not budget friendly. It's a little fancy, though not in a formal way, just modern. Sat down and felt obliged to order some tapas, so we got one dish.

What we ordered:

• 1 x Croquettes
• 2 x Coca Cola

The croquettes were €12 on their own. Steep for us. They were good, but nothing special. The place feels like it's mainly there to catch tourists looking for a drinking spot nearby.

If you're day tripping and you want somewhere comfortable to sit and reset for half an hour, this does that job well. If you're stretching a budget, walk on.

Click here to view on Google Maps

Cafestic

Budget traveller: 3.5/5 · Day tripper: 4.5/5
Spent: €9.90 for two

Half hour walk back into our hostel's area and by this point I was knackered.

Cafestic sits on a corner, which makes it excellent for people watching. I'd found the local beer vile at Lamiak, but as an IPA drinker that's not a shock. On the walk back I'd been checking every bar for the beers and they're all near identical, and an IPA is genuinely hard to find.

Then we found this place, and it had Heineken. Funny, I hate Heineken, but it tasted far better than the local stuff. So we sat down for a good hour. Beers ranged from €3.20 to €4.95, Heineken obviously being the dearest at €4.95.

The menu is large and looked pricier than average, but still fine for a snack.

Highlight: the corner position. Sitting there watching Madrid go past while the day catches up with you is the whole point of the stop.

Click here to view on Google Maps

CafeeKe

Budget traveller: 2.5/5 · Day tripper: 4/5
Spent: €37 for two

Getting late, both of us tired from all the walking (not normal for us), but there was one dish left I wanted Samar to try: gambas al ajillo, garlic prawns. It's a famous dish and I struggled to find anywhere still open that served it without being high end. After another mission of a walk, we found somewhere round the corner from the hostel.

Strangely, it's a German themed "tapas and beer" place. What it actually sold was good food and decent IPA.

What we ordered:

• Gambas al ajillo
• Chorizo and brie
• IPAs at €6.50 each

Not budget friendly. In Spain, if you want IPA you're paying a premium regardless, and prawns are never cheap. But this felt like a treat, a well done us for a jam packed day, and it paid off. Samar loved the gambas and we both really enjoyed the prawns. The chorizo and brie was superb.

We overspent here and I'd do it again.

Click here to view on Google Maps

The Verdict

Seven stops, five places we ate or drank, two sights, and one sandwich I'm still annoyed about.

€116.49 for two on the ground. €58.25 each. Around £49.90 each. No flights in that figure.

Add a £72 return flight booked 8 weeks out and you're at roughly £122 each for a full day in a European capital. That's less than a lot of people spend on a day in London, and this one came with a palace, an Egyptian temple and more food than either of us needed.

Would I change anything? Get the Uber from the airport. Skip the calamari sandwich, or at least ask for sauce. Everything else stands.

Over to you. We're filling our city maps with proper local tips, and they're only as good as the people adding to them. If you know Madrid, or anywhere else we're covering, add your tips and tell us what we got wrong.