Almudena Cathedral

Almudena Cathedral tickets: which one to buy

The cathedral asks for a small donation rather than a ticket, so entry is effectively free. Two paid extras exist: the museum, which climbs to the dome terrace for a view over the Royal Palace and the Casa de Campo, and the crypt, which has its own entrance on the street below and its own small charge. The museum is the better of the two.

Guided tours pairing the cathedral with the Royal Palace opposite cost several times the palace ticket and buy a slot rather than a shorter queue; the palace is the busier of the two by far, and the cathedral rarely has a line at all. Nothing needs booking. The cathedral is on the metro at Opera, and the plaza between it and the palace is one of the set pieces of Madrid, free to walk at any hour and floodlit after dark.

Visiting Almudena Cathedral: what to see

Madrid became the capital in 1561 but had no cathedral for another four centuries, because the seat of the Spanish church stayed at Toledo and the money went to the empire. The foundation stone was laid in 1883 to a Gothic Revival design by Francisco de Cubas; the civil war stopped work, and when it resumed in 1950 Fernando Chueca Goitia was told to make the exterior match the grey and white classicism of the Royal Palace across the square, which is why the outside and the inside belong to different centuries. Pope John Paul II consecrated the finished building in 1993.

The interior is neo-Gothic in shape and startlingly modern in decoration: the ceiling is painted in bright geometric panels, the chapels hold work by living artists, and the stained glass is abstract. The crypt below, with a thousand columns and a twelfth-century image of the Virgin, is older in feel than anything upstairs. The nave is 102 metres long and the crossing dome rises on pendentives painted by Kiko Arguello in a deliberately Byzantine manner, which makes the interior unlike any other Spanish cathedral.

Almudena Cathedral opening hours and the best time to go

Open daily from morning to evening, with a break around midday in some seasons and closure during mass. The museum and dome keep shorter hours and shut on Sundays. Madrid is very hot in July and August; the interior is cool and the dome terrace is not. The best light on the facade comes in the late afternoon from the Plaza de la Armeria. The changing of the guard at the Royal Palace takes place on Wednesdays and Saturdays and fills the square.

Dress modestly. Photography without flash is allowed. Allow half an hour for the cathedral, an hour with the museum. The crypt entrance is on Calle Mayor below the main door and is often overlooked entirely. The cathedral was where the royal wedding of 2004 took place, and the crowds on the day are still remembered in the neighbourhood.