Madrid Stadium Tours

Madrid is one of the few cities where you can tour two Champions League–class stadiums in a single day, and the two visits have surprisingly little in common. The Santiago Bernabéu is about accumulation: the trophies, the size of the bowl and 15 European Cups in one room. Atlético de Madrid’s Riyadh Air Metropolitano is about access, walking the route the players take from the dressing room, through the tunnel and down to the benches.

For most visitors the Bernabéu comes first. Our Santiago Bernabéu stadium tours page covers the route in detail, and the rest of this page explains how the options fit together. Still deciding? Read is the Bernabéu tour worth it for who gets the most from it, or the Bernabéu tour without a match if your dates miss the home games.

The Tour Bernabéu: what you actually see

Real Madrid runs its own tour, and the Tour Bernabéu entry ticket is that same Classic ticket, sold with a set date and time. You enter at Gate 84 on Avenida de Concha Espina and the route begins high in the stands with a panoramic view of the renovated stadium. The new retractable roof is the first thing most people photograph.

From there you drop into the museum, which is the heart of the visit. It holds the club’s trophies from every era, including all 15 European Cups, along with original shirts and boots and interactive displays on the football, basketball and women’s teams. What you see in the Real Madrid Museum goes through it room by room. On most days the route then reaches the first-team changing room and the benches beside the pitch, before ending in the official shop.

Plan about 90 minutes at an easy pace. The ticket gives you a time slot, not a guide, so you can linger over the trophy cases or move quickly past them. Our guide to how long the Bernabéu tour takes breaks that time down. Our breakdown of the Tour Bernabéu ticket lists everything it includes, and our checklist of what the Bernabéu tour includes compares it with the guided tours.

Ticket or guided tour?

The Classic ticket suits most visitors: you see the full route and read the displays yourself. Bernabéu tour ticket prices lists what each ticket costs. A guided tour covers the same ground with someone explaining it, usually through headsets. Real Madrid sells its own guided visit, and independent operators run English-language groups such as the Santiago Bernabéu and Real Madrid guided tour, rated 4.6 from over 1,300 reviews.

A guide is worth it if you are not already a Real Madrid follower, or if you are bringing someone who is not. The museum assumes you know why the 1950s European Cups matter; a good guide tells the story behind the silverware. We set out the trade-offs in Bernabéu tickets vs guided tour, and every guided option is compared on Bernabéu guided tours.

The Metropolitano: the players’ route

Atlético de Madrid has played at the Riyadh Air Metropolitano since 2017, and it hosted the 2019 Champions League final. The Atleti Tour & Museum ticket is the cheapest stadium tour we cover, from $29, and it goes further behind the scenes than most first-time visitors expect. The route takes in the first-team dressing room, the players’ tunnel, the benches, the press room where Diego Simeone faces the media and the presidential box.

The interactive museum follows the club from its founding in 1903, with touchscreens, projections and virtual reality. Allow about two hours in all; our breakdown of the Atleti ticket has the details. If you want a guide, the club runs its own guided stadium tour with museum entry, covered on Riyadh Air Metropolitano guided tours. The main Atlético page is Atlético Madrid stadium tours.

Which one should you book?

If you only have time for one, the deciding question is whether you care more about history or about access. The Bernabéu has the bigger collection and the bigger name. The Metropolitano gets you closer to the pitch, costs less and is usually quieter. We compare them side by side, from museum and route to duration and who each suits, in Bernabéu vs Metropolitano. The wider picture, including private and premium tours, is on the best football stadium tours in Madrid.

For a quick pick based on budget, language and group, the which Madrid stadium tour is right for you guide lists every tour we cover.

Check the fixture list before you book

Both stadiums are working venues, and match days change what you see. At the Bernabéu the changing rooms and benches close on match days and the day before. The tour itself ends five and a half hours before kick-off, though the museum and panoramic view stay open until then. The normal Bernabéu tour opening hours are 9am to 7pm from Monday to Saturday. Atlético warns that its route can be changed or suspended for sporting or organisational reasons. Madrid stadium tours on match days explains how to plan around fixtures. If you only have time for one, see whether to pick a Bernabéu tour or a Real Madrid match. If you want to see a game as well, how to buy Real Madrid tickets explains the club’s own sale and when seats are released, Real Madrid match ticket prices shows what each fixture and seat costs, how to buy Real Madrid tickets safely covers resale and scams, the guide to the best seats at the Bernabéu helps you choose a stand, and how to buy Atlético Madrid tickets covers the Metropolitano. For the one fixture both clubs share, see Madrid derby tickets.

Travelling with children? Under-5s go free at the Bernabéu, and Atlético’s club prices let under-4s in free. The Metropolitano’s interactive museum is often the bigger hit with younger fans. See Madrid stadium tours for families.

Getting there

Each stadium normally has its own metro stop, but Santiago Bernabéu station on Line 10 is closed for rebuilding until the end of 2026. Until it reopens, ride to Nuevos Ministerios (Lines 6, 8 and 10, plus Cercanías trains) and walk about 15 minutes north along the Paseo de la Castellana, or take the free S10 replacement bus, which stops at the stadium. Estadio Metropolitano station on Line 7 serves Atlético’s ground on the city’s eastern edge. The Bernabéu has no cloakroom and its route has many flights of stairs, so leave luggage at your hotel; Atlético has lockers for suitcases. Full directions are in how to get to the Bernabéu and Metropolitano, and the address and tour entrance are in where the Santiago Bernabéu is.

Ready to go? Check Tour Bernabéu availability.