Madrid for three days in Oct. What to see.

Day 1
Royal Palace
Almudena Cathedral
Thyssen Bornemisza
Late afternoon stroll thru El Retiro Park

Day 2
Monastery of Las Descalzas Reales
Monastery de la Encarnacion
Walking – Plaza Mayor, Basilica de San Francisco el Grande, La Latina
Reina Sofia

Day 3
Walking – Puerta del Sol, Fuencarral-Chueca-Hortaleza, Gran Via
Museo Sorolla and/or Museo Lazaro Galdiano
Walking – Calle de Serrano to Puerta de Alcala and Plaza de Cibeles
Prado

Try and visit Buen Retiro on a weekend when the locals are out en masse, although an evening might work for that as well. Be prepared to break your 1.5 hour rule for the Prado, it really is that great. You don't have to but you will miss out on a lot. I could spend an hour or more on the Velasquez alone, and have.

Buen Retiro is an annexe to the Prado. El Retiro is the big park behind the Prado. Confusing I know.

If you aren't an art lover, why go to the art museums? If you are interested in a particular period or school or artist, go to the museum that has those works. The Prado is earliest on the timeline, then the Thyssen, finally the Reina Sofia collections. They aren't small, and the Prado is, well, huge, so ask when you get there where exactly are the works that you're interested in.

The Maritime Museum is between the Prado and the Thyssen. It's very interesting - after all, Spain was a world leader in sea power and exploration back in the day . . . all those route-to-the-Indies and new-world-conquerors left from there. It's run by the Navy so you have to have your passport with you to get in.

The TI in Plaza Mayor offers several inexpensive guided walks. The San Miguel Market (indoor) has many stalls offering a huge variety of tapas and drinks (alcoholic and non-).

On my first visit, I found the HOHO bus a good idea just to see the various parts of the city (2 lines). It was not good for getting around as it went very slowly, getting stuck in traffic a lot. There are 2 audio channels in English, one for adults and one for kids. The one for adults was not very interesting and sometimes hard to follow (descriptions of buildings we'd passed already or hadn't got to yet). The one for kids was entertaining.

The only must see in Madrid is el Prado. It's a world class art gallery. There are a wide range of museums that are okay, worth seeing if the subject matter is interesting to you.

I also like Temple Debod. It's an Egyptian temple that was taken from Egypt when the Aswan Dam was built and sent to Spain as a gift.

There are parks in the area that are nice on a good day, most notably Retiro Park. Plaza Mayor is the best plaza in town but it was a homeless community after dark when I was there in 2012. They all had political signs, I think related to the miner's union.

Dgreeney,

If you don't care too much about museums, you might like to take a day trip to Toledo or Segovia when you're in Madrid.

Enjoy your trip!