Madrid Royal Palace

We just used the audio guides they have. We took the kitchen tour also but the tour was in Spanish but the audio guide included it the rooms. If you go on your own, purchase tickets online. Even in early October the lines were extremely long. When you have your online tickets, just walk past the line to the left sided entrance and walk right in.

My wife and I were there last month. We also used the audioguide and found it to be very good. Tip: bring your own wired ear-buds. Better sound, more comfortable and cleaner.

It is nice to go at your own pace. You can speed up or slow down to avoid any large group.

We also were happy with the audio guide. We enjoyed the separate Royal Armory exhibit more than we expected and suggest you not miss it.

I had the impression a lot of the visitors were Spaniards, perhaps even locals. It might be worth trying to go on a weekday rather than a weekend.

I love the Royal Palace, for me the highlight is the armor musem. I only say this because I'm not sure people know what a great site it is as I am always the only person walking around that part of the palace. I find it way more impressive than living areas . J

I did the in-house guided tour and kind of regretted it. The guide was pretty robotic and moved us a long at a pace I probably wouldn't have matched on my own.

We were on the Rick Steves Barcelona and Madrid tour with Federico Garcia Barroso as our guide. He was terrific. For the Royal Palace, he assumed the persona of King Carlos III and narrated in character. Really helped bring things to life. He has his own company: https://spainfred.com/

I'll add another vote for the Armory museum at the Royal Palace. It was far more interesting than expected. It's a large collection, well presented, particularly the equestrian armor, with many pieces actually displayed on horses. Honestly, it really was more interesting than the palace itself. As someone once said of Versailles, "I mean, you can only look at so many bedrooms before your eyes glaze over."