Monastery of Las Descalzas Reales

I’ve been, and I enjoyed it.

That said, all the Patrimonio, or National history sites, have horrible guides who are disinterested robots, at best. And a guided tour is the only way to visit here. (For what it’s worth, I did the tour in Spanish.)

They've changed the entry procedures so you can pre-book an English-language tour. At the time of my 2016 visit, all you could do was show up and hope there was a spot left on a tour that had been created at the behest of a tour company. I ended up taking a Spanish tour even though I knew I'd understand virtually nothing. I will definitely go back on my next visit to Madrid so I can take an English tour.

I'm sorry to hear the guides are less than the best, but Rick has some useful information in his guide book, and it's not an expensive ticket. It would certainly be worth it to me, but I like art.

I should have mentioned that I my language level allows me to comfortably choose Spanish tours. (It’s always my preference, even if sometimes I feel like I’m having on for dear life!)

I thoroughly enjoyed my visit several years ago. I got stuck with a Spanish language tour. I understood a little. At the end of the tour, the guide walked over to me and another British couple and spent 5-6 minutes explaining things in English and answering our questions.

It's more appropriate for a second visit to Madrid, but we enjoyed it, with very analog tickets! You are not allocated very much time in each room, which is annoying if you go to see particular works of art on the wall. BTW, the most overlooked museum in Madrid is actually huge and enjoyable, the Real Academia de Bellas Artes, an easy walk from Puerta del Sol. There are hundreds of superb, important paintings on display, and you will be alone with the guards for many of them.

the most overlooked museum in Madrid is actually huge and enjoyable, the Real Academia de Bellas Artes

This x 100!

Though I wouldn’t even call it an “easy walk from Sol”, more like “just steps from Sol”.