Prado tickets/ no hour indicated

Jennie,

I didn't book our tickets in advance when we visited this beautiful museum years ago, however, I just read this on the museum's official website, under "prices":

This ticket allows the holder to visit the museum collection and temporary exhibitions on the same day.
In case of temporary exhibitions with controlled visitor capacity, it is necessary to acquire the pertinent time pass.

I originally read the above in Spanish & the English translation is a bit different (explained below)

La entrada incluye la visita a la Colección y a las exposiciones temporales, y es válida para todo el día.
Para las exposiciones temporales con control de aforo, es necesario adquirir el pase horario correspondiente.
Con motivo de determinadas exposiciones temporales, los precios de entrada podrán ser modificados durante el tiempo que dure la muestra.

The last part of the first sentence above which reads; "y es válida para todo el día", translates as
follows: and it (the ticket) is valid all day. However on the English translation found on the website, it reads as;
"on the same day".

Anyway, the second sentence explains that one needs a timed pass only for temporary exhibitions with controlled visitor capacity.

So...I think you can visit the museum on the date of your ticket at any time, up until 30 minutes before closing.

Keep in mind that the busiest time to visit is between 11am - 2pm & during the free admission times ( 6pm- 8pm Monday--Saturday and 5pm-7pm on Sundays & holidays), so you may want to avoid these times.

Having said all this, you may want to contact them via email or phone to ask your question & confirm this information.

Enjoy your trip!

Jennie,
I also attempted to buy a museum ticket ( up to before payment part) & it never gave me the option to choose a timed entry, so I think you should be fine.

Just to confirm Priscilla' s post , we spent two days at the Prado last week , the timing only applied to the Bosch exhibition ( which was mobbed , but worth the effort ) . We had a two day ticket and entry was valid at any time during visiting hours .

By the way , do buy the ticket online , the ticket buying line was the the worst I have seen , anywhere in Europe , with the online ticket , there was only a very short wait to go through security at the entrance

For anyone else reading this, if you haven't bought an advance online ticket: I had great success going at the end of the day, when there was no ticket line, and buying a ticket for a few days later (I did have to specify which day I wanted the ticket for, and it was only good for that day).

I suspect this crowding is the result of the Bosch exhibition. In mid-May (pre-exhibition) things weren't bad at all, and one of my two visits was on the May 18 free-museum-entry day. It's interesting that one of the two little mobs I encountered in the museum was clustered in front of Bosch's "Garden of Earthly Delights". The second cluster of viewer was in front of Velazquez's "Las Meninas".

Jennie,
I'd sent an email to the Prado Museum to confirm what I understood from their website, and just received their reply today.

So, your ticket is valid for the date you chose & it's valid all day.

The only time they offer timed entries is when they have special exhibitions that require controlled visitor capacity, as explained on their website.

Enjoy Spain!

I was also in Madrid in May (and have been three other times). I have never seen an incredibly long line at the Prado. I, too, suspect the Bosch exhibit is causing part of the current problem. There are lots of times during the day when there is no line at all.