Unique experiences in Madrid?

The Royal Palace is a very nice place to visit similar to Versailles in France. There is a great arms collection there as well. Another place to consider is Mercado San Miguel. Lots of tapas and shops. If you are into soccer, go see Real Madrid's stadium for a tour. Retiro Park is a great place to just kick back and enjoy being outdoors.

We visited in November 2013, and arrived in town on the night of the Fiesta of La Almudena, Madrid's patron female saint. Although this is another church-related event, if you'll be there on November 9, 2017, it's a Madrid-only thing. A large crowd gathered and lined up that evening to go inside the Cathedral de la Almudena, next door to the royal palace. We joined the queue, but once we got to the door of the cathedral, it was obvious this was a solemn religious experience for the participants, and we didn't go in any farther. A stage was set up outside, all decked up, and they had events going on that evening and the next day. Still, Madrid's the only place that this goes on in the world.

One evening we attended a Zarzuela performance -- sort of a costumed musical-opera that is, again, exclusive to Madrid. Rick Steves' guidebook has details. We got ticket reservations before we left the USA, and picked them up at the box office, but one guy showed up at the last minute while we were picking up our tickets, and as the show apparently wasn't completely sold out, he got a last minute, cheap-seat ticket on the spot.

We loved the Royal Palace-honestly, I liked it better than what I saw(not the entire palace) at Versailles. I was really disappointed that we weren't allowed to take photos and the guidebook I bought didn't show all my favorite things I saw.

You can walk around and visit all the non-museum places like Plaza de España, Fuente de Neptuno, Plaza de Cibeles, Puerta del Sol, Plaza Mayor, Puente and Puerta de Toledo, giant toad statue (Rana de Suerte), Puerta de Alcala, or tour the bullring. On Sunday is El Rastro flea market. That should kill some time.

Madrid, Spain
What to see and do

•One of Europe's largest Royal Palaces
•The Prado, regarded by many as the world's finest art museum
•Two additional major art museums - Reina Sofia and Thyssen Bornemisza
•A plethora of smaller museums, like the Sorolla, Lazaro Galdiano, Caixa Forum
•Grand civic spaces like Plaza Mayor, Puerta del Sol, Plaza de Espana, Plaza de Oriente, Plaza de Cibeles, Puerta del Alcala
•Wonderful city parks, notably El Retiro
•Two historic royal convents - Las Descalzas Reales & La Encarnacion
•The emblematic Palace of Communications and
Metropolis Buildings
•A real life Egyptian Temple - The Temple of Debod
•The famous El Rastro flea market
•Mercado San Miguel - a fresh food market with very popular tapas bars
•Vibrant historic neighbourhoods with wonderful shopping, bars and restaurants

I really enjoyed the botanical garden (modest entry fee), which is near El Retiro Park. The Temple of Debod was interesting but is in a slightly obscure location unless you're already at the Palacio Real.

You might like to check out the roof top bar at ME Reina Victoria Hotel on Plaza Santa Ana.

The Temple of Delbod has just reopened after a several month closure for sprucing up. Lots of green space in Madrid. Food markets and flea markets. One could suggest a day trip to Segovia for Roman aqueduct and roast suckling pig.
Cyn, thanks for the La Almudena experience. I am there Nov 9th, but was rushing to Madrid from Toledo that day as it appeared that festivities start the morning of Nov 9th. Guess I should revisit those details.

We were in Madrid earlier this month and took a "Devour" food tour. The specific one we took was "Hidden Madrid Neighborhood and Market Tour" and it was one of the highlights of our trip. Our guide was awesome and we felt that we got to have a glimpse in to areas of Madrid and have experiences that we otherwise would not have.

We tried to get up to the rooftop bar at the hotel in Plaza Santa Ana, and it was quite exclusive. Looked like you needed to be of a certain age and dress to get past the bouncer. We were told that the top of the El Corte Ingles had just a nice of a view, but we never made it.

I did enjoy the Rick Steves city walk in Madrid. It led us around to some interesting areas.