Café Prado: costly sandwiches, good wifi and nice aesthetics.

P.º del Prado, s/n, Retiro, 28014 Madrid

When you visit Prado, most likely it is going to be hours of marathon to enjoy the art in the Museum. Hoping to the café will be tempting.

Almost impossible to avoid. Café Prado is located on the ground floor at Mueso del Prado next to the open gift shop where you can take a museum break, rest your feet and enjoy a light meal, snack and/or drink. Opening hours are the same as the museum but last service is provided 30 minutes prior to scheduled museum closing. Interestingly, this is the only cafe or food & beverage service kiosk in the entire museum, meaning it can be quite busy during midday.

A coffee or a drink here in between art viewing will cost you a bit, but I like to say that there is always cost and value. To give you an idea, a 1/8 portion of tortilla costs €9. A ham and cheese sandwich with a bechamel €9 etc etc. Cost a bit too much, but very valued when you’re exhausted. You will also find other variety of snacks like sandwiches, salads, cakes, etc.

We arrived after a couple hours of viewing the temporary exhibitions at Prado to find a queue of around 25 people at the lunchtime period. Queue moved relatively quickly and we had our cake and drinks within 15 minutes. There is a variety of pastry and quick bites as well as the expected range of water, soft drinks, beer and coffee drinks you order at the counter. Food and drink is provided at the counter upon order and then you simply find a seat, assuming they are available. We enjoyed a slice of carrot cake that was soft, moist, very rich and sweet. Espresso was bold and tasted fine.

So, this is your only cafe option at Prado. My opinion? It definitely needs more than one, possibly on higher floors. You should think about queues and crowds if you are planning a longer visit to the museum and wanting to allow time for break at the cafe at some point during the day. Note: It might be worth your time to have one member of your party find seats and secure them while others remain in the queue to give and receive orders.

Note: wifi signal is very strong at Café Prado so you can manage your queue time here by checking emails or better yet, reading up on artworks that you are wanting to see in the Prado galleries while waiting.