Madrid Las Ventas Bullring Tour & Audio Guide with Museum

4.67

(256 reviews)

What’s the experience like?

We’d already been in Madrid a few days when we found ourselves standing under the arches of Las Ventas, audio guides hanging from our necks. The square outside was loud — traffic, someone selling roasted almonds (the smell followed us in). Inside, though, everything felt quieter. I pressed play and suddenly it was just me and the echo of old footsteps on stone. My friend tried to guess what “puerta grande” meant before the guide explained it — she was way off but laughed anyway.

The audio tour let us go as slow as we wanted. I leaned against the red railings looking out at the empty sand ring — it’s bigger than you think. There were a couple of other visitors whispering in French nearby. At one point, I caught a whiff of something musty near the chapel (old wood maybe?), and for a second it hit me how much history has happened here. I didn’t expect to feel that. We wandered through the Bullfighting Museum next; some of those costumes are so bright they almost hurt your eyes in this soft light.

Before leaving, we tried the virtual bullfighting game (I was terrible — my reflexes are hopeless). The staff didn’t judge; one guy even gave us tips in Spanish-English mix. It’s funny how you can walk into a place expecting just another tourist stop and end up thinking about tradition and spectacle and all these things you don’t usually talk about at lunch. So yeah, if you’re curious about Madrid’s Las Ventas bullring or just want to see something different, this day trip is easy to fit in — especially since you can do it all at your own pace with the audio guide.