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An insider's guide to the best festivals and events in Madrid, including the Auschwitz Exhibition at Centro de Exposiciones Arte Canal, opera at the Teatro Real and the Dos de Mayo and San Isidro Festivals. By Telegraph Travel's Madrid expert, Annie Bennett.

Calendar of festivals and events 2018

Auschwitz Exhibition at Centro de Exposiciones Arte Canal
Until June 17

Madrid is the first stop for this outstanding exhibition, co-produced by the Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum and Musealia, which will tour the world over the next seven years. There are more than 600 exhibits from the camp, as well as photographs, documents and audiovisual displays.

Centro de Exposiciones Arte Canal Auschwitz - Credit: JVARILLAS
More than 600 exhibits about Auschwitz will be portrayed at the Centro de Exposiciones Arte Canal Credit: JVARILLAS

Admission: from €6 (£5)
Contact: Paseo de la Castellana 214; 00 34 91 5451500; auschwitz.net

Andy Warhol, Mechanical Art at CaixaForum Madrid
February 1-May 6

The CaixaForum Madrid cultural centre is celebrating its 10th anniversary in 2018 with an impressive programme that includes the largest exhibition by Andy Warhol to be held in Spain, with around 350 works. Many of the artist’s most iconic creations will be on display, such as the Marilyn Monroe portraits and the Brillo Pad and Campbell’s Soup paintings, as well as sculptures, photographs, films, posters and record covers.

Admission: €4 (£3.50)
Contact: Paseo del Prado 36; 00 34 91 3307300; caixaforum.es/madrid



Aida at the Teatro Real
March 7-25

There is a particularly impressive programme at the Teatro Real this season as it is celebrating the 200 th anniversary of its foundation in 1818 and the 20 th anniversary of the opera house’s reopening following extensive renovations. This production of Verdi’s Aida was one of the first operas to be staged following the reopening and the original director, Hugo de Ana, is returning with an updated version with a cast including Violeta Urmana, Anna Pirozzi, Ekaterina Semenchuk and Gregory Kunde.

Teatro Real - Credit: AP
Teatro Real Credit: AP

Admission: tickets from €45 (£39)
Contact: Plaza de Isabel II; 00 34 91 5160660; teatro-real.com

The best hotels in Madrid
The best hotels in Madrid

Rubens, Painter of Sketches at the Prado Museum
April 10-August 5

This exhibition, organised in conjunction with the Boijmans Van Beuningen Museum in Rotterdam, showcases the important role played by Rubens in European art history as a creator of oil sketches. As well as around 70 sketches, displays include 20 paintings, drawings and other works that provide background context.

An exhibition at the Prado Museum - Credit: Getty
An exhibition at the Prado Museum Credit: Getty

Admission: €15 (£13)
Contact: Calle Felipe IV; 00 34 91 3302800; museodelprado.es

Dos de Mayo and San Isidro Festivals
Throughout May

The Dos de Mayo festival, which lasts for at least a week, commemorates Madrid’s battle against French troops on May 2, 1808. May 2 is also the Day of the Madrid Region and is a public holiday. A lively programme of arts events and concerts, focused in the Malasaña area, merges into the San Isidro festival centred on May 15 (also a public holiday). This is the feast day of the patron saint of Madrid and is celebrated with bullfights, processions and street parties in the Austrias neighbourhood and in the Pradera de San Isidro park, with events on for at least two weeks around the main date.

San Isidro Festival, Madrid - Credit: © Paul Gordon / Alamy Stock Photo
San Isidro is the patron saint of Madrid Credit: © Paul Gordon / Alamy Stock Photo

Admission: outdoor activities are mostly free; varying prices for other events
Contact: madrid.org/fiestasdel2demayoesmadrid.com/en/san-isidro

Madrid Cool Festival
July 12-14

The line-up at Madrid Cool includes Rag’n’Bone Man, Pearl Jam, Queens of the Stone Age, Depeche Mode, Fleet Foxes, Tame Impala, Franz Ferdinand, Jack Johnson, Kasabian, Snow Patrol and Massive Attack. Now in its third year, the festival is going from strength to strength and this year has a new venue, Espacio Mad Cool in Valdebebas in the north of the city, with seven stages and a much bigger capacity.  

Admission: One day ticket €76 (£67); three day ticket €165 (£145).
Contactmadcoolfestival.es

San Cayetano, San Lorenzo and La Paloma festivals
First two weeks of August

Madrid’s summer street festivals are aimed at locals rather than tourists and involve dancing to live bands, alfresco eating and activities for all ages. Events take place along the sloping streets of the Austrias and Lavapiés neighbourhoods, the oldest and most characterful areas of the city. Just head for Plaza de la Paja and Plaza de las Vistillas.

San Cayetano, San Lorenzo and La Paloma festivals, Madrid - Credit: Alamy
Madrid’s most traditional street festivals, put on for locals rather than tourists, involve dancing to live bands, alfresco eating and activities for all ages Credit: Alamy

Admission: free
Contact: esmadrid.com/fiestas-agosto-madrid

Max Beckmann, Figures in Exile, at the Thyssen-Bornemisza Museum
October 23-January 27

This exhibition by one of Germany’s leading 20 th -century artists is divided into two parts: his earlier work produced in Germany before the First World War, and his artistic development during his time in exile in Amsterdam and the United States. Curated by Tomás Llorens, the show comprises more than 50 paintings, sculptures and lithographs.

Admission: €12 (£10.60)
Contact: Paseo del Prado 8; 00 34 91 7911370; museothyssen.org/en/exposiciones/max-beckmann-figures-exile