1. Hispanidad 2026
Madrid's sixth Hispanidad festival packs more than 200 activities into ten days across roughly 70 venues, with the United States as guest country for the 250th anniversary of its independence. The free concerts at Plaza de España carry the long weekend: Aterciopelados on Friday, Sebastián Yatra on Saturday, Marta Sánchez on Sunday and Carlos Baute closing on Monday. Theatre, folklore and exhibitions fill out the rest of the programme.
🚩 Other Events
🏛️ Madrid (multiple venues)
🎟️ Free
📅 Until 12 October
⏰ Times vary by activity
2. Agave y Maíz, Mexican festival
Four days of Mexican cooking on the banks of the Manzanares, built around two ingredients: agave, distilled into tequila, mezcal and sotol, and nixtamalised corn for tacos, tostadas and tamales. Madrid's Sello Copil restaurants cook live, a stage hosts Mexican music, and a Best Taco contest is judged in front of the public. Sunday is the family day, and a crafts market runs throughout.
🚩 Food & Drinks
🏛️ Puente del Rey, Madrid Río (Explanada de Puente del Rey)
🎟️ Free
📅 9–12 October
⏰ Fri–Sun 12:00–24:00, Mon 12:00–18:00
3. Altar de Muertos, Casa de México
Casa de México turns its Chamberí home into a tribute to composer Agustín Lara, with a multi-level Día de Muertos altar of marigolds, candles, copal incense and papel picado, built in the style of Michoacán cemetery ofrendas. Guided tours of about 20 minutes explain the symbolism layer by layer, and bookable workshops cover papel picado, sugar skulls and calavera face painting.
🚩 Exhibitions & Art
🏛️ Fundación Casa de México en España (Calle de Alberto Aguilera, 20)
🎟️ Free
📅 Until 8 November
⏰ Weekends: guided tours only, 13:00–20:30 (booking required). Monday 12 October: free walk-in, 10:00–18:45
4. Dante's Inferno, Doré and Rauschenberg
Two complete series on the same poem meet for the first time: 76 woodcuts by Gustave Doré from the nineteenth century and 35 lithographs by Robert Rauschenberg from the 1960s, set against the nine circles of Dante's Inferno. Doré goes monumental and medieval, Rauschenberg fragmentary and contemporary. The Fundación Canal show, in the Sala Mateo Inurria 2, is curated by Lola Durán Úcar and opened this week.
🚩 Exhibitions & Art
🏛️ Fundación Canal, Sala Mateo Inurria 2 (Calle Mateo Inurria, 2)
🎟️ Free
📅 Until 5 January
⏰ Weekdays and holidays 11:00–20:00, Wed 11:00–15:00
5. Kenny Scharf at the Thyssen
The Museo Thyssen-Bornemisza gives its Postpop rooms to Kenny Scharf, the Los Angeles artist who coined the term pop surrealism and worked alongside Basquiat and Haring in 1980s New York. Saturated colour and anthropomorphic figures run through his paintings, sculpture and installation work, and the pieces are hung next to works from the Blanca and Borja Thyssen-Bornemisza Collection.
🚩 Exhibitions & Art
🏛️ Museo Thyssen-Bornemisza (Paseo del Prado, 8)
🎟️ €14
📅 Until 17 January
⏰ Tue–Fri and Sun 10:00–19:00, Sat 10:00–21:00, Mon 12:00–16:00 (free)
6. Dulce venganza, Felix Gonzalez-Torres
The Reina Sofía's first large show of Felix Gonzalez-Torres in Madrid spreads more than 50 works over ten rooms, many made to be touched: stacks of paper to take away, a candy pile restocked as visitors help themselves, beaded curtains to walk through. Curated by Alejandro Cesarco and Nancy Spector, Dulce venganza takes its title from the artist's own words on returning to Madrid in 1991.
🚩 Exhibitions & Art
🏛️ Museo Reina Sofía (Calle de Santa Isabel, 52)
🎟️ €12
📅 Until 12 October
⏰ Mon, Wed–Sat 10:00–21:00, Sun 10:00–14:30, closed Tue
7. Quantum Revolution
A five-part route through quantum physics, from Newton's clockwork universe to quantum computing, with more than 120 pieces including a seventeenth-century volume by Galileo. Curated with physicist Sonia Fernández-Vidal, Quantum Revolution mixes historical instruments with contemporary art, a photoelectric-effect display and a VR piece called Quantum Lens for visitors aged 12 and over.
🚩 Exhibitions & Art
🏛️ Espacio Fundación Telefónica (Calle de Fuencarral, 3)
🎟️ Free
📅 Until 11 October
⏰ Tue–Fri 10:00–20:00, weekends 11:00–20:00, closed Mon
8. Martin Parr, A Matter of Taste
A tribute to photographer Martin Parr (1952 to 2025), organised with the Martin Parr Foundation in Bristol, fills two galleries. The first holds his best-known series, shot in saturated colour with ring flash: The Last Resort, from the crowded beaches of New Brighton in the mid-1980s, and Common Sense from 1999, with its food, jewellery and souvenirs. The second gallery turns to his fashion work.
🚩 Exhibitions & Art
🏛️ Marc Bibiloni (Calle Divino Vallés, 12)
🎟️ Free
📅 Until 31 October
⏰ Tue–Fri 11:00–19:00, Sat 11:00–15:00 (closed Sun and Mon)
9. Human Universe
A 70-minute trip through the inside of the body, staged as a fictional research base called Genesis Base. Six themed rooms use virtual reality, 3D mapping and interactive stations to cover human evolution, the nervous system and the immune system. Human Universe is a world premiere, fills more than 1,000 square metres at Espacio Delicias and is aimed at visitors aged eight and over.
🚩 Tours & Experiences
🏛️ Espacio Delicias (Calle del Párroco Eusebio Cuenca, 63)
🎟️ From €17.50 (€14.60 for special concessions)
📅 Until 7 January
⏰ Wed–Thu 16:00–19:30, Fri 16:00–20:00, Sat–Sun and holidays 11:00–13:30 and 16:00–20:00
10. Smithsonian Starstruck (VR)
Groups of up to four walk freely through deep space in a 40-minute VR experience built from real telescope data by the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory and Fever. The route passes the Hubble and James Webb telescopes, solar flares, the Pillars of Creation and the edge of a supermassive black hole, with participants appearing as translucent avatars. Visitors must be 10 or over.
🚩 Tours & Experiences
🏛️ Fever Immersive Center (Calle de Raimundo Fernández Villaverde, 57)
🎟️ From €17
📅 Until 30 December
⏰ Sessions 11:00–13:20 and 16:00–19:40
11. The Odyssey, the immersive journey
Homer's epic as a 90-minute walk-through in five zones: live theatrical scenes, an interactive metaverse, a multisensory VR module, a 360° film of eight short episodes (the Cyclops, the Sirens, Circe) and a closing holographic installation. It comes from the MAD Madrid Artes Digitales team behind the Tutankhamun, Pompeii, Titanic and Cleopatra shows, with narration in Spanish and English.
🚩 Tours & Experiences
🏛️ MAD Madrid Artes Digitales (Plaza de Legazpi, 8)
🎟️ From €19.90
📅 Until 18 October
⏰ See official site for session times
12. Wicked, El Musical
The Spanish production of Wicked, El Musical returns for what is billed as its last Madrid season, telling the story of the witches of Oz before Dorothy through the friendship of Elphaba and Glinda. The score by Stephen Schwartz includes Defying Gravity, Popular and For Good, and the show has run for 23 years on Broadway and 20 in the West End, here with a local cast and live orchestra.
🚩 Shows & Dance
🏛️ Nuevo Teatro Alcalá (Calle de Jorge Juan, 62)
🎟️ From €27
📅 Until 15 November
⏰ Fri 17:00 and 21:00, Sat 16:00 and 20:00, Sun 12:00 and 16:00
13. Shakira, final two dates in Madrid
Estadio Shakira, a temporary 50,000-capacity stadium built inside the Iberdrola Music complex in Villaverde, hosts the last two dates of Shakira's Las Mujeres Ya No Lloran residency, on Saturday and Sunday. The site is dressed as Macondo Park, with the Es Latina programme of food, art, fashion and a children's area called Macondito built around the concert. Over 450,000 tickets have sold across the eleven dates.
🚩 Music & Concerts
🏛️ Estadio Shakira, Iberdrola Music (Villaverde)
🎟️ From €73.50
📅 10 and 11 October (final dates)
⏰ 20:30
14. Madrid Corre en Español (10K)
A first-edition 10K that starts at Puente del Rey, runs through Príncipe Pío, Parque del Oeste and Calle Princesa to Plaza de España, then circles the lake in Casa de Campo before returning to Madrid Río. Organised by the Comunidad de Madrid as part of Hispanidad, it has a 10,000-runner cap, children's races for up to 1,000 young runners and shares the esplanade with Agave y Maíz.
🚩 Sport & Fitness
🏛️ Puente del Rey, Madrid Río
🎟️ From €14
📅 11 October
⏰ 10:00
15. Halloween at Parque Warner
Parque Warner's Halloween season runs on two tracks: eight horror passages and scare zones with live actors, including Expedientes Warren, IT Experience and La Monja, plus daytime parades and a Looney Tunes show for younger visitors. Expedientes Warren and the musical La Maldición de Drácula are new this year. The scare zones are not recommended for young children, so the daytime shows suit families better.
🚩 Family & Kids
🏛️ Parque Warner Madrid (Autovía A-4, exit 22, San Martín de la Vega)
🎟️ From €32.90
📅 Until 2 November
⏰ Varies by date, check official calendar
