Guide
What to see and do in Madrid in May?
With the arrival of May, Madrid fills with exciting activities to enjoy in your free time. Discover everything the city has to offer this month, beyond strolling through its streets and having picnics with friends.
In this guide
72 listed
- The Champions Burger Las Rozas 2026
For a few weeks, Las Rosas will host a venue in which hundreds of burgers will compete to win the vote of everyone who tries them.
- Madrid Food Fest
Museo del Ferrocarril de Madrid will host the first Madrid Food Fest, bringing together Michelin-starred chefs, local producers and an open cultural programme.
- Madrid International Wine Fair
In May, Madrid becomes the world centre of wine: IFEMA Palacio Municipal will host the first edition of the WINEMAD fair, where meetings, tastings and masterclasses will bring professionals and enthusiasts together in a lively, aromatic programme of events.
- Mutua Madrid Open
The brightest stars of world tennis will take to the court again for the main spring spectacle at the Caja Mágica.
- Concurso de Saltos Internacional de Madrid
The best riders and elegant horses will gather at Club de Campo Villa de Madrid to offer the public a spectacular world-class show.
- Women's Race
The capital will once again host the most important sporting event for women and their solidarity, raising awareness of breast cancer.
- Carrera Niños sin Cáncer City 2026
In Madrid, Juan Carlos I park will welcome participants who will run to support research against childhood cancer.
- 5th Madrid Marcha International Grand Prix
On 31 May, Gran Vía will come alive to the rhythm of the steps of the world’s best race walkers: central Madrid will become an urban circuit for Madrid Marcha.
- World Climbing Series Comunidad de Madrid 2026
In May, Madrid will become the stage for world bouldering, where athletes will show their explosive speed and refined technique in two stages of the World Climbing Series.
- International Museum Day
Madrid becomes an open-air museum: gallery doors open so that artworks and objects can meet everyone who wishes to see them.
- «Madrid Open Skies 2026» festival
Madrid welcomes spring from on high, literally. The city’s best hotels open their terraces and rooftops to the public: open-air parties, gastronomy, brunches, pools and perfect sunsets await you.
- ‘Complutum Renacida’ Festival
At the beginning of May, Alcalá de Henares recovers the daily life of ancient Complutum. For a few days, craft stalls, a legionaries' camp and arenas for combat will be set up here.
- «Plazas con Alma 2026» Festival
In Carabanchel, streets and parks temporarily become stages: the neighbourhood hosts dozens of performances, from dance to live music and street theatre.
- “IlustraweekMadrid” festival
IlustraWeekMadrid returns to Madrid and turns the city into a large map of illustration, with exhibitions, fairs and events in dozens of venues.
- Festival of artistic interventions in Lavapiés “CALLE 2026”
For a few days, Lavapiés will become an open-air gallery: the CALLE festival will take place here, with 50 urban artists taking part.
- Festival «Mazda House: workshops, music and Japanese culture»
In central Madrid, a space opens for one month where visitors can hear the sound of the koto, gather moss to create a kokedama and see how cracks in ceramics become part of a new object.
- Madrid 2 May Festivities
Madrid will once again host a celebration dedicated to 2 May. Concerts, exhibitions, parades and much more await residents.
- Historical reenactment of 2 May
At the beginning of May, the streets of Madrid fill with soldiers carrying muskets, riders and battle scenes, and the best-known squares briefly bring the history of 1808 back to life.
- ‘Madrid in the sky’ drone show
On the afternoon of 2 May, a thousand drones will cross the sky over Madrid’s La Latina neighbourhood and begin to draw scenes from the city’s history in it.
- Festival of the Mayas and Mayos
At the beginning of May, Madrid fills with floral altars, and among them appears the figure of the Maya, a girl in a festive light-coloured dress, around whom one of the city’s quietest and most recognisable spring traditions is organised.
- San Isidro festivities
In mid-May, Madrid will, as always, be the most colourful and fun city. The capital will honour its patron saint San Isidro Labrador.
- San Isidro Fair 2026
Las Ventas is preparing for the season’s longest cycle: from early May to almost mid-June, the arena moves to the intense rhythm of the San Isidro Fair 2026.
- Concert series «Sonido Madrid en Vivo 26 San Isidro»
In Madrid, as part of the «Sonido Madrid en Vivo» series, the city's clubs and concert venues offer a programme of more than twenty live performances in different genres over several days.
- «International Jazz Day 2026» concert series
Jazz returns to Madrid’s clubs: the city launches a series of concerts to mark the International Day of this genre.
- Bad Bunny concert
Madrid will be the capital of Latin American sound next spring, when Bad Bunny returns with a new tour, blowing up the boundaries of the genre and drawing tens of thousands of people to Riyadh Air Metropolitano stadium.
- Eric Clapton concert
Eric Clapton returns to Spain to perform his legendary hits live and immerse Madrid in the atmosphere of classic rock and blues.
- Concert ‘Flashback Show Europa’
At the Gran Teatro CaixaBank Príncipe Pío, hits from different decades come together in a single musical show with a DJ and artists on stage.
- Martin Urrutia Concert
Martin will perform at Sala But in Madrid to present his debut album, La Insolación, with new songs and a unique musical show.
- Candlelight Ballet: El Lago de los Cisnes
An intimate and moving version of Tchaikovsky’s classic comes to Círculo de Bellas Artes in a format that has won over thousands of spectators.
- Sesión Vermú
Sesión Vermú 2026 returns to Madrid with live music throughout the region.
- The Antiquarian and Second-hand Book Fair
The Madrid Antiquarian and Second-hand Book Fair again occupies Paseo de Recoletos, turning it into a long row of open-air book pavilions.
- 10th Puente de Vallecas Book Fair
The Puente de Vallecas Book Fair celebrates its tenth edition and once again takes over Peña Gorbea Street, where books, authors and readers will come together for several days.
- Grand Medieval Fair
At the beginning of May, El Álamo turns its streets for a few days into a medieval market where tournaments, parades and craft workshops take place instead of ordinary urban life.
- Madrilucía Fair
This spring, a new celebration with a southern character arrives in Madrid: the Madrilucía fair will bring the atmosphere of Andalusian fairs to the capital.
- International Record Fair
The convention pavilion at the Casa de Campo fairgrounds will host Spain’s largest vinyl fair, where collectors and record companies from different countries will present rare editions and new releases.
- Mercado de Motores
During the second weekend of every month, Mercado de Motores opens its doors so that you can buy unique items from local designers, craftspeople and chefs.
- Rivas festivities
The programme for the May 2026 festivities has been presented in Rivas-Vaciamadrid: four nights of concerts bringing Zahara, Ojete Calor, Barry B and other artists together on the same stage.
- Party «Techno Flamenco»
FABRIK will become the epicentre of rhythm and energy, where Marsal Ventura will fuse flamenco and techno in the year’s biggest session.
- Party ‘Fiestón Canario XXL’
Fabrik revives the nocturnal format that once brought together Madrid’s student youth and now becomes a major festival for Canary Islands Day.
- «Tardeo at Rita la Bailaora» party
On 15 May, the Rita la Bailaora venue will host a «tardeo» with live music, DJ sessions, dance shows and outdoor terraces.
- Go out partying with your parents by Rita's
Parents and children will gather in one place to relive the hits of recent decades at Rita’s party.
- Brunch! Electronik Madrid
Brunch Electronik Madrid will bring together four days of open-air electronic music, from the debut of Metamorfosi, led by Joseph Capriati, to Anyma’s new show, ÆDEN, which will close the season.
- Historic Tren de Arganda del Rey
The whistle of a locomotive can once again be heard on the outskirts of Madrid: the Tren de Arganda is once more travelling along its historic tracks and offers a journey where landscape and memory move at the same pace.
- Felipe II Train
Take a journey in a historic gem: a 20th-century train.
- Cervantes Train
A unique tourist itinerary through the birthplace of Spain’s most important writer, which will take us into his childhood and the Golden Age.
- Strawberry Train
A train from Madrid to Aranjuez is running once again, where the journey becomes a trip to 1851 and beyond.
- Train of the Windmills
Go and see Don Quixote’s giants on the now traditional train.
- Flight display
Over Madrid, historic aircraft rise into the sky, turning an ordinary Sunday into a fascinating spectacle of speed, technology and skill.
- Sensory experience ‘Literary Telephone Boxes’
Telephone boxes have appeared on the streets of Madrid from which literary works can be listened to free of charge in audio format.
- The Fountain Display at La Granja de San Ildefonso
In the gardens of La Granja, the fountains created for the royal residence are operating again.
- Immersive show “Rome: Forbidden Fights”
At the Zarzuela racecourse, spectators are invited not merely to contemplate Ancient Rome from outside but literally to immerse themselves in a story where the outcome of the fights is decided at arm’s length.
- ‘Harlem Globetrotters’ show
In May, the Harlem Globetrotters will bring Spain a commemorative centenary show in which basketball becomes a spectacular game halfway between sport and theatre.
- Real Ballet de Suecia «Julieta y Romeo» show
In May, Julieta will speak the language of contemporary choreography on the Teatro Real stage, in Mats Ek’s version presented by the Real Ballet de Suecia.
- Show «CantaJuego: The clown Tallarín»
On Sundays, the stage of Gran Teatro CaixaBank Príncipe Pío becomes a circus school where the CantaJuego characters prepare their first major performance alongside young spectators.
- Show «Carmen»
Freedom, passion and tragedy come to life on stage in a legendary opera that has won the hearts of generations of spectators
- Show ‘Alice in Wonderland’
The fourth season of this family musical inspired by the Lewis Carroll classic continues at Teatro Lara.
- Show “El Show de la Fantasy House”
The Gran Teatro CaixaBank Príncipe Pío will become the true world of Team Fantasy, where favourite YouTubers, their most striking characters and interactive games will come to life on stage, turning a family visit into a lively comic adventure.
- Show «Ballet of Lights: Cinderella»
«Cinderella» comes to life in a new ballet with luminous costumes: magic, dance and special effects await the audience at Colegio Mayor Elias Ahuja.
- Show ‘El hijo de la cómica’
José Sacristán takes to the stage with an account of Fernando Fernán Gómez, shaped from conversations, memories and other people's voices.
- Show «Rêve Cabaret»
Rêve Cabaret, a theatrical show about a former cabaret star trying to reconcile with her past by returning to a story of love, betrayal and lost glory, will be performed at Sala Galileo Galilei.
- El Prado at Night
Museo del Prado will reopen its doors at night so everyone can visit the new exhibitions.
- “Khufu’s Horizon: An expedition through ancient Egypt”
In central Madrid, a door to the past will open: in just a few steps, you can enter the secret passageways of the Great Pyramid and experience the atmosphere of Ancient Egypt.
- «El Imperio Fan Contraataca» exhibition
At Espacio Delicias in Madrid, the exhibition «El Imperio Fan Contraataca» has opened, where more than 600 objects from the same universe have been gathered in a single space that can be explored as though it were a sequential story.
- “Icónica Madrid. A storybook city” exhibition
The “Icónica Madrid” exhibition opens at Espacio Cultural Serrería Belga, devoted to the city’s visual symbols, from architecture to gastronomy and everyday details.
- Exhibition ‘Looking Again’
In Madrid, the underground reservoir at Plaza de Castilla ceases for a time to be a mere engineering work and becomes a space dedicated to the video art of Rosa Muñoz.
- Exhibition «Portrait of Doña Regla Manjón, Countess of Lebrija»
At Museo Cerralbo, a new cycle of exhibitions begins a journey through the women who were at the origins of cultural-heritage conservation in Spain.
- “Arcade Origins: The Beginning of the Video Game Industry” Exhibition
In Madrid, the OXO museum opens an exhibition that takes us back to the first arcade machines and shows the origins of the video game industry.
- Exhibition ‘Colours and Forms’
An exhibition opens on Calle de Belén in which form and colour become the principal means of dialogue between the artists and space.
- Exhibition «In the Italian Manner. Spain and Mediterranean Gothic»
The Museo del Prado opens an exhibition in which Italy and Spain of the Late Middle Ages meet in the same space through more than one hundred works made in a variety of techniques.
- Exhibition «La tempestad. El jardín de los senderos que se bifurcan. Avelino Sala»
The new exhibition at CentroCentro is presented as a sequential journey through Avelino Sala’s work, in which each room contributes a new perspective to the dialogue on contemporary life.
- «The Artist’s Universe Before the Camera» exhibition
The Museo del Prado’s new exhibition traces the moment when photography ceased to be a technical experiment and began to function as a language capable of depicting artists’ lives.
- IKONO Madrid
Immerse yourself in a new and madcap experience that will send all 5 senses soaring.
Entries with their own DondeGo page show its English title. The rest appear as the guide lists them, in Spanish.