What should I pack for Madrid?

Walking shoes matter more than anything else you pack for Madrid. The city looks flat on Google Maps, but the streets around La Latina drop steeply toward the Manzanares River, and the uneven adoquín cobblestones around Plaza Mayor and Calle de Toledo will shred thin-soled sneakers in 2 days. You'll cover 12-15 km on a typical sightseeing day between the Prado, Retiro Park, and the Royal Palace. Leather-soled shoes slip on polished granite. Go with broken-in trainers or walking sandals with ankle support. Mind you, Madrid's sidewalks are generally well-maintained compared to, say, Lisbon or Rome, but the slopes in the older barrios catch people off guard.

June in Madrid tends to split into cool mornings around 18-20°C and dry afternoons that reach 33-36°C by 3 PM. The humidity currently sits around 73% at dawn but drops to 20-30% by midday, so sweat evaporates fast and you might not realize you're dehydrating. Pack 3-4 light cotton or linen tops, one long-sleeve shirt for over-cooled restaurants (the AC inside Mercado de San Miguel runs aggressive enough to raise goosebumps after the heat outside), and one pair of trousers or a knee-length skirt for the Almudena Cathedral, which still enforces a no-bare-shoulders, no-shorts-above-the-knee dress code. That said, Madrid leans casual. Madrileños wear shorts and sandals everywhere from Gran Vía to the terrazas on Paseo de la Castellana. Sunglasses are non-negotiable. The June sun at Madrid's 650-meter altitude hits harder than at sea level, and the glare off white limestone buildings is intense.

Spain uses Type C and Type F plugs at 230V, 50Hz. If you're coming from the US, your phone and laptop chargers likely handle 100-240V (check the fine print on the adapter brick), but hair dryers and straighteners rated for 110V will burn out or trip the breaker. A single 2-port Type C adapter covers every hotel and Airbnb socket in the city. Bring a portable battery pack. A full day at the Museo del Prado (founded 1819, allow 3 hours minimum), then the Reina Sofía (Picasso's Guernica alone is worth the 12€ ticket), then navigating back to your hotel via the Metro app will drain most phones by 4 PM. The free Madrid Metro app works offline once downloaded, which helps in the deeper stations where signal drops out entirely.

Skip packing sunscreen, ibuprofen, and a full toiletry kit. Any Mercadona supermarket sells Delial SPF50 for about 6€, roughly half the US airport price. Pharmacies marked with a green cross (farmacias) stock Nurofen 400mg ibuprofen for 3-4€ without a prescription. You'll find one every 3-4 blocks in Malasaña and Chueca. An umbrella between June and September is dead weight. Madrid averages 5 rainy days total across those 4 months. If a freak storm hits, any chino (the local term for a variety shop) sells compact umbrellas for 3€. Worth noting, the tap water in Madrid comes from the Sierra de Guadarrama reservoirs and tastes clean. A reusable water bottle saves you 1.50€ per purchase at the tourist-area kiosks near Puerta del Sol.