Plaza de Toros de Las Ventas, Madrid
The Plaza de Toros de Las Ventas is Madrid’s bullring and the largest in Spain. It stands on Calle de Alcalá in the Salamanca district, east of the centre. This post describes the building and its history, the bullfighting season, and how to visit the ring and its museum on a tour, with 2026 hours and prices.
The building
Las Ventas was built on land known as Las Ventas del Espíritu Santo, which gave it its name. The project was by the architect José Espelius, who died during construction; Manuel Muñoz Monasterio completed it. According to Madrid’s tourist office the ring holds 23,798 spectators and the arena is 60 metres in diameter, which makes it the largest bullring in Spain and the third largest in the world, behind those of Mexico and Venezuela.
The style is Neo-Mudéjar: exposed brick decorated with hand-painted tiles. The glazed ceramics on the façade show the coats of arms of the Spanish provinces. Statues outside honour bullfighters such as Antonio Bienvenida, Luis Miguel Dominguín and José Cubero “El Yiyo”, and also Alexander Fleming, in recognition of what penicillin did for men wounded in the ring. Since 1994 the building has been a Bien de Interés Cultural in the category of Historic-Artistic Monument.
A short history
Las Ventas replaced the earlier Madrid bullring, the Plaza de Toros de Goya, a Neo-Mudéjar building by Emilio Rodríguez Ayuso and Lorenzo Álvarez Capra. The new ring was inaugurated on 17 June 1931 with the bullfighters Diego Mazquiarán “Fortuna”, Manuel Mejías “Bienvenida” and Cayetano Ordóñez “Niño de la Palma”.
The event that made its name is the Feria de San Isidro, created in 1947 by the promoter Livinio Stuyck around the festival of Madrid’s patron saint. It began with six or seven bullfights and now has more than 30 events each season.
The bullfighting season
The Feria de San Isidro runs from early May to mid-June each year, around the patron saint’s day on 15 May. As an example, the 2026 edition ran from 8 May to 14 June, with events starting daily at 7:00 pm. A shorter Feria de Otoño takes place in early October. Ticket prices depend on the event, and the box office at the ring opens from 10 am to 2 pm and 5 pm to 8 pm on ordinary days.
Bullfighting divides opinion in Spain and among visitors. The building can be visited without attending a bullfight, and the ring is also used for concerts and other events. The city’s own festival is described in the post on the Fiestas de San Isidro Labrador.
Visiting on a tour
The official visit is run by Las Ventas Tour. Its route covers the stands, the main gate (Puerta Grande), the arena, the chapel, the infirmary and the Bullfighting Museum, with an audio guide or a private guide and virtual-reality experiences.
- Hours: April to October, Monday to Sunday from 10:00 am to 7:00 pm, last admission at 6:00 pm. November to March, 10:00 am to 6:00 pm, last admission at 5:00 pm.
- Event days: shorter hours. During San Isidro the tour opens from 10:00 am to 4:00 pm, and on other bullfight days it closes in the early afternoon.
- Closed: 25 December and 1 January, and occasional event days.
- Price: the audio-guided tour was listed at €16 in October 2026. Private guided tours and group visits have their own rates.
- Time needed: the tour operator gives between 50 minutes and an hour and a half.
The tour is accessible to wheelchair users, and the ticket office closes one hour before closing time.
The Bullfighting Museum
The Museo Taurino is inside the ring, in the Patio de Caballos. It opened in 1951 and has three rooms: one on Las Ventas itself, one on bulls, bullfighters and their costumes, and one of paintings and posters. The collection includes the complete second edition of Goya’s “La Tauromaquia” etchings, portraits of bullfighters from Pedro Romero onwards, and sculpture by Mariano Benlliure. Madrid’s tourist office lists admission to the museum on its own as free, subject to capacity, with the same seasonal hours as the tour and earlier closing on event days.
Getting there
The address is Calle de Alcalá 237, 28028 Madrid. The metro station Ventas (lines 2 and 5) is in front of the main gate, where the tour starts. City buses 12, 21, 38, 53, 74, 106, 110, 146 and 210 stop nearby, and there are BiciMAD bike-share docks beside the ring.
For students
Las Ventas is useful for anyone studying Spanish culture, architecture or the public debate about bullfighting, and the free museum makes it a low-cost visit. Other sights in the capital are collected in the post on monuments in Madrid, and schools and universities are listed on the Madrid city page.
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