Thank you for all your useful advice. Another question! My son will be having his 14th birthday on our trip. We are trying to think of something to do with him to celebrate. I am trying to get a Real madrid schedule for August and having some trouble finding it. Any suggestions of what to do with him? (He is not a big fan of museums)

You probably won't get the Real Madrid schedule yet because the current season is still not finished and so they won't know who has been promoted/relegated. The kick off to the next season is usually late August so depending on when you're here you may be lucky. They may also have some pre-season friendlies, although recently these have been away from Madrid. You could always do the stadium tour though, or maybe catch them in training.

Apart from that, typical attractions for museum hating 14 year olds would be the theme parks (warner bros park and parque de atracciones) and the water parks aquapolis, of which the one at villanueva is superior.

Madrid zoo is good too, if he is into animals, along with Faunia, which has the best penguin viewing area I've seen.

Although I have never been to the place I am suggesting, it sounds really fun! Xanadu mall has a indoor snow slopes to go skiing and snowboarding! That would be a fun birthday celebration for sure!

Thank you. How far is the mall from the center of Madrid?

The mall Xanadu is about 20 minutes outside the city center, and there are buses that will take you there too.....Pretty cool place, the skislope is fantastic , they also have go=cart racing.and a movie theatre....
check the website for details...