I will be arriving in Madrid on Holy Thursday and will have a complete day on Friday in Madrid, returning to NY on Saturday afternoon. (yo sé...poquísimo tiempo en Madrid ) I will be with a group of high school students and we had a plan to visit El Museo del Prado on Friday...but I am concerned because it is closed Does anyone know if that is tru of all the museums in Madrid? Also, will El Corte Inglés be closed on Holy Thursday or Good Friday?
Does anyone know??

I'm not sure about all the museums, but since Thursday and Friday are national holidays some may be closed or have reduced hours (mornings only). I'm pretty sure El Corte Inglés and just about every other store (except maybe souvenir shops) will be closed both days. The music and books part of El Corte Inglés in Sol might be open because I know they usually open Sundays when other stores are closed--but the main Corte Inglés building will probably be closed. If you really want to go shopping those days the only place you'll find open is the Xanadu mall outside of Madrid since it's the only one that opens every day of the year.

esperanza, you'll find the answers to your questions in the Madrid Museums page . I recently updated the hours and holidays for the top 3 Madrid museums.

UPDATE: Well, crud!!! It seems they JUST recently changed this information.. SINCE I updated MY
museums page. UGH!! More work for me...

Now, as you say, it's CLOSED on Easter Friday. Be sure to check the websites for the other hotels. You'll find their links through the Madrid Museums page .

Saludos, MadridMan

If there is one day in Semana Santa when just about everything is closed (including El Corte Inglés) it's Good Friday. At least that's the way it used to be. These things can change from year to year. Most stores are closed on Holy Thursday too in most parts of the country, Madrid included. I don't know whether the Corte Inglés is closed on Holy Thursday or not, but as Meg said, you'll probably find the record and book section open. For some reason I get the feeling Corte Inglés is open that day.

By the way, Holy Thursday isn't really a national holiday because in some Comunidades Autónomas (Cataluña, La Comunitat Valenciana, Las Islas Baleares, for example) it's officially a regular work day. Instead they take Easter Monday off.