This April, the Railway Museum once again becomes one of the best family outings in Madrid thanks to a very special event: Children’s Day, celebrated on Sunday, April 26, with a morning full of activities, free admission for children under 12, and a short train ride that literally costs just a few cents.
The centerpiece of this year’s program is a large family scavenger hunt dedicated to 175 years of railways in Madrid. Throughout the hall of historic locomotives and cars, families will visit different stations where they must answer questions, look closely at details of the exhibits, and solve small puzzles that tell the story of how the train was born and grew in the capital, from the first stations to the current network. The activity is free and included with admission: no additional fee or prior reservation is required; simply arrive during the scheduled hours and follow the game’s instructions, which turn the visit into a sort of railway scavenger hunt where learning and playing go hand in hand.
Workshops and theater to celebrate the day
This year’s Children’s Day program at the Railway Museum revolves around two main highlights: workshops and musical theater. The morning will kick off with the family workshop “Create Your Own Railroad Cap!”, a free activity for children under 12 in which kids aged 4 to 10 design and assemble their own engineer’s or conductor’s cap during consecutive sessions between 10:30 a.m. and 1:30 p.m., with same-day reservations available at the ticket office until capacity is reached.
At noon, it will be time for the stage with the children’s musical ¿Quién quiere ser ferroviario?(Who Wants to Be a Railroad Worker?), a special performance at 12:30 p.m. that will be free for children (tickets to be picked up at the box office) and that adults can enjoy with a Museum + Theater combo for 11 euros, in a show that blends songs, humor, and short stories to explore the world of trains in a theatrical way that’s very family-friendly.
Alongside the scavenger hunt, the museum continues its spring exhibition program, which this year has a distinct historical and artistic focus. Exhibitions such as “Traveling Through Time: 85 Years of Renfe Advertising”—a journey through classic posters and advertisements showing how the way trains are marketed has changed—and “Ukiyo-e. Railways in the Floating World, which shows how 19th- and 20th-century Japanese artists integrated locomotives into the world of traditional printmaking. Both are included in the admission price. You can view the full program at this link.
The plan culminates—as it simply had to in a train museum—with rides on miniature trains from the neighboring Ferrocarril de las Delicias. According to the schedule and information released by the museum itself and theSpanish Railways Foundation, on April 26 there will be special runs as part of the #DestinoDeliciasprogram, featuring small scale-model trains that children can ride outdoors on a track that recreates tunnels, level crossings, and switches. Tickets are actually a donation of 1.50 euros for children.