Learn Spanish in Madrid, a world-renowned centre for language instruction and best known for its great cultural and artistic heritage.
Our school in Madrid (Retiro Park)
If you want to learn Spanish in Madrid, you can select our Retiro Park school, which is located just a short walk from the famous park of the same name. This city-centre oasis is one of the largest green spaces in Madrid and boasts a multitude of attractions including the ‘Crystal Palace’, a beautiful 19th-century glasshouse, and the Velazquez Palace, which now houses a collection of contemporary art. There’s also a bandstand which is regularly used by local musical groups for public concerts, and the Paseo de Estatuas (‘Statue Walk’), a collection of historical pieces stretching across the park. Other attractions within walking distance of the school are the National Archaeological Museum, the huge Wizink events centre, and the Alcalá Theatre, where students can watch engaging Spanish-language dramas and musicals.
Accredited by the Cervantes Institute, the International Association of Language Centres (IALC), and approved for DELE, Bildungsurlaub, and Erasmus programmes, this facility offers high-quality, personalised tuition to all students who attend. Spear-headed by a husband-and-wife team, the language centre opened its doors to foreign students wanting to learn Spanish in 1956, and now has over 50 years of experience under its belt! Its highly qualified teachers are accustomed to providing dynamic, immersive tuition to students of all ages, abilities, and backgrounds.
With 11 classrooms and a maximum of nine students per group, this school is able to offer its students personalised attention and language instruction that is tailored to their individual needs. During your course you can make use of the two student lounges to relax, socialise, or catch up on schoolwork. The lounges both have coffee machines, so you can get refreshments in between lessons without even needing to leave the building! For those looking for quiet study, the school also has a library offering free textbooks and video resources to all students.
The area surrounding the school has lots of greenery and beautiful buildings, and it’s packed with cafes, bars, and restaurants serving local fare. The nearest metro stop is just around the corner, meaning you can easily explore other areas of the city during your time at our language centre. The school’s central location within this bustling European capital means it can provide a cosmopolitan Spanish experience for all students, whilst its relatively small size means that students can feel at home in this warm and welcoming learning environment.
Photos
Madrid
Madrid: multicultural, modern, and magical! Like any European capital, Madrid is a melting pot of different cultures, with a long and varied history that is evident in its varied architecture, monuments, and street art. It boasts a whopping 129 Sites of Cultural Interest (more than any other location in Spain!), and is full of museums and galleries with truly excellent collections. With its top institutions such as the Central University, the Institution of Free Teaching, and the Ateneo Cientifico, Literario, y Artistico de Madrid, the city is widely considered to offer some of Europe’s best university schooling. As home to the headquarters of both the Cervantes Institute and the Royal Spanish Academy, the Spanish capital is also a world-renowned centre for language instruction. So why not learn Spanish in Madrid and see what possibilities this glorious city can offer you?!
Situated on the Manzanares River since Roman times, Madrid was a key Moorish stronghold during the reign of the Córdoban Caliphate. Fragments of the 9th-century city walls are still visible here and there, but most obvious is the Germanic influence - so much so, in fact, that the historical centre is commonly referred to as the ‘Madrid of the Austrians’. You’d be forgiven for thinking that you might have stepped into Bavaria! Chosen as the capital of Spain in 1561, the city has since taken its place as one of Europe’s - if not the world’s - key cultural hubs. The iconic Paseo de Prado, just outside the old town, is a gorgeous, tree-lined avenue home to many of Madrid’s most important attractions, including the Royal Botanical Gardens, the Golden Triangle of Art, the luxurious Hotel Palace, and various striking plazas. Throughout the year, the city hosts many festivals, fairs, open-air concerts, and high-profile events like Madrid Fashion Week and the annual SIMO TCI digital technology Show.
Surprisingly for a city of this size, Madrid is peppered with green spaces - including the vast Casa de Campo, which boasts its own amusement park, a zoo, and a boating lake. Not only that, it also stands just an hour’s drive from the spectacular Sierra de Guadarrama National Park, a hotspot for mountain sports and wildlife watching. For those who favour more urban pursuits, the bustling Gran Vía is perfect for shopaholics, whilst a stroll through the district of Lavapiés will give you a taste of the widely diverse gastronomy that the city offers. Undoubtedly the best area for food and shopping is Salamanca, east of the historic Centro. It is in this lovely, verdant area that our Spanish language school is located.
Courses in Madrid (Retiro Park)
Available courses
Most students attending courses at this school opt for the standard Intensive programme of 20 group classes per week. When selecting this course, you are also guaranteed to receive 4 free language/culture workshops each week. If you want to increase the benefits of your programme, you can select a Super-intensive course of 30 weekly group classes. The additional lessons cover topics relating to conversation, culture, and history.
Classes on these programmes may take place in the morning or in the afternoon, depending on your ability level and the number of other students at the school. Your exact schedule can only be confirmed by school staff on your first day. Kindly note that, if you have no prior experience with Spanish, you will need to start your group programme on a specific beginners’ date - contact us to find out more about available dates for beginners.
If you have specific topics you’d like to cover, or feel that you need extra attention during your studies, you can choose private lessons and receive expert one-to-one tuition that can be custom-made to your exact requirements. You’ll have 20 bespoke lessons per week on the standard package, but can book more if you wish. If you think that private lessons would be beneficial for you, but you still want to experience the social aspect of group classes, you can book a combined package of 20 group lessons plus an additional 5 or 10 one-to-one classes each week.
Accommodation
Available accommodation
If you want to have as much opportunity as possible to speak Spanish with native speakers, then Host Family lodging is the choice for you! Carefully selected hosts offer private single or twin rooms* and provide 2 or 3 meals per day as part of your accommodation package. Do note that we can accommodate special diets (e.g. vegetarian, vegan, lactose-/gluten-free, etc.) for a small additional fee. Hosts all live within 25 minutes’ travel from the school by public transport, and some live within walking distance. All host families offer a comfortable and safe environment in which to stay during your language course, and also provide towels and a weekly laundry service. You will have your own keys to come and go as you please, but you must respect house rules and schedules.
For more independence, stay in one of the school’s apartments. Shared apartments offer private single or twin rooms*, a fully-equipped kitchen with a washing machine, and a lounge with a television and comfortable seating. These apartments are ideal for students aged 18 - 25 who are travelling on a budget and looking for a highly social experience. Communal areas include the kitchen, bathroom(s), and living facilities. Rooms are offered on a self-catering basis, which gives you the freedom to cook for yourself during your stay. Bed linen is provided but towels may not be (depending on the apartment), so you should bring your own. Students should note that Wi-Fi access is very limited with this type of accommodation, and cannot be guaranteed. Each apartment is located no more than 40 minutes away from the school by public transport, and has up to 4 bedrooms. Students are responsible for keeping the apartment clean and tidy.
All accommodation is available between the Sunday before your course starts until the Saturday after your course ends. In most cases, the school can be flexible with your arrival and departure time, though you should make sure that you arrive and depart before 23:00. We may be able to arrange extra nights in your accommodation for you if needed - please contact us about this prior to making your booking.
*Please note that twin rooms are only available to students travelling together. If you book a twin room but are travelling alone, you will be swapped to a single room.
Activities
To help you experience life in Madrid, our school organizes an extensive cultural programme which is specially designed to offer the best of the city and the surrounding area. Each activity is conducted in Spanish and thus helps to complement your classroom learning with experience in real-life scenarios. As well as being educational, the activities are designed to be fun and to help you get to know your fellow students.
Many activities will be offered free of charge, whilst others will incur an additional fee to cover entrance and/or transportation costs. The exact schedule changes throughout the year but may include:
- Guided tours of various areas of the city
- Free seminars on Spanish grammar, conversation, and culture
- Visits to local museums and attractions
- Spanish film screenings
- Evening meals with your classmates
- Tapas ‘caminas’
- Shopping trips
- Half- and full-day excursions to locations like Toledo, Segovia, Valencia, and Salamanca
How to get there
Madrid’s airport is also known as Barajas Airport; as one of the busiest airports in Europe, students from most countries can find direct flights into the city.
From here, you can either take public transport to your accommodation or we can arrange an airport transfer service for you for an additional charge. If you book this service, a driver will be waiting for you when you land and will take you directly to your accommodation; if you select this service on departure as well, you will be collected from your lodging on your last day and taken back to your chosen airport in time for your departing flight.
The city enjoys extensive Metro links to other European cities, if you prefer not to fly.
Students should arrange to arrive between 08:00 and 22:00 on the Sunday before their course starts and depart between 08:00 and 22:00 on the Saturday after their course finishes. Kindly note that an additional supplement will be applied to transfer services booked for flights arriving outside of these times. We may be able to arrange extra nights on arrival and/or departure for you if needed.
Location of our school in Madrid (Retiro Park)
4.4 / 5
3.8 / 5
4.8 / 5
Student reviews & feedback
Intensive 20 with Host Family
The course was what I wanted (slightly lower than my tested level). We had two teachers - one excellent and one who was not as good - mainly through inexperience. I spoke to Isabel (The Manager) about this and the final class was much better.
Julia, my host, made the trip for me. We had many interests in common and she helped me enormously; walked to school the first day, buying tickets on the metro, correcting my Spanish, showing me how to make paella and cooking delicious food.
- R. Bowser
Club 50+ with Host Family
A good course good teachers. Accommodation with a nice lady, talks a lot and this is good.
- S. Di Lallo
Club 50+ with Host Family
Interesting and well organised. Level appropriate. Interesting excursions. Excellent accommodation, a very friendly and helpful lady, pleasant flat.
- A. Lewis
Intensive 20 with Host Family
I really enjoyed my course! It was so fun to learn Spanish in a different environment than the one I was used to, and the constant exposure to the language every day and having to figure things out for myself alone in the city using my language skills made a world of difference. It really goes to show that total immersion is the best way to learn a language!
My host family was so lovely and nice. They always made sure I had everything I needed and were always asking me if there was anything they could do to make me more comfortable. They were also very engaging and friendly and eager to share aspects of their life and the culture of the country with me.
- V. Sundin
Club 50+ with Host Family
The class for over 50's was small with just 3 students in the first week rising to 6 in the second. The teacher was also excellent and the course content challenging but appropriate to my needs I really felt my understanding and command of the Spanish language moved up a notch. The social programme was also enjoyable. Highly recommend both the school and the course.
A very pleasant apartment with my own well appointed room next to a bathroom. All very clean and comfortable. My landlady was delightful and extremely helpful. She provided me with breakfast and a delicious evening meal. She Was very flexible with timing. She also chatted to me in Spanish a lot and corrected my mistakes.
- A. Birchall
Everything was great, much much better than what I expected, further more it was a great oppertunity to learn and speak Spanish and I learned a lot, actualy I had a great difficulty to speak english when I went back to London.
- B. Oraee
The course was a lot of fun and I learned a lot. I'm really glad I took it.
- S. Walker
The school was extremely well organised and efficient. The tutors professional and enthusiastic and other staff were always available to provide help and advice. The location of my accommodation was superb and the food and room were fine - my bedroom was at the back and very quiet.
I was impressed with the ease of booking the course and efficiency all round. I plan to continue with learning spanish and hope to return next year.
- P. Henry
As usual very good. Structured course based around young teachers from various locations in Spain. Typical family accommodation, not without its quirks, but good value for money. The interaction with the "house mother" is also very worthwhile in terms of learning.
- C. Chapman
It was great. I did the super-intensive course for the first 4 weeks and in my first week i had the extra class with one other person and the other 3 i had one to one lessons, which was great for going over points i didnt fully understand and i was able to greatly improve my conversational skills too. The school was also really helpful when i decided to stay for an extra 3 weeks helping organise the classes and my accomodation.
I would really recommend, its a fantastic school and the staff are so approachable and helpful, especially the headmistress. I think next time i would live with a family instead of a shared flat just to maximise on the amount of spanish conversation i would have in comparison to a shared flat where if your flatmates do not speak the language, english seems to be the common language spoken.
- J. Tabibi
Very professionally run school. I have to commend the teachers I had, they were extremely professional and took a great interest in helping me to understand and learn.
- A. Thompson
My daughter Maria had 3 weeks spanish courses in Madrid and we are completely satisfactory with everything. High level of teaching and education, friendly and safe accomodation. Maria came back home and she was happy very much..
I want to thank to Corona Garcia Nieto, the owner of accomodation, the kindest woman..she was so nice to Maria and she cared about her so much..good food, clean room-everything was perfect..thank u very much.
it was our first experience of courses abroad and we are completely satisfactory, and i am sure we will continue our experiense with your conpany.
- M. Mordvina
Intensive 20
This was my second time at this school and my classes were at a higher level (B1) than before (A2) which was great. They provided additional presentations on spanish culture and they organise a trip on Saturday. I was only there one week and I realize that it is best to do 2 weeks. I may go there again next year. I chose the Hostel Benamar which I stayed at before. The room was only 35 euros a night and was clean and I was at the back so it was quiet. There is a good cafe nearby for breakfast (Santander) which cost me about 7 euros. It is about 20 minutes walk or 2 metro stops away from the school.
- P. Holmes
Intensive 20
Excellent school with very good teachers and very helpful staff, attractive location and good cultural activities. Accommodation was comfortable and in a good location, but the host smoked heavily and tended to keep to herself, rather than engage with me.
- C. Tomkinson
Intensive 20 with Host Family
I thoroughly enjoyed the course, the teaching was fantastic and I have become firm friends with some of my peers at the school. The lady I was staying with, Marina, was absolutely lovely. She became my Spanish mother! The food was fantastic and she was very caring of me. She frequently engaged in speaking with me, enabling me to continue practicing my spanish, and was just generally amazing :)
- H. Bonney
Intensive 20
The classes were about the right level for me. However they were only half a day and I really should have arranged more. Also they were in the afternoon 3.30 until 7 pm whereas I would have prefered them in the morning. On the good side there were additional talks on spanish culture and history and an excursion to an art gallery which I found interesting. Also the school arranged an excursion to Toledo on the Saturday. This was very good and amazingly cheap, only 35 euros a night. The room was comfortable and clean and at the back of the hostel and so very quiet as well. Overall I enjoyed my stay in Madrid and managed to fit in some sight seeing as well. The school is well situated very close to Retiro Park. I would like to do another course next year either in Madrid or at their Salamanca school.
- P. Holmes
Although I was only at the school for 4 days, I had a wonderful experience, learned a lot and enjoyed the excursions. My host provided me with excellent accommocation and food. I would definitely go there again.
- H. Makely
The teachers were excellent and also the small class sizes were excellent. The opportuinity for outings and activities was also very good.
- S. Kleanthous
Wonderful. I had two great instructors, and although I went as a novice, they had me speaking Spanish by the end of the week. They were able to assess my ability, teach me at my level and encourage me to speak. And we had fun!
- J. Adelhardt
I really enjoyed my time at the school, the teachers are extremely friendly and keen to help students learn and understand Spanish. I loved my accommodation, it was perfect for my needs, close enough to a metro line but far out enough to be able to study and not be distracted. I had the perfect host, I will definitely stay with her again.
- D. Sital-Singh
I thoroughly enjoyed the course. The school has very friendly staff. I feel a lot more confident about speaking Spanish now.There was an interesting mix of students on the course. My accommodation was clean, convenient, with nice food and the friendly host was happy to chat to me.
- C. Barlow
I found the course to be very useful because the teachers insisted that I and the other students spoke only in Spanish, which is what I wanted. Explanation of the spanish verbs was excellent. The course material was good as well. I did like the idea that an exam was given at the end of the course to see how far I had improved with my spainish. I hope to do this course again at the next level in the near future. The accommodation was good. The room was clean. I also found the manager to be useful whenever I requested any help. I did achieve what I set out do with this course, which was to speak the language more fuently. I found both the course and the accommodation to be excellent.
- P. Durham
The course was very good and I'm very happy I chose your school! After 3 weeks my Spanish is much better and it will help me in my university. I hope I'll have a chance to come to your school in Madrid next summer! My accommodation was the best! The woman was so nice and kind and helped me to speak a lot! The room was always very clean! I'm satisfied with it!
- M. Oliynyk
Course was very well organized. The school had lots of activities available to keep busy as well. Accommodation was perfect. The family was very friendly and the food was delicious.
- A. Bernard
A great way to enjoy a break oversas and learn as well - I would recommend at least 2 weeks to get the full impact.
- R. Dasani
I really enjoyed the Spanish language course. It was very intensive - 5 hours per day plus homework - leaving me pretty exhausted but very worthwhile. The school was a good choice for me. Plenty of grammar and technical stuff plus everything in Spanish. Madrid is a great place to learn Spanish as there are so many other activities and interests to get your teeth into. The locals are very friendly and very receptive to foreigners speaking their language, even if it is not always perfect.
- R. Brown
The teachers were brilliant, so skilled at teaching and so patient with our efforts to speak Spanish. I found the course very helpful in targeting just what I needed to be able to speak Spanish more confidently. I found this course a great help and a great confidence boost for speaking Spanish, even though it was only a week. There was also the chance to look round a great city, see films in Spanish and try a range of Spanish food in the cafes.
- H. Davies
A very professional school and very friendly. Very comfortable accommodation and 20 minute walk from school. For us, the highlight of the trip. A wonderful lady who took us in like family.
- W. Hale
The teachers are, for me, what make these courses and in this area the school excelled. All 3 of my Profesoras were great. The course was very intense, not speaking English during lessons took time to get used to. However at the end of my 2 weeks things were starting to click and I only wished I had more time to continue.
- J. Baker
The course was excellent and I learnt a lot in 10 weeks. The teachers came prepared to each lesson and they really knew how to make us understand. Not one of them spoke any english during class which was so much better for the students. My roommates were fantastic, taking the time out to show me around Madrid and helping with my poor Spanish when I first arrived. I got on well with the landlay too. I am very pleased with my experience in Madrid and would not hesitate to book through Language Courses Abroad again. The staff were all incredibly friendly and helpful, which is very much appreciated.
- S. Court
My course was brilliant! The school was friendly and all the lessons were fun, they also had a great list of other activities going on. My accomodation was fine, it was really well situated, close to the school and the centre of the city.
- R. Ashcroft
I attended the course without speaking any Spanish at all. The standard of service at the school was excellent and very helpful. I would without a doubt return on a similar study programme in the near future. The tutors made the course most enjoyable.
- J. Holland
School statistics
Average ages (June - Aug)
Student stories on our blog
Exploring Madrid – La Latina!
If you are planning on going to Madrid, there is a neighbourhood you absolutely need to visit. It is located in the old town of the city, has some of the most beautiful medieval streets in the world and hosts the best Tapas bars in the Spanish capital. Its name is no other than La Latina.
La Latina is one of the most genuinely authentic neighbourhoods of Madrid. On Sundays, the biggest open-air flea market in Spain is held in its grounds - El Rastro de Madrid. Whether you are looking for a new painting to decorate your walls, browse rare books, vintage clothes or even buy a new pet, you can be sure that you will be able to find it in El Rastro!
Read more...Prices for Madrid (Retiro Park)
Choose your course below to view our prices in pounds sterling (GBP), US dollars (USD) or euros (EUR).
United Kingdom
Ireland
Italy
Netherlands
Spain
United States
International
Company Number: 08311373
