What to Do in Los Jerónimos After Visiting the Prado: the Gastro-Cocktail Route Through the Art Triangle

Why Los Jerónimos Is the Perfect Neighbourhood to Extend Your Visit to the Prado

The Los Jerónimos neighbourhood is far more than a simple add-on to the Prado Museum. This enclave in central Madrid keeps the essence of Habsburg Madrid alive, with cobbled streets that have witnessed centuries of Spanish cultural history. The Monasterio de los Jerónimos, founded in the sixteenth century next to the church of the same name, is one of the finest examples of Isabelline Gothic style in the capital, and its cloister helps you grasp the spiritual dimension that once surrounded the great royal collections.

In 2021, the Paseo del Prado was declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site under the name “Paisaje de la Luz” (Landscape of Light), recognising the urban ensemble that links Retiro Park with the cultural axis formed by the Prado, the Thyssen and the Reina Sofía. That declaration confirmed what Madrileños already knew: the Art Triangle isn’t just a cluster of museums, but a unique urban landscape where nature, architecture and culture merge into an unmatched experience.

After hours spent contemplating masters such as Velázquez, Goya or Bosch, visitors need somewhere to process what they’ve seen, unwind and carry the sensory experience on beyond the gallery walls. Los Jerónimos offers that natural transition with its terraces, chef-driven restaurants and, above all, its cocktail bars, where Spanish cocktail-making tradition is raised to an art form. STILLROOM, located on Calle Moreto 9 just a few metres from the Prado, is the perfect way to close a cultural day that begins in the great museums and ends at a bar where innovation and respect for ingredients define every preparation.

How to Plan Your Day Around Your Visit to the Prado

STILLROOM’s privileged location, right in the heart of the Art Triangle, makes it easy to shape your museum visit around whichever time slot you choose. Whether you’re short on time or have the whole afternoon free, there’s an optimal way to chain the cultural experience together with your cocktail moment. The plans below will help you make the most of your day in Los Jerónimos, taking advantage of the gastro cocktail bar’s proximity and its long opening hours, which suit both morning visits and museum nights alike.

Morning visit (10:00-13:00)

If you plan to use the morning to dodge the midday crowds, the Prado opens its doors at 10:00, with natural light streaming in through the large windows of Juan de Villanueva’s building. Two or three hours are enough to take in the museum’s main galleries, from the Bosch pieces to the Velázquez works from the royal collection. On your way out, Los Jerónimos offers light options for lunch: a board of cured meats on one of the area’s terraces, a stroll over to Retiro Park for a coffee by the lake, or even an optional visit to the Reina Sofía’s permanent collection if you’ve still got the energy. And if you’re after the finishing touch at STILLROOM, midday works in your favour: we open at 11:00 on every day we serve — Wednesday and Thursday straight through until 19:00 — so as soon as you leave the museum you can sit straight down at the bar with the small-plates kitchen and vermouth hour already under way, no need to wait for evening.

Afternoon visit (15:00-19:00)

The afternoon visit is ideal for anyone who’d rather avoid the midday heat in Madrid. Going in at 15:00, the Prado’s galleries are quieter and you can take your time with the masterpieces without rushing. When you leave the museum around 19:00, the golden light of dusk lights up the Paseo del Prado and Calle Moreto, creating the perfect setting to cross the barely two hundred metres between the Puerta de los Jerónimos and STILLROOM. It’s worth checking the calendar here: on Fridays and Saturdays the bar starts its evening shift at 19:00 and doesn’t close until 01:30, and on Sundays we stay open until 23:00, so leaving the museum at that time fits perfectly. On Wednesdays and Thursdays we close at 19:00, so on those days it’s worth bringing your stop a little earlier, into the afternoon. It’s the moment to order an aperitivo-cocktail alongside small plates from the menu, perhaps the Sous-Vide Octopus or the Raf tomato burrata, and let the conversation flow as the sun sets over the neighbourhood.

The Prado at Night (first Saturday of the month, 20:30-23:30)

One of Madrid’s most underrated cultural experiences is “The Prado at Night”, a monthly initiative that gives free access to the museum during the early hours of the evening. On the first Saturday of every month, the Prado opens its doors between 20:30 and 23:30, offering the chance to contemplate works such as “Las Meninas” or “The Garden of Earthly Delights” under special lighting that gives them a different mood from daytime viewing. This format is perfect to combine with a late dinner or, better still, with the cocktail experience at STILLROOM.

The best strategy for this special evening is to flip the usual order on its head: book a table at STILLROOM around 19:00, when our Friday and Saturday evening shift begins, and head into the museum afterwards, once the evening session has just opened. That way you reach the galleries unhurried — with your palate awake — instead of racing against the clock. And if you fancy one last drink on your way out of the evening session, on those Saturdays the bar is still going until 01:30. The contrast between the artistic contemplation of the great works and the liquid creativity of the STILLROOM bar creates a complete sensory experience that sums up the best of the Art Triangle. You don’t need to book for the museum (it’s free), though it’s worth confirming the dates and opening hours of the evening session on the Prado’s website before you go; a table at STILLROOM, on the other hand, is best secured in advance, because demand rises considerably on these nights.

The Art Triangle’s Gastro-Cocktail Route (on foot)

One of the great advantages of visiting the Art Triangle is that Madrid’s three big museums are all linked by short pedestrian walks. But there’s more: STILLROOM sits strategically on Calle Moreto 9, practically within the museum complex itself, which turns the cultural route into a full gastro-cocktail experience. Below we break down the distances and walking times so you can plan your route according to your starting point.

Starting from the Prado Museum, at Paseo del Prado number 1, the route to the Thyssen-Bornemisza Museum (Paseo del Prado, 8) is barely 600 metres, or an eight-minute walk along the central boulevard of the Paseo del Prado. The path runs past the monumental fountains and under the shade of the century-old trees that line this avenue, a UNESCO World Heritage Site. If you’d rather carry on to the Reina Sofía, at Calle Santa Isabel number 52, add another 900 metres and roughly twelve more minutes, skirting the Real Jardín Botánico and the Cuesta de Moyano up to the Plaza del Emperador Carlos V.

From any of the three museums, reaching STILLROOM is remarkably easy. From the Prado it’s about 200 metres: a five-minute walk, or three if you leave through the Puerta de los Jerónimos, the gate on the east side of the museum facing Calle Moreto. From the Thyssen, the distance rises to about 600 metres (eight minutes), while from the Reina Sofía it’s about 900 metres, a leisurely twelve-minute walk through the neighbourhood.

This layout makes STILLROOM the natural destination point regardless of where you started your cultural route. Whether you’re coming from a morning of art at the Prado, an afternoon exploring the Thyssen’s Impressionist works, or the Reina Sofía’s contemporary art collection, the gastro cocktail bar on Calle Moreto 9 is the perfect way to close an experience that combines artistic heritage with signature gastronomy and mixology.

STILLROOM, the Gastro Cocktail Bar on Calle Moreto 9

At number 9 Calle Moreto, opposite the Puerta de los Jerónimos gate of the Prado Museum, you’ll find STILLROOM, a gastro cocktail bar that has shaken up Madrid’s cocktail scene. The venue, with capacity for barely forty to fifty people, offers an intimate experience where the making of every cocktail becomes a quiet display of precision and creativity. The interior is contemporary and dark: a microcement bar, backlit shelves lined with jars of house infusions and ferments, and warm, low lighting that invites conversation with the bartender.

What sets STILLROOM apart from other venues in the area is its commitment to technical excellence applied to signature cocktail-making. You won’t find industrial preparations or ready-made syrups here. Every cordial, every reduction, every infusion is made in house with selected ingredients and techniques that demand time, patience and know-how. This artisanal approach delivers cocktails that evolve in the glass and reveal layers of flavour with every sip, turning the act of drinking into an act of discovery.

The philosophy of “The Art of the Invisible”

STILLROOM’s central concept is summed up in its motto “The Art of the Invisible”: the idea that the most sophisticated techniques are the ones you never perceive directly, only through their result in the glass. The bar team works with methods that are common in fine dining but rarely applied to cocktail-making: the lacto-fermentation of fruit and vegetables to add natural acidic complexity, the fat washing of spirits to create unctuous textures that go unnoticed yet transform the mouthfeel, and prolonged infusions lasting days or weeks that extract nuances impossible to obtain through conventional methods.

Homemade cordials, made by reducing fruit juices with natural sugars, bring a complex sweetness that complements the main spirits without overshadowing them. Clarification techniques and homemade carbonation round out a repertoire that positions STILLROOM as a benchmark for advanced cocktail-making in Madrid. Guests never see any of these processes, but they feel their effect in the harmony of flavours, the lingering finish and the absence of the artificial notes typical of industrial preparations.

Signature cocktail menu

STILLROOM’s cocktail menu includes sixteen signature preparations with alcohol. What lies behind each one isn’t a brand name or a marketing angle, but real investment in technique: infusions that need weeks of maceration, cordials that only use seasonal fruit, fat-washing procedures that triple the preparation time of a conventional cocktail. We review prices every season and keep them up to date on the menu itself: that’s always the place to check them.

For anyone who’d rather skip the alcohol, the menu offers three alcohol-free options, made with the same precision techniques. These zero-proof cocktails are built on infusions, fermented juices and alcohol-free cordials that replicate the complexity of their boozy counterparts. Choosing not to drink alcohol doesn’t mean giving up the sensory experience, just taking a different route to the same destination of pleasure and discovery. You can check out the full cocktail menu on this very website, where we detail the ingredients and techniques behind every preparation.

Small-plates kitchen

STILLROOM’s food offering has been designed specifically to accompany the cocktail experience without interrupting the conversation. Our small-plates kitchen works like an assembly system built to get dishes from the bar to the table in under four minutes, so the pace of the evening never stalls. This isn’t a conventional restaurant, but a food-pairing proposition where every small plate complements and lifts the flavours of the cocktail.

Among the most popular dishes is the Sous-Vide Octopus: four hours cooked at 77°C in a vacuum bag, finished with a rapid radiant oven and a blowtorch, served with La Vera paprika oil and confit baby potatoes. The Raf tomato burrata, with pistachio pesto and Pedro Ximénez reduction, is the lighter option. The Kimchi Smash Burger — a double patty of matured old-cow beef, cheddar, Ibarra piparras and our own house-fermented kimchi sauce — is the boldest offering at the bar. And for lovers of Iberian produce, the acorn-fed Iberian ham is served on a board, with crisp picos breadsticks, cured to perfection. The croquettes, when they make it into the weekly rotation of specials, are the kind of small plate that vanishes from the bar the moment it lands. Check the full small-plates menu for current options, prices and seasonal specialities.

Before or After the Museum: Where the Cocktails Fit In

One of the most common questions from visitors to the Art Triangle is when it makes most sense to fit in a stop at a cocktail bar. The answer depends on the kind of experience you’re after, but there are a few objective considerations that can help you plan your day optimally.

An aperitif before the visit

As tempting as it might seem to start the day with a cocktail before going into the museum, at STILLROOM we don’t recommend this option for a full visit to the Prado. The museum demands concentration, energy and a fresh palate to appreciate the subtleties of works that require sustained attention. However well made, a cocktail contains elements that can alter your sensory perception and reduce your capacity to immerse yourself in the art. What’s more, the two or three hours of active visiting call for energy that’s better sustained with coffee or fresh juices before the museum, saving the drink for once the cultural experience is over and your body is asking for rest. The exception is the museum’s evening session, which is much shorter: there, the reverse order does work, because the visit fits into a couple of hours and the neighbourhood is already in evening mode.

The evening close: the perfect moment

After two, three or even four hours walking between galleries, body and mind call for an active kind of rest: sitting down, unwinding, processing what you’ve seen. This is precisely the moment when a cocktail makes the most sense. STILLROOM works as a sort of cultural decompression chamber, where the transition between the museum’s artistic world and the real world happens gradually and pleasurably.

Sitting down at the STILLROOM bar after a day at the Prado offers something no other venue in the area can provide: physical proximity to the museum (barely two hundred metres separate STILLROOM’s door from the Prado’s Puerta de los Jerónimos), the bar team’s own shared knowledge of the works you’ve just seen, and the chance to keep the cultural conversation going while you enjoy a preparation that took hours of work beforehand. For many visitors, this closing moment becomes the most lasting memory of their day in the Art Triangle.

Practical Information for Your Visit

To make planning easier, we’ve put together all the practical information you need to get to STILLROOM and enjoy your gastro-cocktail experience in the best possible conditions.

How to get to STILLROOM (Calle Moreto 9)

• Banco de España metro station (Line 2): five minutes on foot, coming out directly onto Calle Moreto
• Estación del Arte metro station (Line 1, formerly Atocha): eight minutes on foot, crossing the Paseo del Prado towards Calle Moreto
• Retiro metro station (Line 2): ten minutes on foot, skirting the park along Calle Alcalá
• Atocha Cercanías (local trains): eight minutes on foot, following the Paseo del Prado towards Plaza de Cánovas
• Bus lines 10, 14, 19, 27, 34, 37, 45: stop at Plaza de Cánovas or Paseo del Prado, less than three minutes away

Nearby parking

• Plaza de las Cortes car park (Paseo del Prado, 4): four hundred metres away, ideal for anyone arriving by car
• Cánovas del Castillo car park: three hundred and fifty metres away, next to the Neptuno fountain
• Retiro car park: six hundred metres away, with access from Calle Alcalá

Opening hours and bookings

Here are STILLROOM’s opening hours:

• Monday and Tuesday: closed
• Wednesday and Thursday: 11:00 to 19:00
• Friday and Saturday: 11:00 to 15:00 and 19:00 to 01:30
• Sunday: 11:00 to 23:00

We recommend booking your table in advance, especially at weekends and on Prado at Night evenings, when demand rises considerably. With capacity limited to forty or fifty people, bookings are practically compulsory on Fridays and Saturdays, and strongly advised on any other day. You can book a table straight from this website or by calling 619 21 36 16.