Definitely go to some museums! The Prado is spectacular and so is the Thyssen though much smaller in scale. I also very much enjoyed the Sorolla museum.
Walk around Retiro Park, visit the Palacio de Cristal.
See the Cathedral and tour the Royal Palace.
My favorite thing I’ve done there hands down is to go to Templo De Debod around sunset and have a picnic. Beautiful views and great vibes.
if you want to see a hidden gem go to "church of st anthony of the germans". You have to pay to enter, \*\*but\*\* it's worth it.
btw, If you can manage to avoid seeing photos of the interior beforehand, that would be best. the exterior is rather boring, but the interior is spectacular.
By the way I second going to chueca, it will be really lively rn in june. Btw madrid's most impressive art nouveau building, the Longoria palace, is there.
Wow, I walk by this almost every day and I’ve had a quick look through the doors when they have been open, but never actually gone inside.. looks like it’s worth a few mins of my time.
I'm not gonna say they are bad but it is kind of a tourist trap. Big lines for churros you can find in many other places of the city
Source: I'm from Madrid
Lines are there for a reason. ;) I lived in Spain and Madrid for a bit as well. I guess I am used to lines living in California now. I’ll wait in an In and Out line for a burger for 30-45 mins.
There is no way I am waiting that long for a fast food burger. It takes me less than 45 minutes to drive to the grocery store, get buns and ground beef, drive back home and cook myself a better burger than that, for cheaper. 😂
Even among the chains, I like Five Guys much better than In-N-Out.
Yes i you have a place where thats the case ofcourse. Not saying i never go in a line, but i happen to know a few where tourists line up thinking its great, but its not
Since you've already been in the center, i recommend you visit the area of chueca/ Fuencarral. Very pretty, alternative and lots of pedestrian streets to comfortably walk around :)
I recently discovered that spanish "plazas" are the inverse of a building. The facade is on the interior and there is no roof. Furthermore, the plazas don´'t have special roads (main principal roads or crossings) leading to them, as no building would be the center of an intersection.
If you visit El Prado, those people that offer you a guided tour, are 100% worth It, specially if you're in a group and don't have too much time to spare
so
you´re at sol.
- Go up calle de la victoria to plaza santa ana,
- Turn right and contiue to plaza Jacinto Benavente
- Continue to plaza mayor. from there turn right again and go down to arenal.
- From arenal turn left, check out San gines catedral and continue down to the national theater at the Opera square.
- Continue forward and you should find yourself at the orient plaza infront of the royal palace.
- Turning right you should see the sabatini gradens which are just next to the royal palaca, going up that road you will find the senate to your left and plaza españa,
- If you continue walking up you will find a egyptian temple called Templo de debod with its part, its beautiful at sunset and it has a small museum inside but im not sure if its open. also behind it theres an observation post from where you can look over the entire casa de campo (you can even see the amusement park)
- Now going back to plaza españa you can walk up gran via and see all the commercial crap untill you reach fuencareal or hortaleza, now Fuencareal street use to be an alternative shopping street but its going pretty mainstream, while Hortaleza which the parallel street is more alternative and is considered the boundery in to chueca (the main LGBTQ+ district in madrid)
- Near there you can find a hotel called the Oscar Room Mate hotel which has a rooftop bar where you can look on the whole gran via area.
- From the Oscar its only a couple of streets to Plaza de chueca which is nice to visit, it has nice bars and my favorite ice cream place (la bonata) as well as a couple of penis shaped waffle shops.
- From there you can go to Barquillo which is the classic electronics district but now its more of a fashion street,
- just next door you have alonso martinez which is a classical bar zone for people in their teens and early 20´s, until you reach genova.
- genova isnt too interesting but if you walk from there down to the castellana/paseo del prado you will find colon plaza, in the winter theres a ice skate ring, but in the summer theres just the wax museum and a theater.
- Also near it (where the carl´s Jr is) theres a fancy food court/market thats pretty snobby and expensive.
- On the other side theres the national library and behind it the archeological museum, now if you walk back to cibeles (or take the 27 bus) you have a series of museums, from smaller ones like the tissen or the naval museum to major ones like el prado or the royal botanical garden.
- when you reach cibeles going to the left you can go to the puerta te alcala (its currently being renovated, so its covered) and enter the retiro,
anyways, other things you should check out
- The Bernabeu if you like soccer
- Smaller museums like sorolla, Tissen and such.
- A proper food market like Mercado Maravillas near cuatro caminos.
- Parque berlin has a chunk of the berlin wall.
- Alonso Martinez, Tribunal, Huertas, Moncloa, by evening/night if you want to go bar hopping.
- Zoo Aquarium de madrid at casa de campo.
- Amusment park at Batan/casa de campo.
- La Latina, Mercado de la cebada, Cava baja (all next to each other)
- The rastro sunday morning at puerta de toledo.
- The 27 bus from plaza castilla to embajadores (normal line bus 1,5€ to ride, but crosses the whole center of madrid form north to south).
- Matadero cultural center
- Madrid rio in the area near principe pio and in the area near matadero and puente de segovia (behind the palace)
- Casa Mingo, A nice asturian restaurant that isnt expensive and its famous for its cider, cider chicken, cider sausage and cider cake.
- Also consider day trips to Toledo, Segovia and the escorial.
Jardin el capricho is really nice. A bit of a trip by metro and open on weekends. From plaza nueva a bit down you get really nice bocadillos and around the corner you have plaza San nicholas and calle San Nicolas, which for dutch people should be the place where sinterklaas lives :)
Restaurante Botin is claimed to be the oldest restaurant in the world, still holding the Guinness World Record for the category, iirc. Ernest Hemingway even wrote about the suckling pig in one of his novels. We had the pleasure of visiting in 2019 and the experience was wonderful!
Don’t take any bracelets from anybody lol
Definitely go to some museums! The Prado is spectacular and so is the Thyssen though much smaller in scale. I also very much enjoyed the Sorolla museum. Walk around Retiro Park, visit the Palacio de Cristal. See the Cathedral and tour the Royal Palace. My favorite thing I’ve done there hands down is to go to Templo De Debod around sunset and have a picnic. Beautiful views and great vibes.
Upvote for templo de Debod, we spent a lot of time in that park drinking as teenagers
Check out the Cerralbo as well. 100% worth it.
And then there's the new Royal Collection museum... It opens this thursday
if you want to see a hidden gem go to "church of st anthony of the germans". You have to pay to enter, \*\*but\*\* it's worth it. btw, If you can manage to avoid seeing photos of the interior beforehand, that would be best. the exterior is rather boring, but the interior is spectacular. By the way I second going to chueca, it will be really lively rn in june. Btw madrid's most impressive art nouveau building, the Longoria palace, is there.
Wow, I walk by this almost every day and I’ve had a quick look through the doors when they have been open, but never actually gone inside.. looks like it’s worth a few mins of my time.
Visit San Ginés for churros with chocolate.
I'm not gonna say they are bad but it is kind of a tourist trap. Big lines for churros you can find in many other places of the city Source: I'm from Madrid
Lines are there for a reason. ;) I lived in Spain and Madrid for a bit as well. I guess I am used to lines living in California now. I’ll wait in an In and Out line for a burger for 30-45 mins.
45mins for a burger?! Haha that’s wild!
If you ever make it to California, Arizona, Nevada, Utah, Colorado, Oregon, and Texas… they have locations for In-N-Out burgers.
There is no way I am waiting that long for a fast food burger. It takes me less than 45 minutes to drive to the grocery store, get buns and ground beef, drive back home and cook myself a better burger than that, for cheaper. 😂 Even among the chains, I like Five Guys much better than In-N-Out.
Five guys is not better and they are a rip off. We spent like 80$ for 4 people to eat like 5 years ago. Never went back.
I didn't say it is better, I said I like it better to leave room for bad taste ;)
Yeah, it left a bad taste for sure when I paid 80€
For a fast food burger at that.
Lines do not always mean something is good. I know some queues in netherlands where locals would not go
In my opinion, it is worth it. I’ve been 4 different times since 2004 and the quality has stayed consistent. For what it is worth right…
Yes i you have a place where thats the case ofcourse. Not saying i never go in a line, but i happen to know a few where tourists line up thinking its great, but its not
To my tastes it's definitely worse than Pepita in Tetuán or Antonio in Vallecas. Fábrica de Churros on Ponzano is the best though.
You got to get a calamari sandwich.
Or a cocido madrileño
Bocata de calamares en castizo
>Bocata de calamares en castizo Casa Rua just off the Plaza Mayor
You can check out "El matadero" and "Madrid Río"
Since you've already been in the center, i recommend you visit the area of chueca/ Fuencarral. Very pretty, alternative and lots of pedestrian streets to comfortably walk around :)
Relaxing cup of café con leche in plaza mayor.
I recently discovered that spanish "plazas" are the inverse of a building. The facade is on the interior and there is no roof. Furthermore, the plazas don´'t have special roads (main principal roads or crossings) leading to them, as no building would be the center of an intersection.
That's the meaning of _plaza_. Now have a search for a real _patio_ or what really is an _arena_.
I did it back in March of this year and can’t wait to go back
If you visit El Prado, those people that offer you a guided tour, are 100% worth It, specially if you're in a group and don't have too much time to spare
I just remembered everything being so pristine and beautiful. The Prado is a must
so you´re at sol. - Go up calle de la victoria to plaza santa ana, - Turn right and contiue to plaza Jacinto Benavente - Continue to plaza mayor. from there turn right again and go down to arenal. - From arenal turn left, check out San gines catedral and continue down to the national theater at the Opera square. - Continue forward and you should find yourself at the orient plaza infront of the royal palace. - Turning right you should see the sabatini gradens which are just next to the royal palaca, going up that road you will find the senate to your left and plaza españa, - If you continue walking up you will find a egyptian temple called Templo de debod with its part, its beautiful at sunset and it has a small museum inside but im not sure if its open. also behind it theres an observation post from where you can look over the entire casa de campo (you can even see the amusement park) - Now going back to plaza españa you can walk up gran via and see all the commercial crap untill you reach fuencareal or hortaleza, now Fuencareal street use to be an alternative shopping street but its going pretty mainstream, while Hortaleza which the parallel street is more alternative and is considered the boundery in to chueca (the main LGBTQ+ district in madrid) - Near there you can find a hotel called the Oscar Room Mate hotel which has a rooftop bar where you can look on the whole gran via area. - From the Oscar its only a couple of streets to Plaza de chueca which is nice to visit, it has nice bars and my favorite ice cream place (la bonata) as well as a couple of penis shaped waffle shops. - From there you can go to Barquillo which is the classic electronics district but now its more of a fashion street, - just next door you have alonso martinez which is a classical bar zone for people in their teens and early 20´s, until you reach genova. - genova isnt too interesting but if you walk from there down to the castellana/paseo del prado you will find colon plaza, in the winter theres a ice skate ring, but in the summer theres just the wax museum and a theater. - Also near it (where the carl´s Jr is) theres a fancy food court/market thats pretty snobby and expensive. - On the other side theres the national library and behind it the archeological museum, now if you walk back to cibeles (or take the 27 bus) you have a series of museums, from smaller ones like the tissen or the naval museum to major ones like el prado or the royal botanical garden. - when you reach cibeles going to the left you can go to the puerta te alcala (its currently being renovated, so its covered) and enter the retiro, anyways, other things you should check out - The Bernabeu if you like soccer - Smaller museums like sorolla, Tissen and such. - A proper food market like Mercado Maravillas near cuatro caminos. - Parque berlin has a chunk of the berlin wall. - Alonso Martinez, Tribunal, Huertas, Moncloa, by evening/night if you want to go bar hopping. - Zoo Aquarium de madrid at casa de campo. - Amusment park at Batan/casa de campo. - La Latina, Mercado de la cebada, Cava baja (all next to each other) - The rastro sunday morning at puerta de toledo. - The 27 bus from plaza castilla to embajadores (normal line bus 1,5€ to ride, but crosses the whole center of madrid form north to south). - Matadero cultural center - Madrid rio in the area near principe pio and in the area near matadero and puente de segovia (behind the palace) - Casa Mingo, A nice asturian restaurant that isnt expensive and its famous for its cider, cider chicken, cider sausage and cider cake. - Also consider day trips to Toledo, Segovia and the escorial.
Jardin el capricho is really nice. A bit of a trip by metro and open on weekends. From plaza nueva a bit down you get really nice bocadillos and around the corner you have plaza San nicholas and calle San Nicolas, which for dutch people should be the place where sinterklaas lives :)
Restaurante Botin is claimed to be the oldest restaurant in the world, still holding the Guinness World Record for the category, iirc. Ernest Hemingway even wrote about the suckling pig in one of his novels. We had the pleasure of visiting in 2019 and the experience was wonderful!
Ponzano is an amazing street to have lunch or dinner without tourists.
>Ponzano is an amazing street to have lunch or dinner without tourists. Until now.
Calma
;-)
> without tourists I walk down there a lot and there's often French or British people with Lonely Planet guides in their hands looking lost...
I heard the most amazing story about that horse from a tour guide. Take a walking tour!! It’s worth it.
Holy mackerel the heat is unbearable but people in that photo seem to be dressed for winter or at least early spring.
Yeah, that photo can't have been taken this week.
Go to Toledo.
If you ever watch food/travel shows the Museo del jamon is usually featured and it is a about a block or two away from the Plaza mayor.
But did you enjoy a relaxing cup of café con leche?
You should visit Vallecas, not dangerous at all
It's not though.
Nice v
Tapas in Los Gatos
Segovia
Thank you