Madrid City Breaks

A guide to Madrid

Madrid owes its popularity to the atmosphere of the city and its amazing residents, rather than impressive monuments and sights. Weekends in Madrid are long enough to get a complete picture of the liveliest, friendliest, most accessible and in many ways the most characterful of Spanish cities. The capital is known for its late hours, spontaneity and unique character, and is popular with all art enthusiasts. Anyone with even a passing interest in art will be astonished by the three most famous Madrid art galleries: the Prado Museum, the Thyssen Museum and the Reina Sofia Arts Centre.

A unique city packed with Spanish character

A visit here must feature the astonishing profusion of characterful cafes, wine bars, tapas bars, pavement cafes and restaurants in the compact central area. Contrasting neighbourhoods rub shoulders and are easily reached on foot, and the city offer easy mixing with fun-loving, outgoing madrileños of all ages and all backgrounds, by day and by night. All the major sights and all the most enjoyable neighbourhoods are packed into a small central area, and it is perfectly feasible to return from Madrid without having needed public transport at all.

Bright sunshine and a vibrant culture

As well as art, fine food and nightlife, Madrid offers tremendous shopping, the extraordinary Sunday Rastro street market, excellent specialist bars, live jazz and flamenco, a strong DJ culture, a thriving gay scene and regular festivals of music, theatre, dance and cinema. Visitors will also have the chance to visit tremendous historic cities around the capital like Toledo, Segovia and El Escorial. Although spring and summer are the most popular times to come, the bright sunny climate and strong Spanish culture make winter an enticing time to travel, too.