Madrid isn’t just Spain’s capital, it’s also its hub. From here, you can head north to the Galician coast or down to Barcelona. Perhaps Seville beckons? The gorgeous vineyards of Rioja? Or how about exploring the capital’s wonderful Barrios? Whether you’re staying put or heading out, Madrid car hire means you have the freedom to do things when you want to do them.

As in most of mainland Europe you’ll be driving on the right and overtaking on the left, and speed limits and signs are in kph rather than mph. As in the UK, speeds vary by area with some particularly busy residential areas having limits as low as 30kph, while there are some motorways with speeds of 120kph.

Limits are strictly enforced, as are rules around seatbelts and mobile phone use. If you plan on seeing more of Spain, the secondary roads are free, but some of the main motorways, or autopistas, have toll sections – look out for signs saying ‘Peaje’. Our team can guide you through the process of paying these if you are heading out into greater Spain.

Madrid is a sprawling city, and you might not always want to tackle the centre to get from one side to the other. Happily, there are three concentric ring roads, the M50, M40 and M30, that respectively move closer to the centre.

As you would expect, parking can sometimes be trickier in some of the busier and more popular tourist areas – when in doubt, use a public parking garage. There are pay and display parking zones too – marked blue or green – and also yellow zones where you can’t park – they’ll say ‘Prohibido Estacionar’.

Whatever you want, Madrid has it in spades. Art galleries that are the envy of the world sit alongside stunning shopping arcades and high-end boutiques. Its markets buzz with life while beautiful parks offer the perfect place to relax and soak up the sunshine.

Pride, passion and rivalry

Star-studded Real Madrid are one of the powerhouses of world football. If you can bag a ticket for a game at the Bernabeu Stadium, you’re in for an experience you won’t forget. You can tour the stadium too, which includes going into the dressing room where Ronaldo prepares for home games, as well as the impressive trophy collection.

Their fierce city rivals Atletico Madrid – commonly known as ‘Atleti’ – have also prospered in recent years, winning La Liga and thriving in European competition. If you’re a fan of the underdog, perhaps a visit to the Wanda Metropolitano is for you instead.

The heart of art

Art lovers are spoiled for choice in Madrid. There’s the incredible private collection open to the public at the Thyssen-Bornemisza, while the Reina Sofia offers a tight focus on 20^th century art. Picasso’s epic Guernica is the highlight at the latter, but there are key pieces from Dali, Miro, Bacon and many more too. Both galleries sit on the Paseo del Prado with the other big player in town, the Museo del Prado.

The Prado wasn’t always a gallery. Napoleon garrisoned his troops here during an invasion of Spain and before that it was intended for scientists. Now it’s one of the very best art destinations in the world and perhaps more user-friendly than Paris’ Louvre in terms of crowds.

Where to start? Perhaps with Goya’s Black Paintings, rich with history and drama, or maybe Las Meninas by Velazquez, one of the most interesting and meta-textual paintings in the history of art. Away from the Spanish masters you’ll find Flemish masterpieces, Bosch’s unforgettable The Garden of Earthly Delights and wondrous work by El Greco, Durer and more. Your senses will be reeling.

The old and the new

You could eat out three times a day for a year and barely scratch the surface of what Madrid has in store for foodies. For every classic restaurant or tapas bar in a cellar with a vaulted ceiling you ticked off, there’d be a new opening waiting for you.

The food at Casa Gonzalez is simple – and simply delicious. Open since 1931, this traditional eatery has remained in the same family throughout. Located on Calle del Leon, you can order plates of finely-sourced manchego cheese and ‘raciones’ of jamon iberico. They have tapas both cold and ‘caliente’, with fine peppers stuffed with prawns and salt cod. Like many places in the capital, it doesn’t really get going until 10 at night.

At the other end of the spectrum is Coque. Recently relocated to the Almagro district it boasts two Michelin stars, a cellar packed with 13,000 bottles and a luxury interior that tells you that you’re at the cutting edge of fine dining. You don’t just sit at a table in a reverential hush – this is food as an experience, and you’ll actually dine in several rooms, as well as visit the open kitchen.

The chefs here are intent on modernising Spanish cuisine, and you can experience that in the salted macaroon they’ll feed you in their spectacular winery. The menu changes frequently and seasonally, but you might get partridge taco with sauerkraut, Iberian pork jowl and chocolate spiced with smoked salt.

It’s Madrid in a nutshell – a city aware of its past but never content to stay still and stagnate. With car hire in Madrid, it’s yours for the taking.