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 20th 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.
