Lonely Planet Madrid , livre ebook

Madrid

Contents

Plan Your Trip

Welcome to Madrid
Madrid’s Top 10
What’s New
Need to Know
First Time Madrid
Top Itineraries
If You Like…
Month by Month
Travel with Children
Like a Local
For Free
Eating
Drinking & Nightlife
Entertainment
Shopping

Explore

Neighbourhoods at a Glance
Plaza Mayor & Royal Madrid
Sights
Eating
Drinking & Nightlife
Entertainment
Shopping
Sports & Activities
La Latina & Lavapiés
Sights
Eating
Drinking & Nightlife
Entertainment
Shopping
Sports & Activities
Sol, Santa Ana & Huertas
Sights
Eating
Drinking & Nightlife
Entertainment
Shopping
Sports & Activities
El Retiro & the Art Museums
Sights
Eating
Drinking & Nightlife
Shopping
Sports & Activities
Salamanca
Sights
Eating
Drinking & Nightlife
Entertainment
Shopping
Sports & Activities
Malasaña & Conde Duque
Sights
Eating
Drinking & Nightlife
Entertainment
Shopping
Chueca
Sights
Eating
Drinking & Nightlife
Entertainment
Shopping
Sports & Activities
Parque del Oeste & Northern Madrid
Sights
Eating
Drinking & Nightlife
Entertainment
Shopping
Sports & Activities
Day Trips from Madrid
San Lorenzo de El Escorial
Toledo
Segovia
Ávila
Aranjuez
Chinchón
Sleeping

Understand

Understand Madrid
Madrid Today
History
City of Painters
Architecture
Madrid’s Film Scene
Flamenco

Survival Guide

Transport
Arriving in Madrid
Getting Around
Tours
Directory A–Z
Customs Regulations
Discount Cards
Electricity
Emergency
LGBTQI Travellers
Insurance
Internet Access
Medical Services
Money
Opening Hours
Post
Public Holidays
Safe Travel
Taxes & Refunds
Telephone
Time
Toilets
Tourist Information
Travellers with Disabilities
Visas
Language
Madrid Maps
Campo del Moro & Los Austrias
Lavapiés
La Latina
Sol, Huertas & the Centre
Paseo del Prado & El Retiro
Salamanca
Malasaña & Conde Duque
Chueca
Chamberí
Parque del Oeste

Table of Contents

Behind the Scenes
Our Writer
Welcome to Madrid

No city on earth is more alive than Madrid, a beguiling place whose sheer energy carries a simple message: this city really knows how to live.

Beautiful Architecture
Madrid may lack the cachet of Paris, the history of Rome, or Barcelona’s reputation for Modernista masterpieces. And no, there is no equivalent of the Eiffel Tower, Colosseum or La Sagrada Família that you can point to and say ‘this is Madrid’. But Madrid has a lot of envy-inducing features of its own. Spain’s broad sweep of architectural history provides a glorious backdrop to city life, from medieval mansions and royal palaces to the unimagined angles of Spanish contemporary architecture, from the sober brickwork and slate spires of Madrid baroque to the extravagant confections of the belle époque. Put simply, this is one beautiful city.

An Artistic City
Few cities boast an artistic pedigree quite as pure as Madrid’s: many art lovers return here again and again. For centuries, Spanish royals showered praise and riches upon the finest artists of the day, from home-grown talents such as Goya and Velázquez to Flemish and Italian greats. Masterpieces by these and other Spanish painters such as Picasso, Dalí and Miró now adorn the walls of the city’s world-class galleries. Three in particular are giants – the Museo del Prado, Centro de Arte Reina Sofía and Museo Thyssen-Bornemisza – but in Madrid these are merely good places to start.

Killing the Night
Madrid nights are the stuff of legend, and the perfect complement to the more sedate charms of fine arts and fine dining. The city may have more bars than any other city on earth – a collection of storied cocktail bars and nightclubs that combine a hint of glamour with non-stop marcha (action). But that only goes some way to explaining the appeal of after-dark Madrid. Step out into the night-time streets of many barrios and you’ll find yourself swept along on a tide of people, accompanied by a happy crowd intent on dancing until dawn.

A Culinary Capital
Rising above the humble claims of its local cuisine, Madrid has evolved into one of the richest culinary capitals of Europe. The city has wholeheartedly embraced all the creativity and innovation of Spain’s gastronomic revolution. But this acceptance of the new is wedded to a passion for the enduring traditions of Spanish cooking, for the conviviality of the eating experience and for showcasing the infinite variety of food from every Spanish region. From tapas in sleek temples to all that’s new to sit-down meals beneath centuries-old vaulted ceilings, eating in Madrid is a genuine pleasure.

The Edificio Metrópolis marks the southern end of Gran Vía | LUCVI/SHUTTERSTOCK ©

Why I Love Madrid
By Anthony Ham, Writer
More than a decade after I fell for Madrid and decided to call it home, the life that courses relentlessly through the streets here still excites me. Here is a place where the passions of Europe’s most passionate country are the fabric of daily life, a city with music in its soul and an unshakeable spring in its step. But Madrid is also one of the most open cities on earth and it doesn’t matter where you’re from for the oft-heard phrase to ring true: ‘If you’re in Madrid, you’re from Madrid’.
For more, see our writers
Madrid’s Top 10

Museo del Prado
1 Spain’s premier collection of Spanish and European art belongs among the elite of world art museums. Goya and Velázquez are the stars of the show in the beautiful Museo del Prado , which occupies pride of place along the city’s grand boulevard, Paseo del Prado. But the Prado’s catalogue has such astonishing depth and breadth, from the other Spanish masters to the outstanding Flemish collection, from Rubens and Rembrandt to Botticelli and Bosch, that you’ll require more than one visit to take it all in.
1 El Retiro & the Art Museums

RODRIGO GARRIDO/SHUTTERSTOCK ©

Madrid’s Top 10

Plaza Mayor
2 Madrid is distinguished by some extra-ordinary plazas, but Plaza Mayor is easily the king. The plaza’s constituent elements are easy to list and combine beauty and buzz, scale and detail: uneven cobblestones, perfectly proportioned porticoes, slate spires and facades in deep ochre offset by marvellous frescoes of mythic figures and wrought-iron balconies. This stately square is the heartbeat of a city, the scene of so many grand events in Madrid’s historical story and where the modern city most agreeably throngs with life.
1 Plaza Mayor & Royal Madrid

STATUE OF KING FELIPE III | S-F/SHUTTERSTOCK ©

Madrid’s Top 10

Tapas in La Latina
3 One of the most important gastronomic streets in Spain, La Latina’s Calle de la Cava Baja is lined with tapas bars. Some have elevated these tiny morsels into art forms, others serve up specialities in traditional clay pots. Such is Madrid’s love affair with tapas and the culture of enjoying them that even this long and graceful thoroughfare cannot contain the neighbourhood’s tapas offerings. Nearby you’ll find Madrid’s best tortilla de patatas (potato and onion omelette; pictured top left), a dish beloved by the king.
5 La Latina & Lavapiés

NITO/SHUTTERSTOCK ©

Madrid’s Top 10

Parque del Buen Retiro
4 The alter ego to Madrid’s tableau of sound and movement, Parque del Buen Retiro is one of our favourite corners of the city. Beautiful by any standards, with eye-catching architectural monuments and abundant statues among the trees, El Retiro is where madrileños (people from Madrid) come to stroll or laze on the lawns in great numbers on weekends. As such it’s one of the most accessible slices of local culture, at once filled with life and an escape from Madrid’s frenetic pace.
1 El Retiro & the Art Museums

CATARINA BELOVA/SHUTTERSTOCK ©

Madrid’s Top 10

Centro de Arte Reina Sofía
5 In a city where world-class art galleries are everywhere, it takes something special for one painting to tower above the rest. But such is the strange and disturbing splendour of Picasso’s Guernica that its claim to being Madrid’s most extraordinary artwork is unrivalled. After decades of wandering the globe, it looks very much at home in the Centro de Arte Reina Sofía , alongside works by Salvador Dalí and Joan Miró. Put it all together and you’ve some of the finest art of the 20th century.
1 El Retiro & the Art Museums

JOAQUÍN CORTÉS/ROMAN LORES. IMAGE COURTESY OF MUSEO NACIONAL CENTRO DE ARTE REINA SOFIA. ©

Madrid’s Top 10

Museo Thyssen-Bornemisza
6 Of all Madrid’s major art galleries, it is the Museo Thyssen-Bornemisza that most often appeals to the uninitiated. Here, beneath one roof, are works from seemingly every European painter of distinction, from 13th-century religious art to zany 21st-century creations. There may just be one painting, or a handful of paintings from each artist, but the museum’s broad-brush-strokes approach makes a visit here akin to a journey through all that has been refined and masterful during centuries of European art.
1 El Retiro & the Art Museums

CARRAVAGIO’S SAINT CATHERINE OF ALEXANDRIA | ADAM EASTLAND/ALAMY STOCK PHOTO ©

Madrid’s Top 10

Palacio Real
7 Built on the site where Madrid was born in the 9th century, Madrid’s Palacio Real is one of the city’s most significant (and most beautiful) buildings. Watching over a pretty square and shadowed by gorgeous ornamental gardens, the palace is a stately affair, combining grandeur, all the symbolism of an imperial past and unusual accessibility in the city’s heart. The interior is as lavish and extravagant as you’d expect, a reminder of the glory days when Spanish royalty ruled the world.
1 Plaza Mayor & Royal Madrid

FOTOEVENTIS/SHUTTERSTOCK ©

Madrid’s Top 10

Plaza de Santa Ana & Night-time Huertas
8 Nights around the Plaza de Santa Ana and neighbouring barrio of Huertas are long, loud and filled with variety. The plaza is both epicentre and