The Spanish capital, Madrid, is packed with options for things to do. Gourmets, art lovers and sports fans should be in their element, while the nightlife is legendary. But Madrid is also a surprisingly green city, with extensive parklands near the centre.
We’ve picked out five of the best options for any visitor to Madrid – but we’re merely scratching the surface.
Eat at the oldest restaurant in the world
In terms of shameless box-ticking, this one is right up there. But it’s undoubtedly a cool thing to say you’ve done. According to Guinness World Records, La Casa BotÃn on Calle de los Cuchilleros has been dishing up food for longer than any other restaurant on earth, and has been in operation since 1725. It’s a little bit of a tourist trap, but it’s undoubtedly packed with charm. The big, antique wooden doors lead upstairs to a wooden-beamed roof, blue-and-white tiled walls, rickety chairs and lots of paintings.
Madrid's Casa Botin, the oldest restaurant in the world!
The waiters are dressed up in an almost comically smart manner, with white tuxedos and black bow ties, while the hand painted ceramic sangria jugs are just gorgeous.
But what about the food? Well there’s a reason that Casa BotÃn has been around for so long – its cochinillo (suckling pig) is legendary. There’s no attempt to spare the heart strings as it comes out – the little piglet’s tail is still on – but you’ll struggle to find more tender, juicy meat. For literature lovers, Casa BotÃn also features at the end of Ernest Hemingway’s novel, The Sun Also Rises.
Go on a tapas crawl
Of course, Madrid’s other great dining option is to keep consuming little bits over the course of an evening. Well, I say evening, but when done the Madrid way, it inevitably stretches long into the night as well. Madrid is a sensational city for nightlife – it’s a city with thousands of small bars rather than the big barn-like joints that can be found elsewhere. Each has its own distinct vibe, and crawling around them is tremendous fun.
As is the Spanish way, a lot of the bars will serve small tapas portions to people buying a drink. Most of the time, these will be free of charge but where they’re not, the raciones are rarely expensive.
The Chueca area is arguably the best place to go for a tapas bar crawl. It’s just off Gran Via in central Madrid, and there’s an incredible array of bars. Some are aimed at the gay community, some are more upmarket wine bars, some are packed with foreign backpackers and some are the Spanish equivalent of old men pubs.
The variety is awesome, and by the end of the crawl, you’ll almost certainly be turning away the free food. (You can book a tapas tour in Madrid over on the Viator website, a great Madrid night activity.)
Get your art fix
Madrid is fortunate enough to play host to three of the world’s greatest art galleries, and all are relatively close to each other. The granddaddy of the trio is the Museo del Prado. Housed in the grandiose Palacia de Villanueva, the Prado features practically all of art’s big names from down the centuries. From Spain, Velázquez, Goya and El Greco are heavily represented, while other parts of the museum cover everything from Bosch to Botticelli.
Second on the gallery list is the Centro de Arte Reina SofÃa. The emphasis swings towards modern art here, and it contains some fantastic works by Salvador Dali and Wassily Kandinsky.
The reason many visit the Reina SofÃa is to see Pablo Picasso’s masterpiece, however. Guernica is Picasso’s epic interpretation of a bombing in the Spanish Civil War; it takes pride of place and usually has a gaggle of visitors around it.
And then there’s also the Museo Thyssen-Bornemisza, which is the happy medium between the Prado and the Reina SofÃa. Van Gogh, Renoir, Tintoretto, Cezanne and Matisse are just some of the masters on display in here. (Note - you can get free or reduced admission to many galleries in Madrid using a Madrid city pass.)
Walk through El Retiro
This former Royal park is now open to all, and it’s an absolute treasure. It’s at the back of the Prado, and it’s the place where Madrid’s frenetic pace gets taken down a few notches. You don’t really have to do anything more than go for a stroll and maybe partake in an ice cream, but for those wanting a little more, there’s always the option of the boating lake.
El Retiro Park in Madrid
The lake glimmers in the sun, and a popular weekend pastime is to hire out a rowing boat and go for a splash around the ducks. On the eastern side of the lake is one of Madrid’s most impressive buildings – the mausoleum of King Alfonso XII.
The park also has a couple of fairly unique sights. El Ã?ngel Caido is one of the few statues of the devil in the world, while the Palacio de Cristal is a glorious glass building in the middle of the park. The latter often hosts small exhibitions.
Go on the Real Madrid stadium tour
Real Madrid is the most successful football club of all time, and that’s not just the opinion of its own marketing department. The club has won nine European Cups and so many domestic trophies that they could probably be melted down and turned into a life-size replica of the Statue of Liberty. For football fans, therefore, heading to the Santiago Bernabeu stadium in Madrid is something of a pilgrimage.
Even for those who haven’t got the faintest interest in the sport, the self-guided tour is pretty fascinating. It takes visitors up to the best vantage points in the (enormous) stadium, before taking them through the club’s proud history.
Santiago Bernabeu Stadium, Madrid
All the silverware is on display, and there’s the chance to have your photograph taken with the Champions League trophy. Towards the end, the trail leads out to the pitch itself. You’re not allowed on the hallowed turf, alas, but it is possible to sit in the managerial dug-out. They’ve installed some rather fancy comfy seats there.
The tour then goes through the dressing rooms before it ends, somewhat predictably, in a shop where you can buy all manner of merchandise. (You can book a joint Madrid city tour and tour of Real Madrid’s Santiago Bernabeu stadium over on the Viator site.)
-David Whitley
Planning a trip? Browse Viator’s Madrid tours & things to do in Madrid.
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