Madrid Travel Tips and Insider's Guides
Explore Madrid: Read our expert advice and book travel to Madrid.
Our Insider's Articles about Madrid
Madrid, the capital of and largest city in Spain, offers travelers a myriad of hotel options when choosing where to stay. Organized... [Read the full story]
Real Madrid is arguably the most famous football club in the world. With nine European Cups and thirty-one domestic championships,... [Read the full story]
Though wandering around the streets of Madrid is a great way to see the city, be sure to take advantage of the fantastic public... [Read the full story]
Any trip to Madrid could quickly become food-centric, as one visits Madrid’s vibrant food scene at the markets, taverns,... [Read the full story]
Newly opened in June 2010, Dormirdcine is a unique, designer boutique hotel that doesn’t come with a designer price. Considering... [Read the full story]
Earlier, I wrote about the Prado Museum in Madrid’s Golden Triangle of Art. The Thyssen Bornemisza and the Rein Sofia... [Read the full story]
A small area in the heart of Madrid, called the “Golden Triangle of Art,” holds some of the world’s greatest art treasures. Three... [Read the full story]
The Monastery of San Lorenzo de El Escorial is located close to Madrid , Spain in the small town of El Escorial. Read more about... [Read the full story]
We couldn’t have had a better first few days in Spain. After a 9 am landing on a cool, late-February morning at Madrid’s... [Read the full story]
While I was pursuing a degree at Université de Rennes II (France) in French Studies with a specialty in Art History, I got “schooled,”... [Read the full story]
Surrounded by a trifecta of UNESCO World Heritage Sites, Madrid’s central location and status as a transportation hub within... [Read the full story]
Madrid was a sleepy village until the Moors invaded back in the 9th century, but it’s wide awake now with many unique attractions.... [Read the full story]
About Madrid
The large city of Madrid is located close to the center of Spain, which extends southwest from the rest of Europe as the Iberian Peninsula. Also, because Spain extends from the high Pyrenees and the Sierra de Gredos mountains, the country averages an altitude of 2,100 feet above sea level. The highest mainland peak is Mulhacen at 11,424 feet, in the Sierra Nevada. Portugal lies along the western edge of the peninsula adjacent to the Atlantic Ocean.
Visitors to Madrid find a large, energetic, and cosmopolitan city which retains much of its traditional Spanish character and Spanish roots. Visitors also find not only a noisy, vibrant, and chaotic city of great wealth and grueling poverty but also encounter here a flourishing political, cultural and artistic life. In 1992 Madrid was named the cultural capital of Europe, the same year that Barcelona, located northeast of Madrid on the Mediterranean coast, hosted the ’92 Olympic Games and Seville, in the far southwest corner of the peninsula, hosted the ’92 World’s Fair.
Three interesting historical areas are easily accessed from Madrid’s main plaza, Puerta del Sol (Sun’s Gate): Viejo Madrid (Old Madrid) on the Plaza Mayor; Barrio de Oriente (the Eastern Quarter) by the Palacio Real; and Bourbon Madrid, which offers busy boulevards and sparkling fountains around the Prado Museum. Regional restaurants feature traditional dishes from all over Spain including Galicia and also the Basque area in the north. Visitors find a plethora of fast food outlets with hamburgers, tortillas and even paella, the tasty fish stew, to go. Summertime visitors need to be prepared for late night dining, much of it at hundreds of outdoor terrazas crowded and going strong until 4 or 5 in the morning.
Although English is not widely spoken anywhere in Spain most Spaniards are courteous and helpful to visitors. It is advised that beachwear, shorts and revealing necklines are not acceptable away from coastal resorts. The tradition of the bull fight is also changing and is no longer available in certain parts of the country.
