Welcome to Madrid, the political and financial center of modern Spain. With its many museums, cultural activities, delicious cuisine and incredible nightlife, Madrid outstands easily among any other capital city in the world. Most touristic spots in Madrid are found in the center of the city, mainly in the Centro, Salamanca, Chanmartín, Retiro and Arganzuela districts. The heart of the city is Puerta del Sol, the starting point of all the highways in Spain.
Museums
Madrid hosts remarkable museums, which stand as one of the main attractions in the city. The so called Triangle of Art comprises the three most important ones: Museo del Prado, Thyssen-Bornemisza and Museo Reina Sofía.
Other relevant museums are:
Shopping Areas
Madrid, with its Cibeles Fashion Catwalk, is considered one of the European centers for fashion. All the most important fashion brands are present in the city. Also worth mentioning is the open air market El Rastro, which opens every Sunday and holidays along Ribera de Curtidores street.
In Madrid you can also enjoy the few classical cafés that still stand. Among them is Café Gijón (Paseo de los Recoletos 21) and café Comercial (Glorieta de Bilbao 7).
Gastronomy
The bocadillo de calamares is a typical dish in Madrid. The traditional food is Spanish in general and Castilian in particular, with meals dating back to the age of Felipe II: the so called cocido madrileño, the callos a la madrileña, the garlic soup, and desserts such as rosquillas tontas y listas, huesos de santo or torrijas madrileñas.
The typical aroma in Madrid’s meals is the frying vegetable oil, present in almost all the dishes served in bars and restaurants in the city: the famous churros, the tortilla de patatas, the bocadillos de calamares served in Plaza Mayor, the patatas bravas, chopitos and canillejas. After the fall of Franquismo and certain changes in the consumer’s choices, several multinational fast food chains have appeared, as well as ethnic food such as Kebabs. Inmigration at the beginning of the XXI Century has also brought with it new gastronomies, such as Chinese, Ecuadorian and Rumanian.
Parks and Gardens
Madrid is one of the European cities with the highest number of green areas per habitant, more specifically, 70m², as compared to the 20m² average in Europe. Also, with about 300.000 trees, it is the second city in the world with the greatest presence of these in the streets and parks, beaten only by Tokio. Most parks are protected by Town Hall regulations, thus being held inside the Parque Regional de la Cuenca Alta del Manzanares, which also holds the Monte de El pardo and the Soto de Viñuelas, natural spaces situated to the northeast and north of the city, respectively. South of Madrid, there are 783 ha of green space protected within the Parque Regional del Sureste.
