With Christmas just around the corner, Spain’s thriving capital, Madrid, makes an excellent weekend getaway. Long eclipsed by its cultural rival, Barcelona, the city is making a return as a tourist location. December to February, the city is frozen, eliminating some of the maddening crowds than can flow through in the summer, and creating an unusually festive feeling to a destination usually more associated with Summer getaways.
The first stop in the city should be the central Puerta Del Sol, an excellent place to catch up on some Christmas shopping. After a morning browsing the shops, the best place to stop for lunch in the centre is Metro Bistro, hidden amongst overpriced tourist traps in the Plaza Mayor. Whilst slightly more expensive than comparable restaurants in other parts of the city, the restaurant is a strong balance of straightforward flavours and excellent presentation. The seven course taster menu is especially good, and with wine, will set you back around €40 per person at lunchtime, €55 at dinner.
After taking in the sights of the Puerta del Sol and Calle Mayor, head fifteen minutes east down the main road to the Prado Museum, one of Europe’s most important and striking art galleries.
Entry is usually €14, but it is gratuitously free for students, although you should be prepared to brave the inevitable queues. They are worth it; a visit to the museum, including artists such as Rubens and El Greco, could easily stretch to a fascinating half day. Parque Retiro, the striking park in which the museum is set, is a beautiful location for a walk but realistically more of a summer attraction.
As the afternoon progresses, the San Francisco Basilica (Puerta del Toledo) is one of Madrid’s most striking buildings, an eclectic collection of styles built across almost four centuries. It is more visually interesting than Madrid’s actual cathedral, just north, and pleasingly also still free.
As the evening arrives, Seven and Six (Monocloa), though a little isolated in the West of the city, is an excellent place to explore Madrid’s newly thriving bar scene. It comes complete with a well thought-out selection of cocktails hovering at €9 each. Following on, head to Masalanya to Barco (Gran Via or Noviciado), arguably one of the capital’s most popular clubs. Two rooms divide an unusually relaxed house scene with a no-holes-barred pop playlist guaranteed to elicit feelings of Europop joy in even the most indie-hearted clubbers. Madrid goes out late; arriving before 2am is fruitless and clubs only really get going at around 3 and can finish as late as 7am, just as the city wakes up to work.
Madrid is well-served from the UK. Ryanair fly from several airports to Madrid Barajas, connected to the city by Metro or bus, with returns from £60. BA and Iberia fly from London Heathrow, with returns around £150. For more information during the trip, look for one of Madrid’s numerous and unusually well-run Tourism Centres, with maps, guides and English-speaking staff.
Stephen Rainbird