I'm going to Madrid in a couple of weeks - what is the one thing i should see or do while I'm there?

Question

I would love suggestions that aren't just the normal museums/galleries/places to eat that are in the guidebooks - something different that tourists might not necessarily know about.

Answer 1

Please see the webpage for more details and images on Spain and Madrid. I have neither visited Spain nor Madrid and I don't know Spanish language.

Answer 2

When I went last spring the best thing I did was go out at night not to a disco or a bar. At night you see thing that you had seen during the day differently.

Close to plaza mayor is a place where you can eat churros con chocolate. I recomend going there.

Madrid is a very big city and if you walk around a while you'll find many different and intersting things.

If you have read Don Quijote go see the monument that has Cervantes and Don Quijote.

Also go to the Atocha train station it is amazing.

Answer 3

Santiago Bernabeu stadium  or Prado, with the worlds largest collection of Spanish art, see http://www.spain4uk.co.uk/places/madrid....

Answer 4

Hi !! I'm from madrid. they are the prado museum the thyssen museum and, maybe you can go to a restaurant for eat tipically

food

Answer 5

Sunday: Rastro market (Metro La Latina)

Weekend: Go out at Plaza St. Ana (e.g.Torero,calle Cruz, La Cartuja,..) It gets busy at around 2 am. Before going home in the morning have chocolate con churros at the cafeteria san gines (cerca de la Puerta de sol, calle san gines)

get on bus "circular" which takes you around the city.

Thursday:Palacio Gaviria is where international students meet (near Puerta del sol)

Paseo Pintor Rosales (Metro Arguelles): take the cable car to Casa de Campo (big forest in the middle of the city) go to the estanque (lake) and have some food there

Filmoteca (Metro Lavapies) interesting international films

Have fun! Pasalo bien!

Answer 6

I was going to say ....go to Placa Mayor and start in the left hand corner and have a drink and tapas and work your way around the square clockwise and do the same in each bar and soak up the atmosphere of the real Madrid .....OR...try and book a table at Botins restaraunt...the oldest restaraunt in the world!!!!!....and just...just...enjoy being Spanish for a few hours. But , then I read your question again and realised you don't want that.

However....enjoy this beautiful city whatever you decide to do. Have a great time!!!

Answer 7

I'm from Spain,  but not from Madrid.

Ok apart the tipycal places in Madrid you can visit Encarnacion Monastery, a beautiful place with silent and art. And the Sorolla Museum, it's a small house where lived the painter decorating with a lot of paints. Has a beautiful garden.

Enjoy my country!!!

Answer 8

Impossible to tell you just ONE thing!

For example...

Go to "La Casa del Jamón" for a tapa of spanish ham.....

It's a chain of restaurants dedicated to spanish specialties, above all the Serrano ham...

Excellent!

There are several, one is just off the Puerta del Sol Square. near the City Hall building (the street just to your right as you face the city hall).

Look for  "MARISQUERÍA" signs, these are seafood restaurants, the seafood is flown into Madrid daily, it is almost fresher than that sold at the seaports! If you find one, and if it looks grungy, has lots of people standing at the bar, and plenty of dirty napkins and seashells or shrimp heads on the floor...Bingo! You've hit a jackpot...it's a seafood bar/restaurant that sells "rations" and "tapas" of some of the most delicious seafood in the world (there are dozens of them all over Madrid!).

Then in La Plaza Mayor and on the lower street level beneath it, there are many typical restaurants one is "La Cueva de Luis Candelas", but all the restaurants in this area are interesting and have great "tapas"!

Other than all the usual fabulous museums, there is a small museum dedicated to the impressionist painter Sorolla...look for it, his paintings are magnificent...

Then there is San Lorenzo del Escorial where Felipe II had his palace built, also worth seeing.  And if you can also make it to Aranjuez, the Royal Palace there is magnificent, as is the city of Toledo, with its hilly streets, churches and El Greco not only the paintings, but also his home and workshop.

Have a great visit Madrid is a wonderful city!

Answer 9

Real Madrid football club if they are playing at home. Probably the only time you'll be able to stand and stare at 11 people worth over £200,000,000.

Answer 10

On Sundays "el rastro" (metro la latina), is a street market where you can find old things, second hand... and very cheap and then eat tapas in this area its a great idea.

Answer 11

Walk along different streets and get surprised with everything you find (narrow medieval streets near the city hall or alternative shops in fuencarral street). Let yourself be guided by you intuition and you will surely find what you need.

Good luck and enjoy!