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What to do
The Rastro Flea Market
Madrid’s centuries-old Sunday morning flea market is on every to-do list. But to enjoy it like a local, give the tourist-tat main road a miss and dive into the snarl of side streets, where wheeler-dealers hawk everything from rusty doorknobs to 17th-century art. By midday you should be beer-in-hand at a local dive bar – try the legendary straight-off-the-grill sardines at Santurce – and by 4pm cradling fishbowl gintonics in adjacent barrio La Latina.
• Every Sunday from 8am, Plaza de Cascorro
Cooking Point
Born-again chef Eduardo (he used to work in marketing) reveals the secrets of making great paella and moreish tapas staples such as garlic shrimp and chorizo with cider in four-hour classes fuelled by sangria, and shares cooking tips gleaned from his grandma. The ample kitchen has a cooking station per couple and, of course, classes finish with a feast.
• Classes daily, adults €70, children 5-12 €35, +34 910 115 154, cookingpoint.es
Cerralbo Museum
Not far from the tourist-crammed Royal Palace is this less-visited but more fascinating palacio. This former residence of politician, polymath and billionaire hoarder the 17th Marquis of Cerralbo, has resplendent rooms jammed with ancient artefacts, priceless masters, oriental curios and an armoury worthy of a warlord. Laid out as the Marquis left it, the palace is also a goggle-eyed peek into aristocratic life in belle époque Madrid.
• Entry €3 (free Thurs from 5pm and Sun), +34 915 473 646, museocerralbo.mcu.es
Matadero
Madrid’s matadero (slaughterhouse) has been turned into an arts centre with the sprawl of neo-Mudéjar hangars now housing a diverse mix of modern art exhibits, live theatre, concerts and festivals. Check the English-language website for what’s on, or just turn up and wander the many rooms stuffed with curious and regularly changing exhibits. The on-site cinema also screens an offbeat assortment of international documentaries, many in English.
• Entry free, +34 915 177 309, mataderomadrid.org
John Cornford civil war tour
The Spanish civil war ushered in General Franco’s 36-year dictatorship, and both events still weigh heavily on Spain. Spanish Sites offers a three-hour walking tour of key civil war sites, focusing on two ferocious weeks in November 1936 when Franco first tried to overrun the capital. Guides Dr David Mathieson and Dr Justin Byrne interweave history with the moving story of John Cornford, a British man (and Darwin’s great grandson) who helped beat back Franco’s army. If that’s not your thing get the lie of the land (and a little exercise) on a morning cycle tour with Bravo Bike (€35), taking in the city’s key sites in three and a half hours.
• Spanish Sites’ civil war tour costs €60 for one person,€45pp for two or more
Where to eat
Photograph: Alamy
Casa Revuelta
Madrid may be landlocked but it has one of the largest fish markets in the world. The always-packed tapas bar Casa Revuelta dishes up the city’s pre-eminent pinchos de bacalao – piping-hot, fist-size nuggets of flaky, unctuous cod (€2.80). Food hedonists should also try the torreznos – deliciously decadent fried pork belly chunks (€1).
• +34 913 663 332, no website
La Mallorquina
La Mallorquina, in the Puerta del Sol, was founded in 1894 and remains Madrid’s best and busiest patisserie. Skip the upstairs dining room and join the old ladies elbowing for space at the bar while wolfing mid-morning cafés con leche and warm-from-the-oven napolitanas (the star pastry, stuffed with chocolate or pastry cream and topped with almonds, €1.20).
• +34 915 211 201, pastelerialamallorquina.es
Vinoteca Moratín
Chef Marcos Gil’s intimate dining room seats 24 and offers a succinct menu of sophisticated yet unfussy modern Spanish dishes. With so few tables, Marcos can advise diners on the food and wine (which comes from the local market). Regulars swear by the steak tartare (made from Galician rump steak). Booking essential. Mains around €14.
• +34 911 276 085, vinotecamoratin.com
Where to drink
Fábrica Maravillas
Madrid has long been a beer backwater, but a couple of years ago a few friends opened Fábrica Maravillas, the inner-city’s first bona fide craft brewpub. A slick fusion of glass and whitewashed brick, with a clientele that is a rowdy army of beer geeks and the beer-curious. The six brews are available in Madrid’s classic diminutive caña-size glass (€2.20), as well as larger sizes.
• Calle Valverde 29, fabricamaravillas.com
De Vinos
Even though it’s only two years old, cosy, low-lit De Vinos feels like it’s been tucked down the far end of Calle de la Palma for decades. Each evening, neighbours huddle at the marble bar where proprietress Yolanda serves 10 regularly rotating Spanish wines by the glass, and more by the bottle, emphasising lesser-known wine regions.
• Calle de la Palma 76, no website
Sala de Despiece
The ceiling is a jigsaw of polystyrene fish crates; meat hooks dangle above your head; the bartenders dress as butchers and the menu is a delivery slip. It sounds terrible, but it’s quite wonderful. The focus is on prime Spanish ingredients, prepared inventively – and often with a butane torch right under your nose. Sweetbreads with mustard and oyster sauce, fried liquorice-salt piparra peppers and cuttlefish in an ají alioli – it’s tapas with imagination.
• tapas around €9, +34 917 52 61 06, saladedespiece.com
Del Diego
Besuited, bespectacled and frightfully polite, Fernando del Diego Madrid’s unexpected cocktail king. The dapper gent kicked off his career at 15 in Ernest Hemingway’s old haunt Chicote, before opening this cocktail lounge in 1992. His two sons-cum-protegees join him behind the bar and the Diego boys mix for a motley crowd of bar-propping regulars, TV stars and royalty. Undecided? Throw Fernando a bone (“I want a blue cocktail with a gin base.”) and let the maestro invent. Cocktails around €11.
• Calle de la Reina 12, deldiego.com
Café Marula
Skip the city’s over-hyped, over-crowded uberclubs and instead hit this classy, neon-lit underground dance joint, where DJs and eclectic live acts knock out soul, funk and afrobeats to a largely local dance-till-dawn crowd.
• Entry €9 with a cocktail or €5 with a beer, Calle de Bailén 27, marulacafe.com
Where to stay
The Hat
With its minimalist chic and retro objets d’art and soon-to-be-released app, the Hat is one of Madrid’s first hip hostels. These are impressive digs for budget-conscious travellers who don’t want to slum it. Bunkrooms are bright and spacious, double rooms are available, and the fetching rooftop bar overlooks red-tiled roofs and Habsburg turrets. And the location – close to Plaza Mayor – is unbeatable.
• Bunks from €18, doubles from €60 B&B, +34 607 201 981, thehatmadrid.com
Hostal Persal
In Spain, hostal doesn’t mean hostel, it means hotel, albeit a basic one. And while Hostal Persal’s simple rooms are comfortable, the clincher is its prime location at a killer price (including free Wi-Fi). The building faces one of the capital’s most charming, cafe-lined squares and the main sites are a short walk away.
• Doubles from €56 B&B, +34 913 694 643, hostalpersal.com
Artistic B&B
Artsy Argentinians Paola and Rodolfo renovated a pensión in a 200-year-old building in the city’s Literary Quarter to create this snug, idiosyncratic B&B, decorated with rescued and restored furniture, curios from their world travels and Paola’s ceramics. Outward-facing rooms overlook a quiet street of flowered balconies while inward-facing rooms are light-filled thanks to a courtyard. Rodolfo’s fresh baking at breakfast typifies the pride and care this couple pour into their profession.
• Doubles from €66 B&B, +34 654 368 611, artisticbandb.com
Hotel Artrip
Owner-manager Miguel has built a hotel that belies its two stars, with a keen focus on what travellers want: the Wi-Fi is reliable, the showers are powerful, the mattresses are comfortable and the snow-white rooms are serene. Breakfast (€6 extra) runs late and good espresso (rare in Madrid) is available gratis. Fear-mongers might say the neighbourhood is dicey, but Lavapiés is really a lively slice of authentic Madrid.
• Doubles from €90, +34 915 393 282, artriphotel.com
Hidden gem
Antigua Casa Talavera
Antigua Casa Talavera on Calle de Isabel La Católica is a cluttered, colourful fairyland of handmade Spanish ceramics. José, the founder’s great grandson and the shop’s guardian, knows each piece’s origins and history. Prices start around £8.
• antiguacasatalavera.com
Must do
The depth of talent in the city’s tablaos – flamenco venues – is profound. Try Cafetín la Quimera (£11.60) for an intimate, cheap-as-chips show or Corral de la Morería (£39.95) for something more extravagant.
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