A city that blends old-world charm and modern cool, AnOther shares the best places to visit, eat, drink and stay out late in
In the mid-60s, when the now-infamous Spanish director Pedro Almodóvar decided he wanted to make films, he moved from the rural town he had grown up in to Madrid. He started out working odd jobs (including as a vendor at El Rastro fleamarket) and though he quickly became a figure on the city’s cultural scene, it would be well over a decade before he made it big. It feels correct, then, to introduce Madrid by way of Almodóvar; he still lives in the city to this day, and the humour, desire, beauty and complexity of the city are woven through his films.
Though Barcelona might come quicker to mind as a holiday destination, for its beach access and steady stream of festivals, there’s a quality Madrid has that just makes it feel easy. Home to the country’s contemporary art fair, which runs each March, Madrid has a thriving culture scene. More than this, it’s the kind of place you can be walking down a street and happen upon a perfect old-school taverna or late-night bar, and elements of traditional Spain exist easily alongside the new.
ARCO
Now in its 44th iteration, Spain’s International Art Fair is held each year in Madrid, typically in early March (when the weather is just starting to promise summer). Drawing galleries from more than 35 countries worldwide, this year’s iteration saw over 200 galleries participate; in other words, ARCO is a chance to combine a city break with a tour of some of the finest new art globally. It’s worth looking out for the specially curated sections each year too. This year saw Wametisé: Ideas for an Amazofuturism, curated by Denilson Baniwa and María Will, and Opening. New Galleries, for which the curators Anissa Touati Cristina Anglada assembled young galleries from Athens, Bogotá, Cape Town, Dakar, Tehran, Tbilisi, and more.
Batch
Food markets are a Madrid essential, with Mercado de San Miguel, Mercado Anton Martin and Mercado de San Fernando in particular coming highly recommended. Or, head to Mercado de Vallehermoso in the north of the city where you’ll find Batch. A tiny, unassuming restaurant, Batch is essentially 4 or 5 tables outside a food truck that serves as the kitchen. Any lean towards gimmickry or a ‘concept restaurant’ (shiver) that this set-up might imply is quickly dispelled by the cooking: technically accomplished but unflashy, thoughtful dishes that will confound your expectations. Take the Batch version of a stuffed tomato – baked overnight at 70 degrees until the skin resembles pastry, it’s filled to bursting with a rich ragu. These seasonal dishes pair beautifully with a wine list that leans low-intervention, sourced mainly from Spain.
Pabellón de los Hexágonos
If you find yourself in Madrid before April 20, 2025, then Oh, If Only I Could Listen, Pol Taburet’s solo show in the remarkable Pabellón de los Hexágonos building is a must. Curated by Hans Ulrich Obrist, this is the fifth in a series of exhibitions produced by the Fundación Sandretto Re Rebaudengo Madrid, which seeks to bring the work of young contemporary artists to new audiences in unexpected spaces. To create the works in this show, Taburet paid extensive visits to the city’s Museo del Prado, drawing on Francisco de Goya’s Black Paintings in particular. It makes Oh, If Only I Could Listen both a show that’s worth seeing in its own right, and one that twins well with a visit to the Prado collection.
Casa Julio
An old-school bar serving what is widely considered the best croquettes in Madrid, Casa Julio is the perfect place to wile away an afternoon or sit talking into the night. If you come for lunch, take a four-minute walk around the corner to the Church of San Antonio de los Alemanes; so unremarkable from the outside that you could easily walk past it, this unique, elliptical-shaped church has some of the most breathtaking frescoes that I have seen. For a similar feel to Casa Julio, but a fantastic spectrum of excellently cooked seafood, try Bar El Boqueron, which you can treat either as a bar or sitdown restaurant (though it would be a shame to come and miss out on the prawns). Then finally, on this relaxed culinary tour of classic Madrid, you could head to Cerveceria La Campana for a no-frills lunch or dinner (though they have a full tapas menu, the star is their fried calamari sandwich), Casa Emilio, or Bar Cerveceria El Greco, which will make you feel that you’re in a village in the mountains.
CA2M (Centro de Arte Dos de Mayo)
About a 40 minute drive southwest of Madrid you’ll find CA2M, a vast contemporary art centre which has been running for nearly two decades now. On show until August 2025, Hispania Flower, an exhibit of the work of David Bestue, feels like a particularly vital exhibit for tourists to the city. Through a dynamic mixed media practice, Bestue interrogates the recent history of Madrid, and considers meaning, identity and how the future of the city might play out.
Bendito, Vinos y Vinilos
Like Batch, this bar and wine shop can be found in a food market (Mercado de San Fernando to be specific) so you can either treat it as a place to have a glass while sampling what the market has to offer, or you can use it to stock up on natural wines, or both. For similar, Glop has fun canned wines and a snack selection that tends to feature a modern take on tapas, or try GOTA, a newish wine bar in the fun chueca district with chic interiors by Plantea Estudio.
Bar Cock
Begin or end a night in the Chueca district with a cocktail at Bar Cock, a Madrid institution that’s been going since the ‘70s, and which still makes a great cocktail. Nearby you’ll also find Toni 2 Piano Bar, a rowdy piano bar whose queue tends to snake around the block. Open until 5am, it offers an intergenerational vibe and is the kind of place every city should have at least one of. There is no shortage of bars if you’re strolling Chueca, but Harvey’s is an easy good time. Or, if you find yourself in Lavapies, try Savas bar.
Matadero
Built in the early 20th century as a slaughterhouse, at the turn of the millennium Madrid City Council decided to reimagine this building as an arts centre, and Matadero was born. A vast, sprawling space, it has some of the most respected programming in Spain, with an offering that spans film, contemporary art, music, theatre and much more. Aside from the work it platforms, part of what makes Matadero so special is the way in which its original architecture has been repurposed. For instance, the former slaughterhouse refrigeration room, which has become a space for site-specific work, or the original water tank, which is now a plant memorial and archive.
Cine Doré
Built in the early 1900s, this cinema fell in and out of use over the years and faced closure in the ‘80s (so that it could be ripped down and turned into office blocks). Thankfully it was taken over by Filmoteca Española, the government’s film institute, and today is a remarkable space to watch films from the institute’s archive of Spanish cinema. For more rainy-day culture, you could also pay a visit to Desperate Literature, an atmospheric second-hand bookshop which stocks titles in English and Spanish. Or for shopping, head to El Rastro, the city’s vast flea market, which opens every Sunday.
