RenShen

Hello all,

I love Madrid and have visited maybe 15 times in the last few years.

My husband and I visit with friends, leave the kids at home and just enjoy ourselves.

Over the years we have visited the galleries, the parks, the footy stadium and the Royal palace. However I must admit that the last few visits have been purely drinking occasions !!

As you will see from my BE history, I hope to be moving to Australia in a couple of months time so September's visit to Madrid could well be my last.

I am hoping that some of you who know Madrid might be able to give me some suggestions for must see places/bars etc so that I can cover them on my final trip?

For info, we stay in Calle San Jeronimo, off Sol. Our tastes are simple (mainly beer and tapas !) and we don't really want to spend too much time travelling about so fairly central places would be ideal.

Fingers crossed for some good replies,

Ren

steviedeluxe

Hi. I personally don't like the areas around Sol - too crowded, expensive and full of pickpockets and conmen. To be honest, if it's your last trip I would recommend taking a couple of day trips - perhaps Toledo and Segovia. You find decent tapas bars in these places too, but the scenery is far better. Or you could go a little further afield - Cuenca is a great place to visit. Valladolid in my opinion is superb for wine and tapas. Forget Catalunya and the Basque Country - for me the best tapas in Spain are to be found in Valladolid (unfortunately they're not free with your drink, normally 1.20-1.40 Euros each). Take the new AVE train and you can be there in a hour or so from Madrid.
As for tapas bars in Madrid itself - just too many to chose from. My advice? Take a shopping expedition to Salamanca, Lista and Ventas areas. There are some streets here with a lot of shops and few bars, but suddenly you'll come across some really great traditional bars, where you'll get prawns or omelettes or jamon with your drink. When you find such a bar, life will feel great.

marisol

Hi,
You must go to "las cuevas de Luis Candelas" in "Plaza Mayor". You said that this is not your first time in Madrid, so you will already know that in the center of Madrid you can not show you are from other country, you shouldn't go with cameras..., be careful. Most of people who are in the Centre of Madrid are not from Spain. when i take a walk for the center i feel as if i were from another country.

marisol

yes, i think you are right

jurdyr

well i hang around the Sol all the time for the night life and love it , ha your in big city there lots off place to head to , shopping i head out to Nuevos Ministerios look up go madrid and get lot there
jurdy

coralsoft

I agree with the idea of getting out a bit, but wouldn't necessarily go to another city, especially if flying in to Madrid. A day trip out to El Escorial and maybe one of the mountain towns like Alpadrete or Guadarrama towards the end of the Cercania suburban railways might be a good idea, then back to Madrid for the rest of the night.