Madrid & Surroundings

City of museums and world heritage ancient cities…

Madrid, the capital of Spain, is a cosmopolitan city that combines the most modern infrastructures and the status as an economic, financial, administrative and service center, with a large cultural and artistic heritage, a legacy of centuries of exciting history. You will know the evolution of history and art in Spain in the great amount of museums in Madrid; discover how the different cultures from different ethnic groups live in harmony here in Madrid.

There are many thousand-year-old towns around Madrid like Toledo, Segovia, Avila, Alcalá de Henares, and so on. They are the witness of the Spanish history of over two thousand years.

Museums & the “Golden Triangle of Art”

Madrid is considered one of the top European destinations concerning art museums. Best known is the “Golden Triangle of Art”, located along the Paseo del Prado and comprising three museums: Prado Museum, Reina Sofía Museum, Thyssen-Bornemisza Museum.

Prado Museum opened to the public on 19 November 1819 as a Royal Museum of Painting and Sculpture. It is widely considered to have one of the world’s finest collections of European art, dating from the 12th century to the early 20th century, based on the former Spanish Royal Collection, and the single best collection of Spanish art.

Reina Sofía Museum is Spain’s national museum of 20th-century art. The museum was officially inaugurated on September 10, 1992, and is named for Queen Sofía.

Thyssen-Bornemisza Museum is located next to Prado Museum, forms part of the “Golden Triangle of Art”. Most of the masterpieces in the museum come from the private collection of Thyssen-Bornemisza’s family which was started in the 1920s.

Exclusive Neighborhoods

Chueca is a neighborhood of downtown Madrid, named after its main square, Plaza de Chueca. Chueca is globally famous, courtesy of its high-spirited atmosphere and lively nightlife scene. It is also known as Madrid’s gay neighborhood.

Malasaña is a district brimming with bohemian and hipster urbanites, a Mecca of vintage looks and underground culture in Madrid. In the festive 1980s, Malasaña witnessed the birth of the movida madrileña, a countercultural movement that revolutionized the arts, culture and Spanish society at large during the Spanish transition after Francisco Franco’s death in 1975.

La Latina is a historic neighborhood in the Centro district of downtown Madrid， which occupies the place of the oldest area in Madrid. The narrow and winding streets of this irregularly laid-out area, mostly dating back to the Middle Ages, usually lead onto a square.

El Rastro, the most popular open air flea market in Madrid, is located in this neighborhood. It is thought that the market got its name from the trail left by the carcasses of animals being taken from the abattoir and the tanneries in the area. Today it is home to over 1,000 vendors, who are there on Sundays and public holidays from about nine in the morning until 3 pm.

Lavapiés lies in the southeast part of almond-shaped central Madrid. As in the neighboring Barrio de La Latina, the streets here are steep, narrow and maze-like, which reminds us that the area emerged in the Middle Ages as a quarter outside the walled town soon after Madrid became the capital of the kingdom in 1561.

Food & Drinks

As the capital of Spain, Madrid is considered the center of gastronomy from all regions of Spain. You will find a great variety of gastronomic experiences here.

Market of San Miguel is a historic covered market located in the center of Madrid with a hundred years of history. It is considered one of the most beautiful markets of Spain thanks to its outstanding cast-iron architecture. This market has undergone a complete refurbishment that has turned it into a real gourmet temple.

The Chocolatería San Gines is one of the most famous chocolatier in Madrid located in the heart of the city close to the Puerta del Sol. It is a bar reminiscent of the cafes in the late nineteenth century.

Restaurant Sobrino de Botín, founded in 1725, is the oldest restaurant continuously operating in the world according to the Guinness Book of Records. The speciality is a typical Castile dish: cochinillo asado (roast suckling pig).

World Heritage Cities’ Tour

Toledo was declared a World Heritage Site by UNESCO in 1986 for its extensive monumental and cultural heritage. Toledo is known as the “Imperial City” and “City of the Three Cultures” for the cultural influences of Christians, Muslims and Jews reflected in its history. It was also the capital of the ancient Visigothic kingdom of Hispania, which followed the fall of the Roman Empire.

There are three exclusive experiences you can’t miss in Segovia: to visit its magnificent Roman aqueduct with more than two thousand years’ history, to appreciate the most fairy-tale like castle which inspired the creation of the castle in the Disney animation Snow White, and the most delicious roast suckling pig in the world.

The Alcázar of Segovia (literally, “Segovia Fortress”) is a World Heritage Site by UNESCO. Rising out on a rocky crag above the confluence of two rivers, it is one of the most distinctive castle-palaces in Spain by virtue of its shape – like the bow of a ship.

Ávila was declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1985. Founded in the 11th century to protect the Spanish territories from the Moors, this city sometimes called “City of Saints and Stones”, has kept its medieval austerity.

Alcalá de Henares, where one of the world’s preeminent novelists Miguel de Cervantes was born, is located 35 kilometers northeast of Madrid. It stands out for its rich archaeology and was one of the first bishoprics founded in Spain. Its historical centre is one of UNESCO’s World Heritage Sites.