Madrid Vacations


	Swashbuckling Madrid celebrates itself and life in general around the clock. After spending much of the 20th century sequestered at the center of a totalitarian regime, Madrid has burst back onto the world stage with an energy redolent of its 16th-century golden age, when painters and playwrights swarmed to the flame of Spain's brilliant royal court. A vibrant crossroads for Iberia and the world's Hispanic peoples and cultures, the Spanish capital has an infectious appetite for art, music, and epicurean pleasure. After the first gulp of icy mountain air, the next thing likely to strike you is the vast, cerulean, cumulus-clouded sky immortalized in the paintings of Velázquez. "De Madrid al cielo" ("from Madrid to heaven") goes the saying, and the heavens seem just overhead at the center of the 2,120-ft-high Castilian plateau. "High, wide, and handsome" might aptly describe this sprawling conglomeration of ancient red-tile rooftops punctuated by redbrick Mudéjar churches and gray-slate roofs and spires left by the 16th-century Habsburg monarchs who made Madrid the capital of Spain in 1561. Then there are the paintings, the artistic legacy of one of the greatest global empires ever assembled. King Carlos I (1500-58), who later became emperor Carlos V, inherited most of Europe between 1516-1519, and amassed art from all corners of his empire -- which is how the early masters of the Flemish, Dutch, Italian, French, German, and Spanish schools found their way to Spain's palaces. Among the Prado Museum, the contemporary Reina Sofía museum, the eclectic yet comprehensive Thyssen-Bornemisza collection, and Madrid's smaller artistic repositories -- the Real Academia de Bellas Artes de San Fernando, the Convento de las Descalzas Reales, and still others -- there are more paintings in Madrid than anyone can reasonably hope to contemplate in a lifetime. Modern-day Madrid spreads eastward into the 19th-century grid of the Barrio de Salamanca and sprawls northward through the neighborhoods of Chamberí and Chamartín. But the Madrid to explore carefully on foot is right in the center: the oldest one, between the Royal Palace and Madrid's midtown forest, the Parque del Buen Retiro. These neighborhoods will introduce you to the city's finest resources -- its people and their electricity, whether at play in bars or at work in finance or the media and film industries. As the highest capital in Europe, Madrid is hot in summer and freezing in winter, with temperate springs and autumns. Especially in winter -- when steamy café windows beckon you inside for a hot caldo (broth) and the blue skies are particularly bright -- Madrid is the next best place to heaven. Madrid related links: Madrid Hotels \| Madrid Vacation Specials Europe Vacations

Weather & When to Go

May and October are the optimal times to come to Spain, as the weather is generally warm and dry. May gives you more hours of daylight, while October offers a chance to enjoy the harvest season, which is especially colorful in the wine regions.

May and October are the optimal times to come to Spain, as the weather is generally warm and dry. May gives you more hours of daylight, while October offers a chance to enjoy the harvest season, which is especially colorful in the wine regions.

Spain is the number-one destination for European travelers, so if you want to avoid crowds, come before June or after September. Crowds and prices increase in the summer, especially along the coasts, as the Mediterranean is usually too cold for swimming the rest of the year, and beach season on the Atlantic coast is shorter still. Spaniards vacation in August, and their migration to the beach causes huge traffic jams on August 1 and 31. Major cities are relaxed and empty for the duration; small shops and some restaurants shut down for the entire month, but museums remain open.

Summers in Spain are hot: temperatures frequently hit 100°F (38°C), and air-conditioning is not widespread. Try to limit summer sightseeing to the morning hours. That said, warm summer nights are among Spain's quiet pleasures.

Winters in Spain are mild and rainy along the coasts. Snow is infrequent except in the mountains. You can ski from December to March in the resorts near Madrid.

Attractions & Excursions

The real Madrid is not to be found along its major arteries such as Gran Vía and the Paseo de la Castellana. To find the quiet, intimate streets and squares that give the city its true character, duck into the warren of villagelike byways in the downtown area 2½ km (1½ mi square) extending from the Royal Palace to the Parque del Retiro and from Plaza de Lavapiés to the Glorieta de Bilbao. Broad avenidas, twisting medieval alleys, grand museums, stately gardens, and tiny, tile taverns are all jumbled together, creating an urban texture so rich that walking is really the only way to soak it in.

Entertainment

As Madrid's reputation as a vibrant, contemporary arts center has grown, artists and performers have arrived in droves. Consult the weekly Guía del Ocio (published Monday) or daily listings in the leading newspaper, El País, both of which are understandable even if you don't read much Spanish. The Festival de Otoño (Autumn Festival), from late September to late November, blankets the city with pop concerts, poetry readings, flamenco, and ballet and theater from world-renowned companies. Other annual events include world-class bonanzas of film, contemporary art, and jazz, salsa, rock, and African music, all at very reasonable prices.

Nightlife -- or la marcha -- reaches legendary heights in Madrid. It has been said that Madrileños rarely sleep, largely because they spend so much time in bars -- not drunk, but socializing in the easy, sophisticated way that's unique to this city. This is true of old as well as young, and it's not uncommon for children to play on the sidewalks past midnight while multigenerational families and friends convene over coffee or cocktails at an outdoor café.

The streets best known for their social scenes attract a younger clientele; these include Huertas, Moratín, Segovia, Victoria, and the areas around the Plaza Santa Ana and the Plaza de Anton Martín. The adventurous may want to explore the scruffier bar district around the Plaza Dos de Mayo, in the Malasaña area, where trendy, smoke-filled hangouts line both sides of Calle San Vicente Ferrer. A few blocks east are the haunts of Chueca, where tattoo studios and street-chic boutiques break up the endless alleys of gay and lesbian bars, techno discos, and after-hours clubs.

Shopping

Madrid has far more to offer than Lladró porcelain and bullfighting posters -- Spain has become one of the world's centers for design of every kind. You'll have no trouble finding traditional crafts, such as ceramics, guitars, and leather goods (albeit not at countryside prices), but at this point the city is more like Rodeo Drive than the bargain bin. Known for contemporary furniture and decorative items as well as chic clothing, shoes, and jewelry, Spain's capital has become stiff competition for Barcelona. Keep in mind that many shops, especially the small and family run, close during lunch hours, on Sundays, and on Saturday afternoons. Shops generally accept most major credit cards.

Madrid has three main shopping areas. The first, around the Puerta del Sol, includes the major department stores (El Corte Inglés, the French music-and-book chain FNAC, etc.), and mid-range shops along the streets nearby. The second area, far more elegant and expensive, is in the northwestern Salamanca district, bounded roughly by Serrano, Juan Bravo, Jorge Juan (and its blind alleys), and Velázquez; the shops in Goya extend as far as Alcalá. These streets, just off the Plaza de Colón (particularly Calle Serrano and Calle Ortega y Gasset), have the widest selection of smart boutiques and designer fashions -- think Prada, Armani, and Donna Karan New York, as well as renowned Spanish designers, such as Sybilla and Josep Font-Luz Diaz. Finally, for hipper clothes Chueca is your best stop. Wander around calles Fuencarral, Hortaleza, Almirante, and Piamonte.

The free magazine, InfoShopping (in English and Spanish), distributed at tourist offices and upscale hotels, is a great resource, and provides detailed lists of both young and established Spanish fashion designers, as well as major international stores. You will find lots of Spanish designers' stores along Claudio Coello, Lagasca, and the first few blocks of Serrano.

Dining

Madrileños tend to eat their meals even later than in other parts of Spain, and that's saying something. Restaurants open for lunch at 1:30 and fill up by 3, during which time most offer a menú del día (daily fixed-price special) that includes a main course, dessert, wine, and coffee. Dinnertime begins at 9, but reservations for 11 are common, and a meal can be a wonderfully lengthy (up to three hours) affair. If you face hunger meltdown several hours before dinner, make the most of the early evening tapas hour. Dress in most Madrid restaurants and tapas bars is casual but stylish. Compared with Barcelona, the pricier places are a bit more formal; men often wear jackets and ties, and women often wear skirts.

Madrid has attracted generations of courtiers, diplomats, and tradesmen, all of whom have brought tastes and styles from other parts of the Iberian peninsula and the world. The city's best restaurants have traditionally specialized in Basque cooking, though contemporary Mediterranean interpretations from Catalonia and even Asian fusion restaurants have begun to rock the city's culinary canons. Madrid's many seafood specialists capitalize on the abundant fresh produce trucked in nightly from the Atlantic and the Mediterranean coasts.

Madrid's own cuisine is based on the roasts and thick soups and stews of Castile, Spain's high central meseta (plain). Roast suckling pig and lamb are standard Madrid feasts, as are baby goat and chunks of beef from Ávila. Cocido madrileño and callos a la madrileña are local specialties. Cocido is a hearty winter meal of broth, garbanzo beans, vegetables, potatoes, sausages, pork, and hen. The best cocidos are simmered in earthenware crocks over coals and served in three courses: broth, beans, and meat. Cocido anchors the midday winter menu in the most elegant restaurants as well as the humblest holes-in-the-wall. Callos are a simpler concoction of veal tripe stewed with tomatoes, onions, hot paprika, and garlic.

The house wine in basic Madrid restaurants is often a sturdy, uncomplicated Valdepeñas from La Mancha. Serious dining is normally accompanied by a Rioja or a more powerful, complex Ribera de Duero, the latter from northern Castile. Ask your waiter's advice; a smooth Rioja, for example, may not be up to the task of accompanying a cocido or a roast suckling pig. After dinner, try the anise-flavor liqueur (anís) produced outside the nearby village of Chinchón.

Lodging: Hotels & Accommodations

Madrid's luxury hotels are located in the heart of the city. Many hotels can be found near luxury vacation hotspots and are within proximity to many attractions.

Enjoy an Madrid vacation package at the top luxury hotels!
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	Flamenco Enjoy a flamenco performance at a concert hall - or a spontaneous one often seen nightly at many local taverns. Relax Take a siesta in the afternoon, wake after the sun has set, and then visit several bars for an aperitif and tapas. Savory Cuisine Savor the cuisine of some of Spain's most experimental temples of gastronomy along the coastline near San Sebastian, where locals still speak Basque and carry on many of Spain's oldest traditions.


	Hotel Ritz Madrid The Westin Palace Madrid Hotel Urban

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