Overview
** MADRID , SPAIN TOURS **
Read travel tips for Madrid, Spain from our amazing community of BLACK AND BROWN TRAVELERS that will help you find some of the best places to visit Madrid, Spain.Our variety of travel tips will definitely help you plan your next trip. Our tips range from best places to visit in Madrid, Spain, affordability, nightlife, local food, where to stay and even what it is like Traveling While Black. Lastly, we are working diligently to create a comprehensive city guide for Madrid Tours . Stay tuned! But in the meantime, scroll down to read tips below!
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Went on a day trip from Barcelona via train and had a blast! It was fast but notable! We had the opportunity to explore on the hop on/off bus. Such a beautiful city! Great shopping opportunities. Visited the Museo del Prado, would not recommend if you can find somewhere else to go.
The people were pretty friendly and I was glad about that! I would definitely recommend a visit!
Madrid is a city so full of life and culture that it’s hard to do justice to it in a few paragraphs. Artistically the city holds its own against any in Europe, with the of the best art museums on the continent where renaissance masterworks and seminal 20th-century pieces are waiting to captivate you. However, in my humble opinion that’s about it. Its not a huge popular city where you can spend too much time lol. After awhile you start get bored. The only reason we made the stop in Madrid was because we traveling to Marrakesh. It was the cheapest flight to book at the time from New York to Madrid where we then flew from Madrid to Marrakesh on a separate carriers. JFK-MAD was $441 and MAD- Morocco was $161. You couldn’t beat that lol. Our stay was about hours so it was worth getting a hotel. We stayed at The Walt in Gran Via.
If you’d like to get a sense of the city, a walk along the Gran Vía is a superb place to start.
It’s Madrid’s entertainment, shopping and cultural center, a buzzing avenue often full of life until dawn. By day it has shoppers stopping by the many malls, high-street stores like H&M and Zara and luxury boutiques. In the evenings there are people stepping out to the cinema or a musical and after dark the street pulses with many of Madrid’s top nightclubs. Sights to spot as you stroll include the vast Telefónica Building, built in 1928 and an early example of a skyscraper.
Also another place to visit there was Art Nouveau marketplace. Although, its not a farmer’s market it has food stalls where you can purchase some fresh fruit local to Madrid as well as spices. Great area for a photo opp because the surrounding building are old and charming.
Madrid was safe to me overall. Even being out at night. NO bad complaints or experience at all.
Visited July 2018
I went to Madrid because I wanted to explore the Fashion Capital of Spain. Madrid is such an enchanting city. There’s history and so much Latin flavor. I ate the Paella from Enrique Thomas ?. The Mercado de San Miguel has four levels of of cuisine from all over Europe. There’s a rooftop restaurant that has a pretty cool view of the city. Yet, the best was definitely my chocolate stuffed churro from La Chocolatería Tacita de Plaza. They offer many little desserts and they all looked and smelt sooo good. I met some friends while there during one of the tours to Toledo. Afterwards, we all ate dinner at Azotea del Círculo where I got the salmon (it was delicious ?). La Gran Vía at night is also a fun experience there are musicians and the restaurants are open pretty late during the summer so there is a lot to chose from. Sometimes, I would just walk around to take it all in. And there was a lot to take in.
In all fairness I haven’t been to Spain in 10 years. But I’m going back this year. It was my very first international trip. My exchange group and I spent 3 weeks in Spain, and Madrid was our first stop. I was impressed with how modern and yet historical the city was. My favorite part was El Palacio Real (the royal palace) and the Prado Museum. I’d never been to a palace before. But it was amazing to see how well preserved everything was. And just to think of how monarchs and dignitaries of old lived there impressed me. We went to Parque Retiro one afternoon. This is probably one of the most photographed places in Madrid. We took the metro, which was easy to navigate but we were warned of pick pockets. We attended a flamingo show and lesson which was nothing like I expected. The Prado Museum was breathtaking. We had a guide take us through. We also went to the Reina Sophia museum where we saw some of Picasso’s most famous works. We also went to the parliament for a tour where I remember we passed by a rather large Scientology church. I’d never even seen one in the US. Plaza Mayor is fantastic. A great place to shop and eat. We really don’t have anything like that here in the States. We had some churros and chocolate and Jamón Serrano. From Madrid we went on to tour much of the country. We stayed in Valladolid with our host families which is also where Christopher Columbus died and was buried. We toured Granada, Segovia, Salamanca, Toledo, and Ávila over the next couple weeks. All within about 2 hours of Madrid. Very easy to get to these place via train, though we had a chartered bus.
I’ve just returned from a family holiday to Spain and Portugal and one thing I must comment on is that you should be conscious of the weather when choosing a time to visit Spain.
Like most European cities , Madrid is best explored on foot but if you’re visiting in winter this will mean that you are subjected to icy winds and the occasional drizzle. Thankfully the rain wasn’t too bad when we were there but the wind was definitely not my favorite.
Madrid, although beautiful and filled with history, is not a very big city,and if you aren’t too keen on musuems, ancient architecture and cathedrals, then this city may be somewhat of a bore for you and thus it is best to combine it with either another city in Spain, or travel to a nearby country. We spent 4 days in Madrid and then headed to Lisbon for 3 days.
Nevertheless, there are a few things worth seeing in Madrid ;
– PLAZA MAYOR : This large square is a vibrant place and was once the centre of old Madrid. This is a historical landmark and worth getting a photo here. In the festive season the square is decorated for Christmas and there is a great Christmas market and Nativity scene within the square. The square opens out to several directions and it is up to you on which route you would like to take.
– PUERTA DEL SOL : Another famous and historical area in Madrid, this is known as the centre of modern day Madrid and here you can find the famous bear and tree statue. You can also find the clock tower which marks the start of the new year .
– GRAN VIA,MADRID: This street is famous for its high end shops and situated in the centre of Madrid it is often great for an afternoon stroll through the parks. As it was the festive season when we visited this area was decorated ever so beautifully with Christmas lights which made it an amazing sight at night.
– ROYAL PALACE of MADRID : This 3000-plus room palace is not too far from Plaza Mayor and definitely worth the visit. The palace is the largest functioning palaces in all of Europe. If you’re not too concerned with spending money to enter, you can still walk through the gardens outside and take in the beautiful architecture of the place.
– PLAZA DE CIBELES : The fountains and sculptures seen here are a fairly iconic part of Madrid . Near the fountains you can see the buildings for communication and telecommunication which boast white facades and historical Spanish architecture.
– PUERTA de ALCALA: This is a 5-arched gateway that stands in the middle of a traffic roundabout.
– PLAZA de TOROS de LAS VENTAS : Bull fighting arena and museum of Madrid. Altough not fully functioning, you can take an audio-guided tour around the arena and see some of attire worn by former matadors. As bullfighting is such an integral part of Spanish history, it is definitely worth visiting and taking the tour of the arena.
As said previously, the beauty of this city is best observed on foot whilst exploring the city. There are so many beautiful buildings that one simply does not get tired of taking pictures.
Make sure you get yourself some Churros and chocolate to truly celebrate your trip to this Spanish city !
DO NOT!!! I REPEAT DO NOT!! Go to Spain just to go to Madrid. I went with a group and it was really limited on things we could do. The architecture was beautiful and there is no shortage of museums but Madrid really can be done in a day or two and then you can be on to Barcelona. While there we went to “Teatro Kapital” definitely recommend going to this 7 story nightclub. Every floor has it’s own dj, bar and genre. You navigate by either stairs or elevator but definitely wear comfortable shoes. The food was great. The Royal Palace is BEAUTIFUL & I would recommend anyone visiting to see this. We also did a scavenger hunt where we learned the history and had to uncover clues in order to find our next monument. I would also recommend a food tour, we did this and we were able to try different staple foods. We got the food tasting for $43 from trip advisor. We also did a bar crawl with the same company we did the food tasting with and that was a lot of fun. Another thing you can do is attend a dance class. The Arabian Spa Madrid comes highly recommended! Traveling while black was rough here. A lot of staring and the customer service was not really existent. It is best to have at least one person in your group that can speak Spanish at least key words. For my group it really helped that I was able to speak the language enough to get us where we needed to be.
On my first day in Madrid, the first thing I did was go to a musical in LA GRAN VIA and I do not regret having paid 40 USD for the ticket. Seeing people singing, dancing and acting at the same time was wonderful.
the second day I went to the Bernabeu Stadium had started Real Madrid vs. Valencia and see the emotion with which people live soccer is admirable. then take advantage of the rest of the day to get to know the city where what you will find is history (Palacio de madrid, Parque del retiro, Puerta del sol) , food (tapas) and shopping .
I do not recommend spending many days in Madrid with 3 is enough.
Traveling to Madrid, Spain was very random. I enjoyed the food, walking the streets, and taking in the wonderful atmosphere. Seeing the Royal Palace was amazing. One of the best part of visiting Madrid.
Madrid is perfect for partying all night long, romantic walks in Retiro Park, art and history, and getting inexpensive gifts. But when it comes to traveling while black in this city you may be disappointed. If you stay in the middle of the city (Sol) you might not notice anything. If you’re the type of traveler that likes to live how the locals live then I would suggest exploring where the Afrikanos and Morenos live. The name of the area escapes me but you can ask anyone in the city and they will point you in the right direction.
Architecture is amazing… The Spanish do not know how to make small building! Bring extra SD cards you will want to take lots of pictures.
I took a trip to Madrid and the Canary Island and let’s juat say that trip cost me a pretty penny to visit Spain. It was well worth it however because it was my birthday. I visited Maspalomas and Puerto Rico in Gran Canaria also went to a heart shaped Island. I rode Camels watched the dolphins and did dirt bike riding all in all it’s was a great trip.
I lived in Madrid and have so much love for this city. I reccomend going to the Corte Inglés (it’s similar to a Department store) off of metro Callao for drinks at the rooftop, going to El Rastro flea market on a Sunday, El Templo de Debod for sunset, eating delicious Senagelese food in the neighborhood of Lavapies. There’s so much to do in Madrid that you will not get bored and the metro is one of the best in Europe! Madrid and Spain in generally is fairly affordable for most travelers without having to penny pinch.
Beautiful city with awesome history. My wife and I visited here for a few days before traveling to Ibiza, Spain. Bring your walking shoes! There is more than enough to do from shopping to restaurants to nightlife. Madrid is definitely a must do. Enjoy and safe travels!
This place was great. Me and my boyfriend went here during our Europe trip and stayed for two nights. The 1st I was ready to go out and I was trying to rush cause I was taking so long to get dress.. I was alil down cause I knew by the time we got to the club it was going to be closing it not that many people due to it being so late but to my surprise it was Not at all closing or even close to closing down. The line was around the corner and it was popping.. It reminded me of another Las Vegas, the city that never sleep. They really know how to party out there. We ended up leaving before the club let out cause my feet was hurting from dancing all night with them. Be ready to party when you go here :-)