This initial short list may vary depending on whether this is your first time to Madrid or not… If you are not a newcomer your priorities may be different… or you may after all decide you would like to repeat some of these top things.
Enjoy tapas at different neighbourhoods.
To start our list with the best things to do in Madrid we start with food and wine!. We would recommend to start on the safe way and join a tapas tours first. Some of them are really good.
They cover the most typical areas and you will get to understand what tapas is about, what to do and things to avoid. Then, once you are ready you can decide to get more adventurous (a safer option compared to bar hopping is to enjoy restaurants that specialise in tapas and where you can eat seated)
Our top recommendations include streets Doctor Castelo, Menorca, Lope de Rueda (all these streets are near El Retiro park.
In Chamberi district Calle Ponzano is a must. Packed bars and fantastic diversity make this a locals´s favorite.
In La Latina you should walk down (and enter and try!) every single bar in Cava Baja, including the famous Casa Lucio.
In Huertas, besides the famous Plaza de Santa Ana, we recommend you Calle Echegaray. The quality of tapas is probably not as good as in the other streets we have mentioned, but there is so much fun at night in this area!