Madrid

Café Comercial

Opened in the 1880s, this is the oldest cafe in Madrid, and has been run by the same family since the early 1900s. There's a modern internet café upstairs, but the downstairs remains traditional.

Café Gijón

A historic literary cafe. The outdoor terraza is nice in the summer.

Chueca and Calle Fuencarral area

This part of the city used to be an abandoned and marginal area. However, it has quickly turned into the most avant-garde and modern part of Madrid. Thanks to the gay community, old shops were taken over and turned into the coolest places of Madrid. Today it is an example of modernity, a paradise for entertainment where everything is possible. The streets are filled with restaurants, alternative cafés and shops, a good example is the Mercado de Fuencarral a novel shopping centre concept. Apart from the purely commercial, this area proposes a wide range of gastronomy and party clubs by night in the weekends.

La Pecera del Círculo de Bellas Artes

Café del Círculo de Bellas Artes

A soaring hall on the ground floor of Madrid's art center combines atmosphere, excellent food and good coffee at reasonable prices. A wonderful place for lunch not far from Madrid's shopping or museums.

Mon-Thu 09:00-01:00, Fri Sat 09:00-03:00, Sun 09:00-00:00

Parque Madrid Río

The motorway that used to carve into the city and blight the banks of Río Manzanares, was banished into a tunnel, in a superlative urban landscaping project that cost some €4 billion. Nowadays, a unique 6-km-long landscape garden accompanies the river on both banks. For this project, 33 bridges were dedicated, which allow you to cross from one side to another whenever you want, as well as 5500 benches installed and 33,000 trees planted. The park is multifaceted, including flowerbeds, Baroque-style boxwood broderies, pine, cypress or bamboo groves, playgrounds, climbing garden, skatepark etc. Asphalted paths are ideal for cyclists and roller skaters, while pedestrians enjoy priority rights. Cafés, "beach bars" and kiosks provide sustenance.

Libertad 8

Libertad 8 is an iconic coffee shop and bar located on Libertad del barrio de Chueca, in Madrid. Opened as a coffee shop in 1975, ever since then it's served as a stage for artists and singer-songwriters (known as cantautores). It's become one of the most important spaces for songwriters, with frequent concerts by Pedro Guerra, Rosana, Ismael Serrano, Luis Pastor, Tontxu, Andrés Suárez, Lichis, Carlos Chaouen, or Kiko Tovar.

Nuevo Café Barbieri

Slightly scruffy cafe draws an avante garde crowd at night.

Mon-Thu 08:00-01:00, Fri 08:00-02:00, Sat 09:00-02:00, Sun 09:00-01:00