Nonetheless, it was a success, and today Madrid is a vast, predominantly modern city, with a population of some three million and growing. The journey in - through a stream of concrete-block suburbs - isn't pretty, but the streets at the heart of the city are a pleasant surprise, with pockets of medieval buildings and narrow, atmospheric alleys, dotted with the oddest of shops and bars, and interspersed with eighteenth-century Bourbon squares. By comparison with the historic cities of Spain - Toledo, Salamanca, Sevilla, Granada - there may be few sights of great architectural interest, but the monarchs did acquire outstanding picture collections, which formed the basis of the Prado museum. This has long ensured Madrid a place on the European art tour, and the more so since the 1990s arrival - literally down the street - of the Reina Sofía and Thyssen-Bornemisza galleries, state-of-the-art homes to fabulous arrays of modern Spanish painting (including Picasso's Guernica ) and European and American masters.
As you get to grips with the place you soon realize that it's the inhabitants - the madrileños - that are the capital's key attraction: hanging out in the traditional cafés or the summer terrazas, packing the lanes of the Sunday Rastro flea market, or playing hard and very, very late in a thousand bars , clubs, discos and tascas . Whatever Barcelona or San Sebastián might claim, the Madrid scene, immortalized in the movies of Pedro Almodóvar, remains the most vibrant and fun in the country. The city is also in better shape than for many years past, after a £500-million refurbishment for its role as 1992 European Capital of Culture and the ongoing impact of a series of urban rehabilitation schemes - funded jointly by the European Union and local government - in the older barrios (districts) of the city. Improvements are also being made to the transport network, with extensions to the metro, the construction of new ring roads and the excavation of a series of road tunnels designed to bring relief to the city's overcrowded streets. The authorities are even preparing a bid for the 2012 Olympics.
Madrid's main sights occupy a compact area between the Palacio Real (Royal Palace) and the gardens of El Retiro . The great trio of museums - the Prado, Thyssen-Bornemisza and Reina Sofía - are ranged along the Paseo del Prado, over towards the Retiro. The oldest part of the city, an area known as Madrid de los Austrias after the Habsburg monarchs who built it, is centred on the gorgeous, arcaded Plaza Mayor , just to the east of the Palacio Real.
If you have very limited time, you might well do no more sightseeing than this. However, monuments are not really what Madrid is about, and to get a feel for the city you need to branch out a little, and experience the contrasting character and life of the various barrios . The most central and rewarding of these are the areas around Plaza de Santa Ana and c/Huertas , east of Puerta del Sol; La Latina and Lavapiés , south of Plaza Mayor, where the Sunday market, El Rastro , takes place; and Malasaña and Chueca , north of Gran Vía. By happy circumstance, these barrios have some of Madrid's finest concentrations of tapas bars and restaurants.
Madrid is a pretty easy city to get around. The central areas are walkable, the metro is modern and efficient, buses serve out-of-the-way districts, and taxis are always available.
If you're using public transport extensively and staying long-term, passes ( abonos ) covering the metro, train and bus, and available for each calendar month, are worthwhile. If you have an InterRail or Eurail pass, you can use the RENFE urban and suburban trains ( cercanías ) free of charge - they're an alternative to the metro for some longer city journeys.
The clean and highly efficient metro is by far the quickest way of getting around Madrid, serving most places you're likely to want to get to. It runs from 6am until 1.30am (Fri & Sat until 2.30am); the flat fare is ?0.90 for nearly all journeys, or ?4.60 for a ten-trip ticket ( bono de diez viajes ), which can be used on buses too. Lines are colour-coded, and the direction of travel is indicated by the name of the terminus station. Note that some stations or sections may be subject to periodic closures as a result of the modernization and extension programme which is currently underway. You can get a free colour map of the system ( plano del metro ) at any station.
The urban bus network is comprehensive but fairly complicated: in the text, where there's no metro stop, we've indicated which bus to take. There are information booths in the Plaza de Cibeles and Puerta del Sol, which dispense a huge route map ( plano de los transportes de Madrid ), and - along with other outlets - sell bus passes. Fares are the same as for the metro, at ?0.90 a journey, or ?4.60 for a ten-trip ticket ( bono de diez viajes ) which can be used on both forms of transport. When you get on a bus, you punch your ticket in a machine by the driver.
Buses run from 6am to midnight. In addition, there are around twenty all-night ( búho ) lines around the central area: departures are half-hourly 12.30am-2am, hourly 2-6am, from Plaza de Cibeles and Puerta del Sol.
One of the best things about Madrid is that there are thousands of taxis - white cars with a diagonal red stripe on the side - which are reasonably cheap; ?4.80 will get you most places within the centre and, although it's common to round up the fare, you're not expected to tip. They charge supplements on the metered fair for baggage, for going to the train and bus stations or outside the city limits (which includes going to the airport) and for night trips (11pm-7am). In any area in the centre, day and night, you should be able to wave down a taxi (available ones have a green light on top of the cab) in a couple of minutes. To phone for a taxi, call 915 478 200, 915 478 500, 914 051 213 or 914 459 008.
The local train network, or Cercanías , is the most efficient way of connecting between the main railway stations and provides the best route out to many of the suburbs and to nearby towns such as Alcalá de Henares. Most trains are air-conditioned, fares are cheap and there are good connections with the metro. Trains generally run every fifteen to thirty minutes from 6am to midnight/1am. For more information go to the RENFE web page at www.renfe.es and click on the Cercanías section for Madrid.
Look out for fiestas whenever you're in Madrid: there are dozens, some of which involve the whole city, others just an individual barrio . The more important dates are listed below.
Also well worth checking out are cultural festivals organized by the city council, in particular the Veranos de la Villa (July-Sept) and Festival de Otoño (Sept-Nov) concerts (classical, rock, flamenco), theatre and cinema. Many events are free and, in the summer, often open air, taking place in the city's parks and squares. One of the nicest venues is the courtyard of the Antiguo Cuartel del Conde Duque (Métro: Ventura Rodríguez), where weekly flamenco recitals are held. Annual festivals for alternative theatre (Feb), flamenco (Feb), dance (mid-May to mid-June), photography (mid-June to mid-July) and jazz (Nov) are also firmly established on the cultural agenda. Full programmes are published in the monthly En Madrid tourist hand-out.
There are year-round turismo offices at the following locations: Aeropuerto de Barajas (Mon-Fri 8am-8pm, Sat 9am-3pm; tel 913 058 656); Estación de Atocha (Mon-Fri 9am-9pm, Sat & Sun 9am-1pm; tel 902 100 007; Estación de Chamartín (Mon-Fri 8am-8pm, Sat 9am-1pm; tel 913 159 976); Plaza Mayor 3 (Mon-Fri 10am-8pm, Sat 10am-2pm; tel 915 881 636); Mercado Puerta de Toledo, Ronda de Toledo 1 (Mon-Fri 9am-7pm, Sat 9.30am-2.30pm; tel 913 641 876); c/Duque de Medinaceli 2 (Mon-Fri 9am-7pm, Sat 9am-3pm; tel 914 294 951; Métro: Banco de España). The Madrid tourist board has a web page at www.munimadrid.es and the regional authority has one at www.comadrid.es . In the summer , turismo posts operate at popular tourist spots such as the Puerta del Sol and the Prado, and there are staff (in blue and yellow uniforms) on call outside the Palacio Real, ayuntamiento (town hall) and the Prado, and in the Plaza Mayor and Puerta del Sol. You can phone for information in English on 010 within the city and 915 404 040 from outside. There is also a tourist information line on 901 300 600.
Free maps of Madrid are available from any of the turismos detailed above. However, if you intend to do more than just a day's sightseeing, you would be well advised to invest in the Almax Madrid Centro map (?2), available from just about any kiosk in the city; this is very clear, 1:10,000 in scale, fully street-indexed, and has a colour plan of the metro on the reverse. The area covered on this represents just about everything of interest; if you want more, Almax also produces a rather less clear, 1:12,000-scale Madrid Ciudad (?4.70) that goes right out into the suburbs. Again, it's widely available.
© 2003 by Rough Guides Ltd as trustee for its authors.