Christmas a lo Madrileño

One of our friends starts the countdown till Christmas in October. With every Christmas tree that he sees and with every plastic snowflake in a shop window he gets more excited, with the highlight being the annual broadcasting of Love Actually.

Hugh Grant might not come walking down Gran Vía, but there's plenty of Christmas for everyone in Spain's capital. This Friday the Christmas lights will be switched on in more than ninety streets. Since 2003 Madrid transforms the Dark Days into an enlightened event: this year almost four million bulbs shine their light on the city during fourty days.

Furthermore you'll find a huge Christmas market on the Plaza Mayor, where you can buy decorations, candles and figurines to complete your Nativity set.  Strangely enough the market is also full with wigs: Spaniards are probably one of the few people who relate Christmas to fake hair.

Although the market in Plaza Mayor is the most famous, you can also enjoy a nice market in Plaza España. It will be open from December 13th to January 5th. This market is also known as the Community of Madrid Craft Fair. In this street market you can buy handmade products of all kinds made by more than twon hundres artisans from across the country - Click here for an overview of the best Christmas markets in Madrid (in Spanish).

There are Nativity scenes across town at Plaza de la Villa, the Basílica Pontífica, and Madrid Cathedral, among other spots. And if you want something more sporty you can go ice skating on the Callao square or you can participate in the Madrid Santa Hustle (“Carrera popular del Papá Noel”) on December 12th. This curious tradition began in the US and has spread worldwide. In Madrid, this 5.5-kilometers Santa Race is a recent addition to the holiday season, which could eventually rival with the famous San Silvestre Race – held in the neighborhood of Vallecas each December 31st.

If you want to discover the festive spirit with us, Madway can take you on a special Christmas-route through Madrid, enjoying Christmas lights and explaining background stories about Christmas in the capital. We invite you on a luminous evening stroll from Plaza Mayor and Sol through Gran Vía and Hortaleza to Plaza de la Independencia and the chique Salamanca neighborhood. Dazzling guaranteed!

Our new Vermouth Route: Rediscovering an Old Classic

“Quedar a la hora del vermut” means something like “to meet up around one or two in the afternoon to have a vermouth, just before lunch”. It's a long-standing tradition that is seeing resurgence in popularity. Vermouth is back!

Malasaña, once a seedy part of Madrid, has seen a lot of gentrification over the past few years and is now known as the heart of local hipster activity. This is a barrio where old bars are peppered amongst shiny modern places catering to the latest trends.

This is also the neighborhood where our brand-new tour takes place. Malasaña’s scene is retro-cool, full of those who idolize all things old and nostalgic as well as those who respect the past but are always in search of ways to reinvent it. Our Vermouth Route highlights the evolution of old to new, including three stops to taste different “vermuts”.  

Did we say “typical Spanish”? No. We would never say that to promote a new tour. But it might be true though...

So, are you in?

Art Galleries "For Dummies"

Eloisa Avila awaits us in front of the first-out-of-five art galleries in the Barrio de Las Salesas. In the next two hours she’ll take us on one of her Art Gallery Tours “showing the most innovative art through an entertaining and affordable journey. A different tour to enjoy the contemporary art scene”. And it surely IS entertaining! Eloisa talks passionately and in “down to earth” terms about contemporary art in general and more specifically about the artists and their work on display. The abstract artwork comes to life through her vivid explanation of the concept or meaning or story behind it, giving it that extra dimension! What makes this Saturday walk extra entertaining is that the participating galleries in this area offer breakfast to their visitors every last Saturday of the month…!

More information on this highly recommendable tours (Art Gallery Tour English):

• Monday to Saturday 
• At 12.00 or 18.00 
• Minimum two people 
• Price from 20 euro per person 
• Spanish- and English-spoken 
• On request 
• Tours @ Las Letras, Las Salesas, Salamanca and Conde Duque Area

How to survive August in Madrid

In August Madrid comes to a near standstill as locals flee to the coast and mountains, and those left behind loaf around their living rooms complaining about the heat day and night and wishing they were in far-off places where the air is cooler and the beds are easier to sleep in. Godforsaken August. Silent August. August for the pringados who have to work or have nowhere to go or nothing to do. It seems that the capital of Spain has nodded off for a long summer’s nap until activity is restored in September. You´ll see signs in shop windows saying “Cerrado por Vacaciones”, the buses are empty and you can park your car just about anywhere you please. How to survive August in Madrid? Three of our guides tell you their secrets.

LUPE (Guide in Spanish and English. Web developer and graphic designer)

1: What´s the disadvantage of being in Madrid in August?

You´ll will find your favorite "cafeteria" closed for the whole month without prior notice. And many other shops and restaurants that you usually visit. Most of your friends will leave the city and send you selfies from the beach. You'll find yourself researching about places in Madrid with air-conditioning and visiting at least one everyday, because the heat will make you believe that hell exists.

2: What´s the advantages of being in Madrid in August?

The city is quiet, calm, relaxed, everybody is at a slow pace, nobody is in a hurry. There are no queues fo anything: cinemas, restaurants, exhibitions… The subway is empty. If you are a biker you will enjoy empty roads and few cars around.   

3: How to survive August in Madrid?

Here are my suggestions! Make a list of things that you never have time to do and do one everytime you find yourself with too much free time. Get used to sleep Spanish siesta, it´s just a matter of training. Find a nice friend that gives you the keys to his apartment with swimming pool :) Keep yourself updated about summer cinema in the city, there are many venues in Madrid this summer.

Enjoy the local festivities in different districts in the city: fun is guaranteed! 

Join some swing dancing workshop and learn to move your feet with the music 

Bike around the river park at down and get amazed with the views. And most of all, relax and enjoy!

ANDRA (Guide in Dutch and English. Business owner)

1: What´s the disadvantage of being in Madrid in August?

Madrid in August obliges you to take a break in your business - all suppliers are closed, all clients are out of Madrid. No free choice. You´ll lose a month of business if you offer a tipical summertime-product. 

2: What´s the advantages of being in Madrid in August?

It´s wonderful to enjoy city life without traffic, queues and crowds.

3: How to survive August in Madrid?

Push your mental ´relax´ button, drink loads of water  and reflect on your professional and personal life.

EDUARDO (Guide in Spanish, Italian and English. Actor)

1: What´s the disadvantage of being in Madrid in August? There is no beach. I´m not from Madrid, but I already knew this fact, it was made even more famous by the song "Vaya, vaya, aqui no hay playa" a Spanish hit of the 80's, of Los Refrescos. In Spain, if you´re not enjoying our wonderful coast in summer it´s either because you are from a "pueblo" (small villages of the country side: Castilla) or you are one of the unlucky few working in August. You spend the day in the office or wherever you work, close to the air conditioning, looking at your watch every five minutes (in August, clients are also at the coast, so you have nothing to do at the office)... and having a look to your friends Facebook, who are also at the beach. In fact sometimes you see one of your clients at your friends pics... and you repeat again: "Vaya, vaya, aquí no hay playa" ("what a pity, here there is no beach").

2: What´s the advantages of being in Madrid in August?

There is no beach. Madrid is crowded with people 11 months a year, it has the coolest restaurants and clubs in Spain, during 11 moths you have to check 10 terraces full of groups of beautiful people before finding a place at one terrace (before that, you missed 8 potential loves of your life in which there was no place for you, with the consequent heart suffering)... Could you only imagine how FULL would Madrid be in summer if it also would have had a beach? I don´t even want to think about it. Instead, in august you can enjoy all those restaurants where during the year you need to make reservations five months in advance, you can sit down at every terrace you want, and overall, you will meet in all those places lot of people who have been "working" all day, looking at pictures in Facebook of people they hate having so much fun in wonderful beaches... and now they want to have, AT LEAST, as much fun  as those *******. And you will be there to facilitate that fun.

3.- How to survive August in Madrid. 

So easy!! Just surviving is not that complicate with air conditioning or just being hydrated at a free terrace. BUT enjoying the city that month requires a little bit more of effort than others... the good thing is if you do that effort, you will discover and enjoy a city totally different and much more slow and easy going than in the rest of the year. 

There are lot of rooftop pools in the city center, you only need to know them, or know someone who knows them, or... they are in hotels, restaurants, hostels, even in clothes shops, gyms... they all have food and cocktails offers, some of them have pool brunches, and they are perfects to spend the afternoons or evening just chatting withs friends, drinking something cold with your feet in water.  

There are also some wonderful summer cinemas, outdoor, where you can drink or eat something watching from the last movies to the black and white classics. Oh! and another great option: the 16.00 H movie in one or the many cinemas in the city center which shows films in original language... the most probably you will have a totally refrigerated cinema just for yourself, where you can enjoy a great movie... or a great siesta. 

And of course... la movida. Going to any disco, pub without queues, you don´t need to be on the VIP list... in fact you will be the VIP just for being there in August. Do not think in just surviving when the city is waiting for you to be tasted!!!