A night out on Calle de las Huertas

The most important thing to do before embarking on a trip down Madrid’s most famous party street is to decide what sort of evening you’re after. A quiet drink with friends? Live jazz? One-of-a-kind cocktails in one-of-a-kind places? Or dancing the night away to some of the “best” (ahem) Europop Madrid has to offer? Huertas and its neighbouring plazas and side streets has it all. Start your journey at Sevilla (walking down Calle del Príncipe), or head up Calle del Doctor Cortezo from Tirso de Molina in order to arrive at Plaza de Santa Ana, right at the start of it all.

Barhopping on the cheap

The first thing you notice when walking down Huertas are the dozens of people trying to entice you into their bar or club by offering you cards with special offers. It’s entirely possible to have an evening on Huertas without paying a euro, if you know how to do it and aren’t too fussy about which places you go to. When approached by one of the bar promoters, be bold and try bargaining for the best deal you can get: they’ll usually offer a free beer, shot or even a mojito to get you in the doors. Some will obviously have better bargaining power than others: large groups or groups of women, for example. Once you’ve struck a deal, they’ll usually take you into the club: make sure they come up to the bar and tell the bartender what you’ve been promised. Then have a drink, have a dance, leave and repeat until you’ve had your fill: voila, a free night out.

Caipirinhas at La Trocha

Cocktailing

Prefer a quieter evening? Barhopping not for you? Huertas also has dozens of quieter bars for spending a few hours over a good drink. Miranda near the top of the street is a perennial favourite, with fairly good tapas to go with your drinks. La Trocha, a small terracotta coloured bar, serves undoubtedly the best caipirinha in the city. You pick your rum or cachaça and they mix it right in front of you with the lime-and-lemon crusher built into the bar. Be warned though, as these are not drinks for the faint-hearted – your walk back to the metro will be a lot more wobbly after a few of these. Vinoteca Barbechera is an excellent wine bar with delicious tapas situated on the corner of Plaza de Santa Ana, which also contains the Cervecería Alemana, open since 1904 and a real Spanish classic. In fact, if you just grab a table outside in the square from any of the other surrounding cafes you’ll be perfectly to enjoy the view and some good conversation.

Miranda, C/ Huertas 29, Anton Martín
La Trocha, C/ Huertas 55, Anton Martín
Vinoteca Barbechera, Plaza de Santa Ana 1, Sol
Cerveceria Alemana, Plaza de Santa Ana 6, Sol

Live music

This area is home to two of Madrid’s most iconic live music locations. Café Central in Plaza del Ángel charges 11-13 euros to get in (usually with a free drink), and is a fairly large bar with plenty of seating and food to boot. Its rival Populart, on Huertas itself, doesn’t charge for entry but makes back their money in high drink prices – and more importantly, waiters who won’t let you stand around and listen without ordering another drink. Both bars display outside who’s performing that night, so take a look and see what you fancy. Spain’s distinctly 20th century attitude to smoking indoors ensures you’ll get that smoky jazz bar experience that’s now impossible to find anywhere else in Europe.

Alternatively, La Boca del Lobo on Calle de Echegaray offers live bands and DJs almost every night of the week, as does La Lupe, which plays a similarly varied range of music.

Café Central, Plaza del Ángel 10, Sol
Populart, C/ Huertas 22, Anton Martín
La Boca del Lobo, C/ Echegaray 11, Sol/Sevilla
La Lupe, C/ Huertas 51, Anton Martín

While you’re there…

Take a look at the ground: see those quotes every few feet or so printed on the street? They’re from some of Spain’s most illustrious writers particularly those of the Golden Age in the 16th century, such as Cervantes, Quevedo and Gongora. This is Madrid’s literary quarter, the Barrio de las Letras, and the quotes are in celebration of some of its most famous writers. At the head of it all in the middle of Plaza de Santa Ana lie statues of Calderon de la Barca and Federico Garcia Lorca, two of the most celebrated writers in Spanish literary history.