Experience a Madrid weekend like a local

So you’re headed to Madrid for the weekend but don’t want fancy spending your time tramping round the Prado and dodging the miserable tourist trap restaurants around the Plaza Mayor. What you really need to know about is its real Golden Triangle – not the one to the three great museums in Madrid, but the holy trinity of places where every local ends up spending their weekends: the Rastro, La Latina and the Retiro. Here’s our guide to relaxing in Madrid for the finde (short for fin de semana – weekend) the way the locals do.

La Latina
Metro: Tirso de Molina/La Latina

One of the most chilled-out areas of the city, La Latina is a haven for lovers of food, drink and good conversation. It’s home to some of the most densely populated with tapas bar streets in Madrid, Cava Baja and Cava Alta. During sunny weekends the bars overflow with people, encouraging crowds to flow up and down. Follow suit by popping into a bar for a caña (small draught beer), and order a plate of tapas or a larger ración: though I’d recommend you stick to smaller plates if you want to keep going. Once finished, move onto the next bar that strikes your fancy and try ordering a different dish: over the course of a few hours you’ll work your way down the street, arriving at the bottom sated and possibly a little merry. Here, in the Plaza de La Latina, you can relax in the sun and pass the time muy relajado.

The Rastro
Metro: La Latina/Puerta de Toledo/Embajadores

Madrid’s most famous flea market, no weekend visit to the city would be complete without battling your way through the crowds to pick up a few bargains. Held every Sunday, there’s a huge range of items available, from clothes, accessories, artisan goods and household knick knacks. Try and get there around 10 or 11 for the best experience – by 2 in the afternoon the crowds start to thin out and stallholders start packing up, so it’s definitely worth the early start. Most people start at La Latina metro, and all you need to do is follow the surge of people surging down the Plaza de Cascorro. These first stalls are filled with clothes and accessories which cater to Madrid’s hippy, grungy population (think Camden Market). From here, you head down the Calle de la Ribera, which holds the majority of stalls chiefly selling clothes, accessories and hand made goods. Look out for the guys selling cheap pashminas who throw their wares from one end of the stall to the other as women scrabble through them looking for the perfect colour. Although Ribera is the longest and busiest area, it’s the side streets which hold some of the most interesting finds. For example, Calle Fray Ceferino Gonzales is known as the ‘calle de los pájaros’ for the number of birds sold there; local artists can be found selling their work on Calle San Cayetano, while old and rare books can be found around Calle Carnero. It’s worth taking the time to stroll up and down the market, exploring all the side streets, and nipping into a neighbouring café for a caña and a bit of tapas to keep you going.

The Retiro
Metro: Atocha (south entrance), Retiro (north entrance), Banco de España, (west entrance), Ibiza (east entrance)

This enormous park in the centre of the city, whose full name literally means ‘The park of pleasant rest’, stretches across 350 acres and is filled with different gardens, sculptures, playgrounds and more. The Retiro, generally quite quiet and peaceful during weekdays, is one of those places which takes on a completely different persona during weekends. The city congregates over different parts of the park: rollerbladers and skaters flock to the long paths on the eastern side, families parade around the central artificial lake, teenagers relax on the grass, and musicians and entertainers are everywhere. You can hire rowing boats, bikes or rollerblades if you feel like being active, or wander into the art galleries in the Casón del Buen Retiro or the Palacio del Cristal. A semi-impromptu drumming session is held around the lake every Sunday evening, often lasting late into the night. The Retiro is really the place to go to see all of Madrid letting their hair down for the weekend. Staying open till midnight during summer months, it’s also an excellent place to while away a warm evening with a few drinks and a picnic.