Lonely Planet Madrid

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• Publisher: Lonely Planet
• Year: 2019
• eBook ISBN:
  9781788681698
• Print ISBN:
  9781786572769

Plaza Mayor & Royal Madrid

Sights

Eating

Drinking & Nightlife

Entertainment

Shopping

Sports & Activities

Plaza Mayor & Royal Madrid

Neighbourhood Top Five

1 Plaza Mayor Immersing yourself in the street life that courses across the cobblestones or taking up residence at an outdoor table surrounding this most elegant of city squares.

2 Palacio Real Soaking up the grandeur of Madrid’s seat of royal power, and one of its most imposing architectural landmarks.

3 Plaza de la Villa Spending time in one of the city’s most architecturally pleasing corners, with baroque Madrid architecture.

4 Chocolatería de San Ginés Stopping by for Madrid’s best chocolate con churros (Spanish doughnuts with chocolate) at any hour of the day or night.

5 Mercado de San Miguel Learning why locals are obsessed with food, and experiencing the irresistible buzz that goes with going out for tapas in the capital.

Explore: Plaza Mayor & Royal Madrid

Plaza Mayor is the hub of Madrid’s most medieval quarter, an area known as Madrid de los Austrias, in reference to the Habsburg dynasty, which ruled Spain from 1517 to 1700. The plaza is a place both to admire and to get your bearings, the place where so many explorations of the neighbourhood (and wider city) begin. That’s because it is at once the hub of neighbourhood life and the topographical high point of the barrio (district).

Build your day exploring this neighbourhood around this and other squares, which are lovely and quiet in the morning, and lively and pretty in the soft light of late afternoon. Running close to its northern edge, Calle Mayor connects Plaza Mayor with the rest of the neighbourhood, running down the hill past the wonderful Mercado de San Miguel to Plaza de la Villa with tangled lanes of medie-val origin twisting away on either side. Away to the north are Plaza de Oriente, the royal palace and the cathedr...

Table of contents

• Table of Contents
• Welcome to Madrid
• Madrid’s Top 10
• What’s New
• Need to Know
• First Time Madrid
• Top Itineraries
• If You Like…
• Month by Month
• Travel with Children
• Like a Local
• For Free
• Eating
• Drinking & Nightlife
• Entertainment
• Shopping
• Neighbourhoods at a Glance
• Plaza Mayor & Royal Madrid
• La Latina & Lavapiés
• Sol, Santa Ana & Huertas
• El Retiro & the Art Museums
• Salamanca
• Malasaña & Conde Duque
• Chueca
• Parque del Oeste & Northern Madrid
• Day Trips from Madrid
• Sleeping
• Understand Madrid
• Madrid Today
• History
• City of Painters
• Architecture
• Madrid’s Film Scene
• Flamenco
• Transport
• Directory A–Z
• Language
• Behind the Scenes
• Madrid Maps
• Our Writer