10 Things You Should NOT Do In Madrid
I’ve been travelling the world for the past 10 years. Madrid is one of the places where I travelled the most and I loved the most. In fact I’ve recently moved from London to Madrid. But I made a lot of mistakes over the years and now that I live here in Madrid I want to to share with you 10 things you should NOT do in Madrid.Before I forget, this is the video in case you prefer to watch a more complete version:
#10. Don’t order eggs for breakfast. Do “tosta” (toast) with tomato and oil. That’s how Spanish people do. And Café if you say nothing is café con leche, so make sure if you want black coffee you say “café solo”.
#9. Don’t rush walking. People walk slower and that’s OK. Don’t expect things on time! We just moved from London and this is an interesting reality check. But if you think that taking a taxi is going to take you faster, well.. here’s the next thing to avoid.
#8. Don’t take taxis. Madrid is small, nothing is really too far. The best way to discover the city is by walking. Don’t get lazy. This is not London or Buenos Aires you know. Everything is nearby. Even taking the metro sometimes is not going to be a lot faster. But let’s say you’re now living here, working here… well it’s a different story. People love driving here, motorcycle and so on.
#7. Don’t eat in Plaza mayor. It’s OK to come here to take few pictures, enjoy the vibe but you need to know that this is super touristy and this means expensive and not necessary in line with the quality. There are much better places to eat, better quality and a more reasonable price. And probably if you’re here already, you might want to talk less than 2 minutes and visit the next place.
#6. Don’t lose your mind at Mercado de San Miguel. Alright this is a great place to start the adventure of discovering local food, there are nice tortillas, tapas and stuff… but it’s not everything authentic, it’s overpriced and super crowded. It reminds me Borough Market in London. I’m not saying Mercado de San Miguel is bad, I enjoy the tortilla there very much but I’m saying it’s a great place to start and move on. Don’t spend all your money there.
#5. Don’t eat lunch before 2pm. There are 2 theories here. One is about the Mediterranean laid back attitude due to the weather and so on. We all know that. The second theory is about Spain being under the wrong time zone since World War II. If you look at the map, Spain is sitting along the same longitude as the UK, Portugal and Morocco… (meaning GMT time) but time is +1. Apparently in 1940 Franco moved the clock one hour forward and people continued to eat at the same time, but because the clocks had changed, their 1pm lunches became 2pm lunches (and they were suddenly eating their 8pm dinners at 9pm). Of course you can eat earlier, there are places for everyone but a true local won’t have lunch before 2pm.
#4. Don’t feel intimidated by museums. If you come here for the first time, normally people will suggest a bunch of museums, including Museo Del Prado. Hey! If it’s not your thing, it’s not your thing. Why would you spend time in closed doors if you’re not into art? Yes, of course it’s one of the most important museums in the world with 8,000 paintings, more than 700 sculptures and it survived many wars but… if you’re not interested, don’t spend your time here and money here. It’s typically 15 euros so if you still feel “guilty”, go after 6pm and it will be free.
#3. Don’t skip Retiro Park. It’s very common to see local people running in groups, boxing, doing yoga, skating and so on. Well, I won’t lie, it’s crowded and sometimes I’m not a fan of running with so many people but it’s a question of understanding the best times to do so and you’ll be OK. Currently, I’m trying to come here at least 3 times a week.
#2. Don’t ignore football. I love football but I understand some people don’t so if you’re one of those just make sure you’re aware people love football in Spain and in Madrid you have 2 big teams: Real Madrid and Atletico Madrid… so pick one and join the conversation. In bars you’ll watch football and if you live here, bear in mind you’ll speak about football with your colleagues too!
#1. Don’t eat dinner before 9pm. This is similar to what I mentioned about lunch time. But let me share more context. Madrileños will have a heavy meal for lunch and a lighter one for dinner. So dinner means tapas and typically you don’t order just one thing but a bit of everything and then you share. “Tapas” is more a style of eating than the size of the plates. So if you have dinner, keep this in mind. But again, of course you can have a meal before 9pm.. but you won’t be a proper Madrileño if you do that 😉
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