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Here Are 6 Things to Do in Madrid This Weekend

It’s Friday again!

And if you’re reading this, that means you survived last weekend’s clash of the titans (Pope Leo and Benito, aka Bad Bunny). This weekend is not that different (Bad Bunny is still in town), but at least the Pope is island-crawling in the Canaries.

• If you thought this meant calmer times, you'd be wrong. The World Cup just started, which means that no matter where you look, you’ll see footballs and people wearing red jerseys. At least there are a few things you can do before the big day on Monday. Buckle up; we’re in for an intense few weeks.

Happy weekend!

1.🍷 San Antonio Fest is back! Madrid’s first verbena of the summer features DJs, churros, and a hermitage

Another week, another party involving a saint that is used to get drunk and pass out! And introspection, of course. Don’t forget introspection. Say hello to the Fiestas de San Antonio de la Florida, a hyper-local, deeply traditional (and yet full of alcohol) celebration that feels both old-school and super fun at the same time. It’s also the first verbena of the summer!

• The area around Parque de la Bombilla (near Argüelles) and the Ermita de San Antonio (aka Saint Anthony of Padua’s hermitage) transforms into a full-blown verbena: loud music, people dancing, drinks flowing, and, of course, actual religious rituals happening just a few meters away. Because we’re all there for atonement, obviously.

• 19th-century Tinder. The roots of the festival are very Madrid: devotion, superstition, and a bit of, ahem, “romantic desperation” thanks to the quirky and famous ritual de los alfileres, in which, if you are single, you drop 13 pins into holy water, place your hands in it, and however many stick to your palm is how many suitors you’ll have that year. Hey, it’s scientifically proven. Shut up.

• The blessed bread of San Antonio is also still very much part of the experience. And don’t worry, you don’t need to be religious (or looking for love) to enjoy it! The real magic is in the mix: grandmothers in flowery dresses, groups of friends drinking vermú at noon, annoying delightful kids running around, and DJs taking over by night.

• You’ve got live concerts (Modestia Aparte, La Mole), DJ sets (DJ Nano, DJ Fonsi), vermú sessions, mini verbenas, and late-night dancing that feels like a throwback to pre-gentrification Madrid.

• Saturday is the big one: mass, procession, and then straight into music and partying, exactly what Jesus would have wanted.

• Sunday wraps it all up with paella, chocolate con churros, and fireworks.

Check the official program (link below) for schedules! Go for an hour, stay all weekend.

🖥️ What: Fiestas de San Antonio de la Florida

📍 Where: Parque de la Bombilla & Ermita de San Antonio, Madrid

📅 When: Through June 14

🎟 Tickets: Free admission

2. 🎭 Chronicle of a Bad Spaniard: Spain’s century of chaos, comedy, and contradictions

If you think verbenas and mingling with the populace is below you (shame on you), then here’s something Your Majesty (that would be you) can enjoy, as it involves relatively more substance and a lot more irony.

• This new play at Teatro Español takes the life of renowned Spanish film director Luis García-Berlanga and turns it into a sharp, funny, and very on-point reflection of Spain itself, told through the eyes of his own son.

• Jorge García-Berlanga leads the cast in a staged tribute that mixes biography with allegory and draws parallels between the patriarch’s life and a country that spent the 20th century navigating wars, political chaos, a dictatorship and a permanent identity crisis.

• If that sounds intense or solemn, don’t worry—this is Berlanga we’re talking about. Expect tons of humor, absurd moments, and that uniquely Spanish ability to laugh at everything.

• The show leans into that Berlanguiano spirit: chaotic, clever, and full of contradictions, creating a living collage of moments and emotions that capture why Berlanga remains one of the most important figures in Spanish cinema.

If you’re a film nerd or just looking for something a bit more high-brow (without being boring), this is a solid excuse to swap the verbena for a theatre seat for a night.

🖥️ What: Crónica de un Mal Español (Chronicle of a Bad Spaniard)

📍 Where: Teatro Español, Calle del Príncipe 25, Madrid

📅 When: Through June 28 (Thursdays to Sundays)

🎟 Tickets start at €10

3.🍔 Dear god, another food festival arrives: Ñam Ñam is taking over Madrid Río (and your figure)

(Before you ask: ñam ñam is the Spanish equivalent of saying nom nom. You’re welcome).

Not into reliving the horrific years of the Spanish dictatorship? Fortunately, we have an alternative that’s good for your palate and bad for your weight: Madrid just dropped the first edition of the Ñam Ñam Festival, turning Paseo Puente del Rey into an open-air playground for food, creativity, and quite possibly more food.

• Beware: This isn’t your typical food market. Ñam Ñam is positioning itself as an “international gastronomic experiences festival”, which basically means: street food, but more expensive “immersive”.

• There will be live cooking demos, talks, workshops, music, and even podcasts and monologues happening in real time. It’s not just about food but also about the culture around food.

• There’s a central bar for drinks and bites, a “mesa infinita” for shared experiences, and different zones where things are constantly happening. Overall, the vibe is pretty chill and dynamic. It’s also really bad if you’re on a diet.

• The festival taps into the city’s network of 45 mercados municipales, showcasing small-scale producers and homegrown culinary talent. So while it feels like a shiny new event, it’s actually rooted in something very traditional: neighborhood food culture.

If you’re sick and tired of eating patatas bravas and croquetas, try this one for a change.

🖥️ What: Ñam Ñam Festival

📍 Where: Explanada Puente del Rey, Madrid Río, Madrid

📅 When: June 13–14

🎟 Tickets start at €32.50

4. 🪩 Soundset returns to Conde Duque and becomes Madrid’s coolest open-air electronic playground

Are you now feeling guilty for eating those chimichurri-soaked empanadas? Do you need to burn those calories off? Maybe getting slightly lost in experimental beats is the answer, and we have the perfect suggestion for it!

• Soundset Festival is back at Conde Duque, and this year it’s gone fully open-air—taking over the Patio Sur for two nights of forward-thinking electronic music that leans more Berlin than Ibiza. (Berlin nightlife = sophistication, Ibiza nightlife = Kim Kardashian. Sorry, not sorry).

• Don’t expect the usual, run-of-the-mill DJ. Soundset a much more interesting space: there’s dubstep, Latin mutations, hyperpop colliding with bass and DJs who actually take risks.

• Friday kicks off strong with DJ Python going back-to-back with Loidis (aka Huerco S), followed by Brazilian rhythms from RHR and a rare Madrid appearance by Mala, a foundational figure in dubstep. If these are all people you’ve never heard of, you may not be cool enough (again, sorry not sorry).

• Saturday shifts gears but keeps the energy high. There’s a mix of local and international names pushing boundaries: Carne_kddo with the Lágrima collective, Tracey’s hyperpop-infused sound, and a live set from Nick León exploring new Latin electronic textures.

• The whole thing closes with CCL, whose sets are basically a journey—jumping between post-punk, techno, house, and everything in between without losing the thread. (Boomers, look away!)

This event is about discovery, experimentation, and actually listening to what’s happening on stage, so for the love of all things sacred, keep your damn phone in your pocket and start living in the moment.

🖥️ What: Soundset Festival 2026

📍 Where: Patio Sur, Centro Cultural Conde Duque, Calle del Conde Duque 11, Madrid

📅 When: June 12–13

🎟 Tickets: €20/day

5.💃🏻 Israel Galván brings (non-tourist trap) flamenco to the edge (and then breaks It)

Israel Galván is one of the most boundary-pushing figures in Spanish dance, and he is back in Madrid with a show that twists tradition and turns it into something deeply personal and unique. If you’re looking for the type of flamenco show that the locals want to see, this is it.

• This new piece dives into his childhood memories of the Feria de Abril in Sevilla, where he used to compete in sevillanas contests… and never win. Why? Because even back then, his style didn’t fit the rules.

• That tension (tradition vs. rebellion, recognition vs frustration) sits at the heart of the show. It’s flamenco, but filtered through Galván’s signature experimental and ironic lens.

• He performs in a short flamenco dress with a retro twist, accompanied by a charanga band, live guitar, and vocals, creating a scene that’s half street party and half avant-garde performance.

If you’re a flamenco purist (like we are) or someone who usually avoids tourist traps (like we are), this is the kind of show you should see.

🖥️ What: Israel Galván’s Sevillanas Solteras

📍 Where: Centro Danza Matadero (CDM), Paseo de la Chopera 14, Madrid

📅 When: June 12–14

🎟 Tickets start at €27

6. ⚽️ World Cup mania: Where to watch Spain’s games

Haters of soccer football, beware: our long national nightmare has officially just begun. You don’t have to like football to feel it. Because like it or not, trust us, you will feel it, with or without your consent.

• Madrid is about to go full World Cup mode. That’s right! Apparently, the guys who think that Donald Trump somehow deserves a peace prize have somehow gotten away with not getting canceled and have organized a championship that’s been making the headlines due to its dystopian dynamic prices and questionable immigration policies. Oh, and then there’s also Canada and Mexico. But we digress.

The 2026 tournament kicked off yesterday, and with Spain among the favorites, the city is turning into one giant viewing party! So let’s conveniently ignore FIFA’s history of moral (and literal) corruption and focus on being number one, shall we? If you want to watch the games (Spain’s first match is on Monday afternoon against Cape Verde, a country that totally exists), you’ve got options.

• Let’s start with the big one: Plaza de Colón. The city is installing a massive screen that will turn the square into ground zero for fans watching La Roja (a communist-sounding name for the Spanish national football team). That will be fun! There will be thousands of people, flags, beers, collective anxiety, and that very specific Madrid energy that only shows up during big tournaments. If Spain scores, you will feel it. If it doesn’t, you will also feel it. One catch: It will only be for matches taking place before 10 p.m. (The residents of Salamanca are rich, and rich people like silence, peasants.)

• If crowds aren’t your thing (or you want air conditioning and a seat), cinemas are stepping in. Cines Yelmo will be screening Spain’s matches across multiple locations in Madrid, from Ideal and Palafox to Plenilunio and La Vaguada. It’s a surprisingly great option: big screen, decent sound, and snacks. Tickets start around €8.30 with popcorn and a drink, scaling up if you want the full “Luxury” experience. Watching football in a movie theater is a thing now.

• Then there’s the classic route: bars! Madrid’s bars will basically turn into unofficial fan zones, especially in neighborhoods like Chamberí, Malasaña, and La Latina. Just find a place with a screen, order a beer, and you’re in. The louder the crowd, the better the experience. Not sure where to go? Try James Joyce Irish Pub, FRATINA Sport Bar, La Fontana de Oro, O’Connell St. Pub, Knockout! Sports Bar (this one’s far away but cool).

• And if you hate people and want to be by yourself, RTVE has you covered. The public broadcaster is going all in this year, with matches on La 1 and multiple digital streams on RTVE Play, plus extra content, highlights, and even influencer-driven commentary. It’s the easiest way to follow everything without leaving your couch.

The World Cup is here; it’s unavoidable, and for the next few weeks, this city will be living match by match. Resistance is futile.

🖥️ What: FIFA World Cup 2026

📍 Where: Plaza de Colón, Cines Yelmo (multiple locations), bars across Madrid, RTVE

📅 When: Through July 19 (Spain debuts June 15)

📺 What to watch if you’re staying in this weekend…

🖥️ What: The Marked Woman (La Desconocida) | Movie | 2026

📍Where to watch: Netflix

❓What’s it about: An unconscious woman is found inside a container at the Barcelona docks. She suffers from amnesia, and someone wants her dead. Two cops embark on a race against time to discover her identity and the secrets she holds.

🤩 Why you should watch: Because it builds a dark, fast-paced mystery led by the fantastic Candela Peña, who brings real emotional weight as a dishevelled detective chasing both the case and her own personal demons. The Marked Woman is not trying to reinvent the genre, and that’s exactly why it works. If you want an easy-to-binge thriller night, go with this one.

💬 English Subtitles: Yes.

💃🏻 Places to try this weekend…

🍽️ La Gloria de Carabanchel is the kind of taberna that makes you rethink the neighborhood

What’s it about: La Gloria de Carabanchel is Sol Pérez-Fragero taking everything that worked in Malasaña and Conde Duque—and bringing it outside the M-30. The result is a small, no-frills taberna with real soul: a handful of tables and a focus on Andalusian classics.

Why you should go: Because this is comfort food done right. The lomo de orza, croquetas de puchero, albóndigas de choco, and solomillo al whisky all hit that perfect balance between traditional and seriously craveable.

Bottom line: Proof that some of Madrid’s best spots are no longer in the center.

Address: Calle del General Martín Cerezo, 3, Madrid

🍫 Balbisiana: The pastry box that took over Madrid (and then opened a store)

What’s it about: Balbisiana is what happens when a viral dessert brand turns into a full-on lifestyle bakery. It started as those iconic blue boxes seen at every chic Madrid event, and now it is a physical café on Calle Velázquez.

Why you should go: Because this place gets the balance right: aesthetic and actually good. The best-seller is still the classic “tarta de la abuela” (chocolate and biscuit), which is basically impossible to mess up. The “balbisianas” (bite-sized fried brioche with different fillings) are also dangerously easy to devour.

Bottom line: It’s polished, it’s Instagrammable, but this time it’s not just hype. Balbisiana delivers.

Address: Calle de Velázquez, 55, Madrid

👨🏻‍💻 Viral Memes of the Week

😎 Well, El Papa and Benito almost played together

❤️ Madrid is cool, yo

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Here Are 6 Things to Do in Madrid This Weekend

It’s Friday again!

There’s no easy way of saying this; this weekend is gonna be a mess. Pope Leo XIV is in town for a series of religious events. And so is Bad Bunny (although not for religious events).

• Millions of people from all over Spain and Europe are expected to descend on downtown Madrid this weekend, so traffic will be a nightmare, there will be massive crowds everywhere, and long lines for literally everything.

• If you live outside the M-30, chances are your life will be a little easier. But if you live in Centro/Justicia/Chamberí/Salamanca, don’t leave the house. If you do because you need the blessing of the Holy Spirit or want to dwerk/twerk sluttily with Benito, bring some lorazepam. You will need it.

• El País has been kind enough to put together a guide with streets to avoid this weekend. Traffic will be shut down. Multiple metro stations in downtown Madrid will be closed, so plan ahead.

• Oh, and if you’re not interested in religions like catholicism or reggaeton, we have a few other options for you heathens.

Happy weekend!

1.🇻🇦 Put on your Sunday clothes, people! Pope Leo XIV is in Madrid this weekend with a busy agenda

Holy mackerel! Pope Leo XIV is landing in Spain for his Lift Your Eyes tour, and he’s ready to paint the town red yellow, and white. Madrid is his first stop, marking the first papal visit to the city in 15 years. As we mentioned above, expect big crowds, food stands, and security everywhere. Consider this Catholic Coachella. Let’s go over his very busy agenda!

• Saturday, June 6: The pope lands at Barajas airport to a full-on state welcome with King Felipe VI, followed by a formal reception at the Royal Palace with politicians, diplomats, and half the Spanish establishment. Before you ask, no, peasant, you cannot attend.

• 6 p.m.: That afternoon, he’ll visit a Cáritas center supporting homeless people (yes, he’s putting social issues front and center from day one) before things take a more unexpected turn with a Niña Pastori performance. You also cannot join.

• 8:30 p.m.: Then comes the first big crowd moment (which maybe you can attend if you push some children out of the way): the pope cruising down Castellana in the Popemobile before a massive youth vigil near the Bernabéu Stadium. Thousands are expected, with live music (Hakuna, Siloé, Besmaya), prayers, and a late-night Eucharistic adoration. If you’re a youth, then you can probably attend, but you need to register here immediately. (If you’re asking if you qualify as a youth, you’re probably not a youth).

• Sunday, June 7, 10 a.m.: The main event! Cibeles transforms into the epicenter of Catholic Spain, hosting a huge open-air Mass for Corpus Christi, followed by a procession through nearby streets. Expect your news and Instagram feed to be bombarded with stories from this event, featuring the same people who the night before were probably slutting around at Bad Bunny’s concert. (Hey, no judgement here, as both things are not mutually exclusive and this is a sex positive safe space.) Warning: you also need to register for this!

• 6 p.m.: Later that day, the Pope heads indoors to the Movistar Arena for Tejer Redes, a more curated event bringing together figures from culture, art, and business to talk about… well, networking, we guess.

• Monday, June 8, 10:30 a.m.: Monday shifts gears again, this time into full political and institutional mode. In the morning, the pope meets Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez, delivers a historic address to Parliament (a first in Spain; you can watch it on TV), and sits down with Spanish bishops. Unless you are Pedro Sánchez (or a bishop), you can’t attend.

• 6 p.m.: In the evening, things swing back to spectacle with a prayer at Almudena Cathedral.

• 7 p.m.: It’s gonna be a short prayer, because one hour later he will be at a massive event at the Bernabéu featuring a 1,000-person choir, dancers, and guest artists like David Bustamante. That’s right, the freaking pope. At the Bernabéu. With a choir and choreography. Epic.

• Tuesday, June 9, 10:20 a.m.: Pope Leo bids adieu to Madrid with a final event at IFEMA with volunteers before heading off to Barcelona and the Canary Islands. Not a volunteer? Not invited.

But wait, there’s more! Because Madrid is pulling a cultural all-nighter. On the night of June 6, 15 museums across the city will open late and for free for the “Yellow and White Night”. Because a papal visit is the perfect excuse for a spontaneous 2 a.m. museum crawl.

🖥️ What: Visit of Pope Leo XIV to Madrid

📍 Where: Multiple locations (Cibeles, Bernabéu, Almudena, IFEMA, Movistar Arena)

📅 When: June 6–9

🎟 Tickets: Free (registration recommended for closer access)

2.🐕 I Love Reggaeton Madrid 2026: If you know all the lyrics to Gasolina, this festival is for you

No tickets to Bad Bunny and no interest in receiving the blessings of Baby Jesus? Fret not, we have a consolation prize for you! The I Love Reggaeton festival is back in Madrid this weekend, turning IFEMA into a massive, open-air throwback to the golden years of reggaeton and electrolatino.

• We’re talking about 30+ artists, three outdoor stages, and a lineup we don't know, but if you like reggaeton, you probably do: Tito El Bambino, Henry Méndez, Cali & El Dandee, Lorna, Juan Magán, De La Ghetto… and many more.

• The concept for this is simple and effective: pure nostalgia. The festival is designed as a tribute to the early days of reggaeton (remember Gasolina?), before it became the global monster it is today, with a fully synchronized audiovisual show and back-to-back hits that defined an entire generation.

• There are two main stages running in parallel (so yes, you will have to make tough decisions), plus food trucks, chill areas, and enough perreo energy to power the city for a week and make you forget that you couldn’t afford Bad Bunny tickets.

Reggaeton might dominate the world now, but this is about where it all started; the era that made it mainstream and gave us the songs everyone still knows by heart. Dale con dale ✌️.

🖥️ What: I Love Reggaeton Festival Madrid 2026

📍 Where: IFEMA Madrid, Av. del Partenón 5, Madrid

📅 When: June 6

🎟 Tickets start at: €51,90 (hurry up, tickets are selling fast)

3. 🎭 La Loba: Bette Davis is back (and she’s not here to be ignored, losers)

What happens when one of Hollywood’s most iconic divas walks into a newsroom and places a classified ad… for herself? That’s the pretty absurd (and quietly devastating) premise of this play now running at the Fernán Gómez.

• A magnetic Mélida Molina embodies Bette Davis with bite and vulnerability, delivering a performance that feels both like a tribute to this undying Hollywood legend (at least for the boomers).

• The setup is simple: A veteran actress (three kids, decades in the industry, and a certain reputation) demands work in a system that has already decided she’s past her prime.

• What unfolds is a sharp, often funny, sometimes uncomfortable look at how the film industry treats women once they age out of desirability, even the ones who helped define it in the first place.

• The play leans into its love of classic cinema while pulling back the curtain on its darker dynamics: ego, power, rejection, survival.

• Did you know? In 1989, Bette Davis came to Spain to receive the Donostia Award at the San Sebastián Film Festival. It was her final public appearance, her last performance.

So trust us, it’s worth watching a character like Bette Davis refuse to fade quietly into irrelevance in this stylish homage to classic Hollywood that doubles as a critique of it.

🖥️ What: La Loba

📍 Where: Fernán Gómez Centro Cultural de la Villa, Plaza de Colón 4, Madrid

📅 When: June 4–21

🎟 Tickets start at €20

4. 🩰 No tutus, no rules: SACRESIZE is the dance show redefining what a body can do

What if ballet, one of the most rigid, body-obsessed art forms out there, suddenly stopped caring about “ideal” bodies? Alberto Velasco offers a bold, unapologetic answer to that question that puts non-normative bodies front and center.

• The evening opens with SIZE, a short but striking piece where Velasco turns the “non-normative” body into something poetic, powerful and deeply expressive.

• Instead of treating size as a limitation, the choreography reframes it as a space of sensitivity and expansion, supported by an immersive audiovisual setup.

• Then comes SACRE, a reimagining of The Rite of Spring that leans into its original themes of tension and ritual but flips the narrative entirely, becoming intense and quietly subversive.

Velasco has built a career around challenging aesthetic norms (and literally wrote the book on it with Pobre, gordo y maricón), and continues to use dance as both an artistic and political tool. It forces you to rethink what dance and beauty are supposed to look like.

🖥️ What: SACRESIZE

📍 Where: Teatros del Canal, Calle de Cea Bermúdez 1, Madrid

📅 When: Through June 7

🎟 Tickets start at €20

5.🎬 FILMADRID: The coolest film festival you’ve probably never heard of is back

Tired of the Netflix algorithm feeding you the same crap over and over? Then you need FILMADRID. The city’s most quietly influential film festival is back for its 12th edition, taking over venues like La Casa Encendida, Cine Doré and Cineteca Madrid with a lineup that leans into auteur-driven cinema.

• What makes FILMADRID different is its obsession with discovery; with films that have been making waves in international festivals but haven’t yet landed in Spain. There will be experimental formats, unusual narratives, and directors who are still shaping their voice. In other words: cinema that’s actually good.

• The festival’s competitive sections, including the Official Selection and the return of SMART7, double down on that idea. SMART7, in particular, is worth keeping an eye on: a curated selection of seven European films by emerging directors that push boundaries in form and content.

• One standout this year is As liñas descontinuas (The Dashed Lines), a debut feature that brings together a 50-year-old woman navigating divorce and a 28-year-old trans man in a moment of personal instability.

FILMADRID has quietly built a reputation as one of the city’s most important cultural events by becoming that place you go to if you want to see what cinema might look like in five years.

🖥️ What: FILMADRID International Film Festival

📍 Where: Various venues across Madrid

📅 When: June 5–14

🎟 Tickets: Check website

6. 🎸 Blockparty Arganzuela: an indie, garage, and punk-fueled festival is the most fun you’ll have this weekend

Not into Catholic Coachella and trying to escape the downtown area? We have one final option for you! It involves guitars, beers, and zero religion. We give you… Blockparty Arganzuela! An open-air festival that returns to Madrid Río with a great lineup.

• Set in the Explanada Negra, this is one of those festivals where you’re close to the stage, there aren’t any barriers (literal or emotional), and a crowd that actually cares about the music.

• This year’s lineup brings together a mix of indie, garage and punk energy with acts like Die Spitz, Mujeres and Uni Boys leading the charge, alongside Fast Kinds and Sandré, all of them known for turning live shows into something unpredictable. What’s that? You’ve never heard of them? Even better.

• Oh, and there’s also food, drinks, and that great Madrid summer vibe in which the sun goes down over the river, people sit down on the ground between sets, and that feeling that you’ve stumbled into something a bit cooler than you expected.

Note: capacity is limited, which keeps things manageable, and if you’re under 16, you’re getting in for free - not a bad way to get your first proper festival experience.

🖥️ What: Blockparty Arganzuela

📍 Where: Madrid Río, Puente de Segovia s/n, Madrid

📅 When: June 6, 3:30 p.m.

🎟 Tickets start at €40

📺 What to watch if you’re staying in this weekend…

Idols (2026)

🖥️ What: Idols (Ídolos) | Movie | 2026

📍Where to watch: HBO Max

❓What’s it about: A reckless young motorcycle racer gets a chance to compete in Moto2, but must train with his estranged father, a former racer with a dark past. As he pursues his dreams, an unexpected romance challenges his focus. Think Gran Turismo with motorcycles.

🤩 Why you should watch: Because it’s great if you’re in the mood for an easy, entertaining sports film with just enough emotional weight to keep you invested. Yes, it’s full of cliches (the talented but reckless young rider chasing his dream, the reluctant reunion with an estranged father who might be the only one who can help him get there), but hey, it works. It’s the kind of film you put on, enjoy, and don’t overthink.

💬 English Subtitles: No. You can probably get the gist of it, though.

Abandoned (2026)

🖥️ What: Abandoned (Abandonados) | TV Series (Documentary) | 2026

📍Where to watch: Disney+

❓What’s it about: In 1984, three children were abandoned at a Barcelona train station with no memory of their identity or past. Unclaimed, they were adopted into loving homes. As adults, they now search for their biological parents.

🤩 Why you should watch: Because it’s perfect if you’re tired of true crime that’s all about killers and want something deeper, more human and gripping. The series starts with a mystery and quickly becomes something much more powerful: a story about identity, memory, and the lifelong need to understand where you come from. It’s about people trying to fill a void that has defined their entire lives.

💬 English Subtitles: Yes.

💃🏻 Places to try this weekend…

☕️ La Florida Cafe Bistro: where brunch turns into wine and “just one coffee” turns into hours

What’s it about: A laid-back specialty coffee spot with a sunny terrace overlooking a park, this is one of those places that quietly becomes your go-to. Natural light, good music, and a team that actually remembers your order.

Why you should go: Because it nails the basics, and then some. The coffee is properly done (yes, the flat whites are legit), the focaccia is a standout, and the rotating plato del día makes it a solid lunch option too.

Bottom line: Easy, cozy, and reliably good.

Address: Paseo del Pintor Rosales 70, Madrid

🥂 Splurge! Club Metrópolis is actually worth it

What’s it about: Club Metrópolis has landed exactly as promised: big, bold and unapologetically over the top. Part private club, part boutique hotel, one of Madrid’s most iconic buildings is now a full-on experience.

Why you should go: Because, surprisingly, you can. While some areas are reserved for members, the ground floor, basement, and even the suites are open for bookings. Start upstairs with Tasca Fina, a polished take on the classic Spanish taberna, or go straight to the Barra de Oricios, a seafood-forward counter that feels like a hidden gem in plain sight.

Bottom line: It’s flashy and a little excessive, but that’s exactly why it works.

Address: Alcalá 39, Madrid

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Here Are 5 Things to Do in Madrid This Weekend

It’s Friday again!

And boy, are we in for a busy weekend. First of all, Bad Bunny is in town. (No tickets? Join the club!). Not only that, but La Oreja de Van Gogh is back (No tickets? Also join the club!). Ah, and there’s also Hernán Cattaneo at Brunch Electronik. It’s hard to keep up.

• Those of us who haven't pawned our grandma’s wedding ring to pay for those tickets (she’s still alive, btw) still have a ton of events to choose from.

• So grab a water bottle (it’s hot outside) and your cold wallet, and get ready to spend your hard-earned 0.00000001% of a bitcoin because why the hell not.

Happy weekend!

PS: The Pope is coming next week. Repent!

1. 📖 The Madrid Book Fair is back to decorate your bookshelf (and take your money)

Fun fact: Before the rise of the performative male, people used to read books for real! While such an activity is now considered uncool and passé (or is it?), some people here in Spain continue to enjoy it for some reason. If you’re one of those romanticizing the past by writing on typewriters and drinking regular Coke, we have great news… Madrid’s Book Fair is back!

• The city is once again entering its most dangerous season — when people pretend they’ll “just browse” at the Feria only to leave Retiro Park carrying €140 worth of books they absolutely did not plan to buy (or even read).

• The iconic Feria del Libro returns for its 85th edition, and it’s looking very interesting. After last year’s New York-themed edition, 2026 is all about humor, because apparently, we’ve looked around at the state of the world and decided laughing was the only reasonable response (either that or moving under the sea).

• And this isn’t just “haha funny.” The fair is diving into satire, irony, graphic humor, podcasts, stand-up humor, absurdism, literary comedy, and the increasingly blurry line between intellectual discussion and people wearing tin foil hats.

• Big names this year include Jonathan Coe, David Safier, Maitena, Ignatius Farray, Eva Hache, Joaquín Reyes, Pantomima Full, Bob Pop, Liniers, Kevin Johansen, Camila Sosa Villada, and Rodrigo Cortés, among many others (if you know at least one of them, congrats! You’re smart).

• There’ll also be live podcasts, debates about humor and politics, tributes to Les Luthiers and Kurt Vonnegut, and maybe (just maybe) you may run into Queen Letizia, who loves to support independent publishers and attends every year (she’s, in fact, officially opening the fair this morning).

Even if you don’t read much, the Feria del Libro is still one of the best events Madrid produces all year. It’s crowded, yes, but attending is a great act of resistance in the age of TikTok.

🖥️ What: Feria del Libro de Madrid 2026

📍 Where: Parque del Retiro, Paseo de Fernán Núñez, Madrid

📅 When: May 29 to June 14

🎟 Tickets: Free admission

2. 💔 Love, death, and dramatic teenagers: Romeo and Juliet opera is a magnificent spectacle for the eyes

Wait, never mind. Why read when you can actually see Shakespeare? Honestly, this is probably what he would have wanted. Romeo and Juliet, the timeless story of two dumb teenagers making catastrophically bad decisions after knowing each other for, like, 14 minutes, is hitting the Teatro Real this week, and you can tell there’s a big budget for this one because holy shit, that looks good (check video above).

• We’d die to see this. The Teatro Real is bringing back Charles Gounod’s lush, dramatic, and emotional opera adaptation of arguably Shakespeare’s best-known work, directed by French theater star Thomas Jolly and conducted by Carlo Rizzi.

• This production intends to impress you. The cast is stacked too, with opera superstar Nadine Sierra leading the production alongside Javier Camarena, Ismael Jordi, and Laurent Naouri.

• If you think opera is all stiff people singing near curtains, then you'd better go see Bad Bunny. This is pretty much the opposite of that. Trust us, you haven’t seen this much tension since that rattlesnake scene in Euphoria season 3 (we’re joking, this season sucks).

Even if you’re not usually an opera person, this is one of those productions that feels worth seeing just for the spectacle.

🖥️ What: Romeo and Juliet (Opera)

📍 Where: Teatro Real, Plaza de Isabel II, Madrid

📅 When: Through June 13

🎟 Tickets start at €18

3. 🇵🇷 No tickets to Bad Bunny? Sad! But if you’re into Puerto Rican culture, we have an alternative for you.

Yes, yes. We know. Madrid is going into full Bad Bunny mode. The reggaetón playlists are locked in, and all over the city, thousands (millions?) of people are crying over the fact that they will not get to see the biggest artist in the history of humanity (after Leticia Sabater, obvi).

• But while Benito prepares to unleash 10 (10!) concerts at the Metropolitano stadium that we won’t see, Malasaña is giving us peasants an alternative — a full-on Puerto Rican cultural takeover.

• This weekend, Calle Noviciado will host La Placita, a free Puerto Rican cultural festival bringing salsa and plena classes, cocktails, street food, art, coffee, workshops, DJs, and enough to make us forget that we won’t be able to come close to el conejo malo.

• The idea behind La Placita is to go beyond Bad Bunny fandom and introduce Madrid to Puerto Rico itself, not just the reggaetón, but the island’s broader culture, identity, and traditions, which makes sense, because Bad Bunny’s latest album, DeBÍ TiRAR MáS FOToS, basically turned Puerto Rico into main character mode this year after his performance at the Super Bowl.

And shoutout to whoever decided Malasaña was the perfect place for this, because, well, it is.

🖥️ What: La Placita Puerto Rican Cultural Festival

📍 Where: Calle Noviciado 4, Malasaña, Madrid

📅 When: May 29 – 31

🎟 Tickets: Free (but registration required, click on link above)

4. 🎬 Documenta Madrid Film Festival returns for people who love cinema and mild existential crises

There are film festivals where people show up to drink cava and pretend they understood a Serbian three-hour experimental movie about silence. And then there’s Documenta Madrid, where people also do that, but at least the films are usually pretty good.

• This international documentary festival returns this week for its 23rd edition, once again transforming the city into a paradise for lovers of documentaries, arthouse cinema, and political filmmaking.

• This year’s theme (there’s always a theme) is Tomar el pulso (“Taking the Pulse”), focusing on documentary cinema’s ability to capture reality in real time socially, politically, and emotionally. It’s incredibly intellectual. Just be aware that you are going to leave at least one screening emotionally devastated.

• The program includes international and Spanish documentary competitions, unfinished film showcases, retrospectives, and live performances. There’s even a live reinterpretation of lost footage from an unfinished Pier Paolo Pasolini documentary about sanitation workers’ strikes in Italy

Since you can’t make it to sing Titi Me Preguntó with Bad Bunny (a song that’s a late-capitalist anthem about infinite choice, emotional consumption, and the ancient Greek realization that pleasure without meaning is emptiness), then here’s your chance to sit in a dark room watching stuff about social collapse and human fragility. You’re welcome.

🖥️ What: Documenta Madrid 2026

📍 Where: Cineteca Matadero and multiple venues across Madrid

📅 When: Through May 31

🎟 Tickets: Check website

5.🎉 Aluche’s neighborhood festival turns 50

Dust off your Metro card, kids! We’re going outside the M-30 beltway for this one. If you’ve never been to a proper Madrid neighborhood festival (i.e., not for tourists), let us explain the vibe: locals running around drunk (sounds great so far), grandparents dancing better than you, someone carrying a giant beer at 1 p.m., random techno at 2 a.m. and at least one guy aggressively singing along to songs you’ve never heard of.

• Sounds fun? Great. This weekend, the legendary Fiestas de Aluche kick off their 50th anniversary celebrations, transforming the Parque de Aluche fairgrounds (in Latina, which is not the same as La Latina) into 10 straight days of concerts, folklore, dancing, DJs, fireworks, and wholesome neighborhood chaos.

• This opening weekend alone is stacked. Friday starts with the official pregón, Celtic street music, and a big orchestral dance party. Saturday brings Zumba, clown magic shows for kids (we’ll skip that one), live pop-rock concerts, and a late-night techno session for the people who miss Berghain.

• Then Sunday goes fully international, with Brazilian batucadas, folk dance festivals, and performances from groups representing Ireland, Peru, China, Paraguay, and Ecuador.

The best part of fiestas like this is the deeply local atmosphere. If you want to feel like a local, be prepared to leave Chamberí for once.

🖥️ What: Fiestas de Aluche 2026

📍 Where: Recinto Ferial del Parque de Aluche, Madrid

📅 When: May 29 to June 7, 2026

🎟 Tickets: Free admission

📺 What to watch if you’re staying in this weekend…

🖥️ What: Ravalear: Not for Sale | TV Series | 2026

📍Where to watch: HBO Max

❓What’s it about: A family business under threat in Barcelona's central (and touristy) Raval neighborhood explores how to survive an imminent buyout by an investment fund, blurring the line between resistance and criminality.

🤩 Why you should watch: Because critics say it’s one of the best TV shows of the year. And because it’s painfully relevant. Ravalear turns Spain’s housing crisis and the brutal reality of gentrification into a feverish thriller. The atmosphere, its raw realism, the pounding techno soundtrack… they all capture the feeling of modern urban Spain better than almost anything released in recent years.

💬 English Subtitles: Yes.

💃🏻 Places to try this weekend…

🇲🇽 La Xida: where Asturias meets Mexico

What’s it about: La Xida is one of those wonderfully unhinged Madrid concepts that somehow works really well: a restaurant combining Asturian and Mexican cuisine under one roof. That means sidra, guacamole, cachopo, and mole sharing the same menu.

Why you should go: Because the menu alternates comfortably between classics (Asturian chorizo cooked in cider or homemade guacamole) and hybrids like mole rojo with pitu caleya or the “Xidu” cachopo torta.

Bottom line: If you ever wonder what Asturias would look like if it had better weather and more tequila, this is your place.

Address: Calle de López de Hoyos, 11, Madrid

🍸 Grupeta is basically a Wes Anderson fever dream

What’s it about: Grupeta Bar is an all-day café and neighborhood hangout in Chamberí that feels like a combination of a vintage 1970s coffee bar and a cyclist clubhouse. The venue mixes retro aesthetics with a menu designed for sobremesa: brunches, sandwiches, torreznos, fondue, coffee, and beers. You name it, they got it.

Why you should go: Because we desperately need places like these. Good coffee in the morning, great vermú in the afternoon, and amazing beers at night.

Bottom line: If you enjoy looking like the kind of person who owns a bicycle, this is the kind of neighborhood spot you end up returning to constantly.

Address: Calle de Raimundo Fernández Villaverde 30, Madrid

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Here Are 5 Things to Do in Madrid This Weekend

It’s Friday again!

And Madrid is back to doing what it does best — hot weather! Which means your weekend plans just got way (literally) cooler.

• We’re leaning all the way into it this week, either cooling off at the city’s public pools, eating your way through Madrid Food Fest (Michelin chefs!) or going full techno at Maudes Festival.

• If you’re feeling more refined, there’s a surprisingly fun Hamlet remix, a low-key marimba recital, and enough cultural options to pretend you’re balanced. If all else fails, there’s always Netflix and (again, literally) chill.

Happy weekend!

1. 🍔 Madrid Food Fest: Where street food goes Michelin

You know what? We really should promote more the long-lost art of eating and sobremesa. We’re so glued to our phones all the time, when instead we should be talking to our (possibly inebriated) loved ones. Maybe it’s time to change that, and we have the perfect activity for you and your friends.

• The Madrid Food Fest offers the unique opportunity of eating like a Michelin inspector but paying like a poor normal human. This event is what happens when some of the country’s top chefs decide to ditch their fancy tablecloths and go full street food. It’s their version of sluming.

• The Museo del Ferrocarril turns into a playground for food people (aka all of us) for one week only. There will be chefs with Michelin stars and Repsol suns, such as Miguel Carretero, Dani Ochoa, Lucía Grávalos, and Juan D’Onofrio, serving scaled-down, street-style versions of their signature dishes.

• So instead of having to make a reservation, plan logistics, and commit a sizable amount of money to an overpriced meal, the MFF offers the chance to taste the same meal while standing up, probably with something dripping down your hand. Glamorous? Nah. Cheap? Def. Delicious? Fuck yes.

• But wait, there’s more. The whole thing is designed as an experience: a market packed with artisan producers (cheeses, Madrid wines, kombucha startups, even zero-waste products), live showcookings, podcasts being recorded in real time, music, DJs, and workshops (let’s be honest, you don’t care about those unless there’s, like, samples.

There you have it. High-end cuisine, stripped of its pomp and dropped into a setting where you can try a bit of everything without committing to a full tasting menu. Madrid’s top culinary scene in one go.

🖥️ What: Madrid Food Fest

📍 Where: Museo del Ferrocarril, Paseo de las Delicias 61, Madrid

📅 When: May 23–24, 11 a.m.

🎟 Tickets start at €12.50

2. 💀 Stand-up tragedy: Hamlet, now with punchlines

Now that your belly is full and you’ve recovered from your post-San Isidro drunken stupor, maybe we could do something highbrow for a change? If you’re into it, here’s an interesting option: Hamlet, but without the existential dread and a slightly… funnier.

• The Teatro Español is staging a modern adaptation of Shakespeare’s classic that does something borderline sacrilegious: it turns the Prince of Denmark into a stand-up comedian.

• Written and directed by Sergi Belbel, the play takes just the first act of Hamlet and rebuilds it as a one-man show starring Catalan actor Enric Cambray. And when we say one-man show, we mean it: Cambray is alone on stage, breaking down the text, commenting on it, questioning it, and, at times, straight-up roasting it.

• The innovative part is that it lowers the barrier to Shakespeare without dumbing it down. You’re still getting all of the play’s dilemmas, but filtered through humor, irony, and a very 2026 sensibility.

Instead of treating Shakespeare like a sacred, untouchable relic, this show treats it like something you can poke, question, and laugh at with. That balance is hard to pull off, and yet Belbel does.

🖥️ What: Hamlet.01

📍 Where: Teatro Español, Sala Margarita Xirgu, Calle del Principe 25, Madrid

📅 When: May 22 – June 21

🎟 Tickets start at €12

3. 🪩 Maudes Festival: Madrid’s biggest techno weekend of the year

Attention, music fans! Do you prefer basslines, lasers, and a crowd that looks like it hasn’t slept since yesterday super hot to pretentious Shakespeare stuff? Then we have great news: Maudes Festival is back! And it’s going all in.

• Taking over Parque Enrique Tierno Galván across three dates, this open-air electronic festival is becoming one of Madrid’s most immersive music experiences.

• This year’s theme (The Green Nation) leans into a kind of retro-futuristic, industrial aesthetic where techno meets environmental consciousness. Yes, it’s a rave and many people there probably don’t recycle, but it’s the thought that counts.

• The lineup is stacked with big names in the electronic scene: Fisher, Âme, The Blessed Madonna and Argy, alongside local favorites like Les Castizos. It’s a mix of heavy-hitting international sets and crowd-pleasing energy that will carry you well into the early hours.

BTW, Maudes isn’t just about techno music. There’s also art installations, branded spaces, interactive activities, and a social/environmental angle that tries to give the festival a bit more depth than your average “stand in a field and dance” situation. Have fun!

🖥️ What: Maudes Electronic Music Festival

📍 Where: Parque Enrique Tierno Galván, Calle Meneses 4, Madrid

📅 When: May 23 (Additional dates: May 30 & 31)

🎟 Tickets start at €39,95 (€32,95 if you get in before 5:30 p.m.)

4. 🪇 Conrado Moya gives classical music a marimba makeover

If techno/EDM is not for you because you think you’re better than that, fair enough. Lucky for you we have a musical option that is probably a bit more refined (read: no bass drops, no crowds, no hangover). Get ready, this is your chance to watch someone absolutely shred a marimba.

• A what now? If you thought marimba was just an annoying iPhone ringtone, you’d be wrong. And if you thought it was just a fancy xylophone, you’d also be wrong! (Although they are part of the same mallet percussion family, so points for trying.) If you’re still wondering what a marimba sounds like, think of the first few seconds of The Little Mermaid’s Under the Sea. That’s it.

• But we digress. Conrado Moya, one of the instrument’s top international performers, is taking over the Salón del Ateneo with a recital that turns the marimba into the center of a full classical experience. And not just any program; this one jumps from Bach to Gershwin to contemporary compositions, all filtered through an instrument most people still think belongs to a singing crab with a Trinidadian accent.

• What makes this interesting is that this is a kind of personal map of Moya’s artistic journey. The pieces he’s chosen are the ones that shaped him, the ones he’s grown with, and in some cases, the ones written for him. It all builds toward a Madrid premiere, Las ninfas de Nisa, which closes the night.

Want niche? This is niche. Solid cultural flex.

PS: Is Under the Sea stuck in your head now? It is in ours and can you blame us? It’s a bop.

🖥️ What: Conrado Moya’s Reminiscencias

📍 Where: Ateneo de Madrid, Calle Prado 21, Madrid

📅 When: May 23, 7:30 p.m.

🎟 Tickets start at €14,28

5. 💦 It’s officially pool season in Madrid!

Pool season is here! And it means two things: the city is about to get unbearably hot, and everyone suddenly becomes very strategic about where to cool off. The lucky ones will flee to Mallorca or Marbella, while the plebs (i.e. us) will stay in the city. The good news? The municipal pools are back, and there are lots of them.

• 22 of Madrid’s 25 public outdoor pools are already open, with the remaining three joining in early June. Prices are staying the same, with full-day tickets at €4.50 for adults—or €2.25 for a tactical half-day escape from the heat. (You’ll need to plan ahead: most tickets are sold online in advance, and the good spots go fast.)

• The system is the usual controlled chaos. You pick your slot—morning, afternoon, or full day—scan your QR code, and try to claim a decent patch of grass before someone else does. But once you’re in, it’s peak Madrid summer energy: people swimming, friends pretending they’ll “just stay an hour” and leaving at sunset.

• This year there’s also a bit more going on beyond just floating in water. The city is rolling out free “express classes” like aquafitness and stretching sessions, plus even CPR workshops if you’re feeling unexpectedly productive mid-heatwave.

If the municipal pools are packed, you’ve also got the regional ones—slightly pricier, same idea, equally necessary.

🖥️ What: Madrid Municipal Pools 2026 Season

📍 Where: Multiple locations across Madrid

📅 When: Through Sept. 6

🎟 Tickets start at €4.50 (even cheaper for kids!)

📺 What to watch if you’re staying in this weekend…

🖥️ What: Many People Need to Die (Se tiene que morir mucha gente) | TV Series | 2026

📍Where to watch: Movistar+

❓What’s it about: Don’t be misled by the title. This is actually a comedy about three women in their forties who deal with midlife chaos: addiction, career struggles, and marriage to a wealthy older man. As one friend's life unravels, their longtime bond faces its biggest challenge.

🤩 Why you should watch: Because, if you’re tired of polished, feel-good comedies where everyone learns a lesson and hugs it out, this show is your antidote. Comedian and screenwriter Victoria Martín goes full savage here, delivering a brutally honest (and often uncomfortable) look at friendships, mental health, and the quiet chaos of everyday life, where people are messy, selfish, and occasionally unbearable. It’s not here to make you feel good, it’s here to make you laugh at how bad things can get.

💬 English Subtitles: No.

💃🏻 Places to try this weekend…

👨🏻‍🍳 ABYA: Fine dining turned all the way up

What’s it about: ABYA is simply a full-blown spectacle set inside the Palacio de Saldaña in Madrid’s Golden Mile. Add caviar and luxury ingredients sitting comfortably next to a very well-executed burger, and it feels more like an art gallery than a restaurant.

Why you should go: Because it’s theatrical, over-the-top, and unapologetically extravagant, without losing sight of the food. Even if you need to splurge (seriously), and the project screams luxury, there’s a clear attempt to make it feel like more than just a place for the ultra-rich.

Bottom line: ABYA is big, bold and expensive, but it’s absolutely worth checking out at least once, if only to see what happens when ambition runs wild in a kitchen.

Address: Calle de José Ortega y Gasset 32, Madrid

☕️ WOLFØX: The Chueca coffee spot worth stopping for

What’s it about: WOLFØX is one of those places you don’t plan to find but once you do, you kind of want to keep it to yourself. Tucked away on Calle Pérez Galdós, it’s a tiny specialty coffee spot with barely any indoor space and a small terrace.

Why you should go: Because the coffee is seriously good. It’s one of those rare espressos that actually makes you stop mid-sip and go, “damn!”. Credit goes to the baristas behind the machine, who treat coffee like a craft, not a routine.

Bottom line: It’s small, it’s simple, and that’s exactly the point. Go, order an espresso or a latter, enjoy it, and leave feeling like you just discovered one of Madrid’s better-kept coffee secrets

Address: Calle de Perez Galdos 2, Madrid

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Here Are 5 Things to Do in Madrid This Weekend

It’s Friday again! And guess what… It’s a long weekend. Again!

• Before you complain about our lack of productivity and other stereotypes, let us just say that we need to save energy for San Isidro this weekend, which is taking over the streets.

• There’s so much stuff to do, so little time. As in, outdoor concerts, vintage book hunting, photography festivals, lamb bocadillos that have somehow become a cultural movement, and enough cocktails, jamón, and late-night plans to keep you busy until Monday.

Trust us, you may need another long weekend next week to recover from this one.

Happy weekend!

1. 🌺 Madrid throws its biggest street party of the year: San Isidro

Madrid in mid-May is basically one big, city-wide party, and this weekend is your chance to get to know this place like never before.

San Isidro is when the city leans fully into its castizo identity. Think: chulapos, chulapas, rosquillas, limonada (the Madrid version of “lemonade”, with wine, obvi), and a mix of tradition and chaos that keeps getting better.

• 🧙🏻‍♂️ At the heart of it all is San Isidro (Isidore the Laborer) himself, Madrid’s patron saint and, apparently, a bit of a water wizard who sounds like a character from Dungeons and Dragons. Legend has it he could find water anywhere, which is why one of the key rituals this weekend is drinking from the Fuente del Santo (the Saint’s water fountain, which already existed before the 12th century) near the Ermita. Consider it a holy pilgrimage, except you may or may not be drunk.

• 🍷 Where it all began. The Pradera de San Isidro is ground zero. This is where Madrid shows up: families, groups of friends, people dressed as if they’ve stepped out of a Goya painting. You grab your rosquillas—tontas, listas, Santa Clara, take your pick—pour yourself some “lemonade” (wink, wink), and settle into the grass while concerts play in the background. Oh, and fireworks!

• 🎵 Live music everywhere. San Isidro has become one of the most interesting music lineups in Madrid’s calendar. You’ve got Fangoria, David Otero, and Demarco Flamenco playing in the Pradera, indie acts like Triángulo de Amor Bizarro taking over Las Vistillas, and a whole city-wide program (Sonido Madrid en Vivo) spreading concerts across venues. We’re pretty sure you have no idea who any of those people/bands are, but it’s time you start learning.

• 🙏 Feeling religious? There are several Catholic ceremonies for you too! (Please don’t show up drunk)

• 💃🏻 Experience castizo identity. If you don’t know what chulapo/a are, then a) shame on you, and b) it’s time you learn how to dance the chotis. There are countless locations throughout the city where people will be dancing the traditional madrileño dance, so go at least see one.

• 👹 You’ve never seen a street party like this. Gigantes and Cabezudos (see above) roam around like slightly terrifying mascots from another century, Plaza Mayor hosts big open-air concerts and so do the Jardines de las Vistillas, Matadero turns into a verbena playground, and if you need a break from the crowds, you can wander into the Feria de la Cacharrería or duck into the Museo de San Isidro to remind yourself this all has actual historical roots.

Trust us, if you want to feel like a local, then this is all you need to do this weekend.

🖥️ What: Fiestas de San Isidro 2026

📍 Where: All across Madrid (check the links above!)

📅 When: Through May 17 (main celebrations today and tomorrow)

🎟 Tickets: Free admission (most events)

2. 🏰 Not into a Castizo weekend? Candlelit movie music night in a hidden castle in Barajas

If San Isidro is too chaotic for you, fret not, we have a slightly more magical escape plan involving a castle. Did you know there’s one just a few minutes from downtown Madrid? Well, now you do. The Parque del Castillo de la Alameda de Osuna is becoming an open-air cultural stage with Las noches del castillo, a new series that blends music, cinema, and live performance at one of Madrid’s most underrated spots.

• Tomorrow, May 16, the cycle leans fully into cinematic nostalgia with “La lírica en el cine”, a candlelit concert by Matritum Cantat that takes some of the most iconic opera and classical pieces ever used in film soundtracks and brings them back to life—live, outdoors, and surrounded by a historic setting.

• It’s that sweeping, emotional music you recognize instantly but can’t quite place… until it hits you. The whole thing is designed to feel intimate and atmospheric. No massive crowds, no chaos, no chotis. Just music, candles, and that surreal feeling of watching a performance in the middle of a park next to a historic castle.

The broader program runs through mid-June with flamenco, jazz, cinema nights, and even circus shows, but if you’re picking one moment to go, this Saturday is the one that hits that sweet spot between culture and experience.

🖥️ What: Las noches del castillo: “La lírica en el cine”

📍 Where: Parque del Castillo de la Alameda de Osuna, Barajas, Madrid

📅 When: May 16, 10 p.m.

🎟 Tickets: Free admission

3. 📸 PHotoESpaña kicks off the summer season with two must-see shows that just landed in the city

It’s baaaaaack! Every summer, Madrid quietly turns into one of Europe’s photography capitals, and PHotoESPAÑA is the reason why.

• For the next four months, the city becomes a giant, walkable exhibition: museums, galleries, cultural centers, and unexpected spaces all syncing up to showcase some of the most important names in photography.

This year’s edition comes with a theme that feels particularly timely: Volver a imaginar. Translation: question everything. Reality, images, authority, the way we see the world. And nowhere is that more obvious than in two of the standout exhibitions that opened yesterday, both very different, both worth your time.

• Opening this week. At Fundación MAPFRE, Richard Avedon’s In the American West lands as one of the big headline shows of the festival. Originally published in 1985, it’s considered one of the most important portrait series ever made. But don’t expect romantic cowboy imagery. Avedon strips everything back—white background, harsh light, no context—and lets his subjects do the talking. Workers, drifters, oil field laborers. Faces that feel raw, uncomfortable, and completely unfiltered. It’s America, but not the version you usually see.

• Also opening this week. You get something much closer to home—and arguably just as powerful. Azkarate vs Azkarate, at the Serrería Belga, dives into the work of Isabel Azkarate, a pioneer of Spanish street photography and photojournalism. The exhibition plays with the idea of duality—public vs private, observer vs participant. It’s Madrid, it’s Spain, it’s everyday life—but seen through a lens that constantly questions what’s being captured.

Together, they set the tone for the entire festival: two different worlds, two different ways of seeing, both asking one question—how much of what we’re looking at is actually real?

🖥️ What: PHotoESPAÑA 2026

📍 Where: Multiple locations across Madrid

📅 When: Through Sept. 13

🎟 Tickets: Varies by exhibition (many free, others from €5–€10)

4.🥪 Ruta del Paquito: everyone’s favorite lamb sandwich takes over San Isidro

Madrid’s most unapologetically local food trend takes over the Tirso de Molina Market in Latina (which, fyi, is not La Latina) with the Ruta del Paquito (Paquito Food Route), a celebration of the city’s favorite underdog sandwich: the lamb bocadillo (aka sandwich) that’s quietly become a cult classic. You like burgers? Well, this is juicier, messier, and with actual castizo roots.

• The market turns into a full-on San Isidro scene starting on Saturday: free tastings of Paquitos, eight different stalls serving their own versions, and, because this is Madrid, a tuna roaming around playing live music while you eat. (Fyi, a tuna is a traditional musical group of university students dressed in 13th-century costumes who sing and play instruments.)

• The Paquito itself is simple in theory (lamb in a sandwich, duh), but wildly creative in practice. This year, it’s everywhere—more than 300 bars across Spain are participating, and dozens in Madrid alone are putting their own spin on it. If you’ve never tried it, this event is the perfect entry point: one place, multiple takes, zero commitment.

There’s also a bigger story here. The whole idea behind the route is to bring lamb back into everyday eating—especially for younger crowds—while quietly pushing the sustainability angle. But honestly, none of that matters once you’re holding one. Trust us, you’ll get it.

🖥️ What: Ruta del Paquito

📍 Where: Mercado de Tirso de Molina, Doña Urraca 15, Latina, Madrid

📅 When: May 16 (from 12:30 p.m.)

🎟 Tickets: Free (tastings while supplies last)

5. 📚 Antique Book Fair: Recoletos’ best book treasure hunt is back

Attention, fans of books and horror movies involving Lovecraftian stuff like The Necronomicon! If your idea of a perfect weekend includes finding a cursed book getting lost in stacks of forgotten books, this is your moment.

• The Paseo de Recoletos by Cibeles has quietly turned into one of the most charming corners of Madrid with the 48th edition of the Feria del Libro Antiguo y de Ocasión—a long-standing tradition that feels like a treasure hunt and a time machine.

• Rows of stands, run by specialist booksellers from across Spain, are packed with everything from €1 paperbacks to rare first editions from the 14th century that cost much more than you can probably pay for.

• You can go in with zero expectations and walk out with something completely unexpected: an out-of-print novel, a vintage magazine, or an old map. Something is exciting about flipping through pages that have clearly lived a life before you got to them.

🖥️ What: 48ª Feria del Libro Antiguo y de Ocasión

📍 Where: Paseo de Recoletos (by Cibeles fountain), Madrid

📅 When: Through May 17

🎟 Tickets: Free admission

📺 What to watch if you’re staying in this weekend…

🖥️ What: Band Together (Rondallas) | Movie | 2026

📍Where to watch: Movistar+

❓What’s it about: A small town on the coast of Galicia is shaken by the shipwreck in which seven of its nine crew members died. After two years of mourning, the town’s inhabitants form a rondalla and rehearse to compete against other neighbouring villages and heal themselves.

🤩 Why you should watch: If you’re in the mood for something genuinely uplifting, Rondallas is exactly that rare kind of film: a “crowd-pleaser” that actually earns the title. Daniel Sánchez Arévalo returns with a warm, beautifully written story set in a Galician town where music, grief, and community collide, weaving together small human stories about guilt, forgiveness, and healing without ever forcing the emotion.

💬 English Subtitles: No.

💃🏻 Places to try this weekend…

🥓 Restaurante Cinco Jotas: Where jamón stops being food and starts being a religion

What’s it about: Cinco Jotas Madrid is a temple to one thing: jamón. Not just any jamón, but that jamón—100% ibérico de bellota, sliced, showcased, and treated like the celebrity it is.

Why you should go: Because the recently revamped space leans into the experience, building a menu around the product with dishes that range from classic (croquetas, cured cuts) to slightly more playful (panipuri Cinco Jotas, steak tartar with camembert and anchovies). Bonus points: it’s near the Bernabéu Stadium, so yes, it’s dangerously easy to justify.

Bottom line: If you like jamón, you’ll love it. If you don’t, it may be time to reconsider your life choices (sorry, vegans!).

Address: Calle del Padre Damián 42, Madrid

🐍 Snake Bar is where your afterlunch turns into a full-blown night out

What’s it about: Snake Bar is tucked into Justicia, and you may not initially notice it, but this new cocktail spot is a full-on tribute to the 70s, 80s, and 90s, involving nostalgia, music, and pretty cool drinks.

Why you should go: Because thanks to its copper-toned, retro-glam space and a bar that feels like the center of gravity, it presents an atmosphere that makes it very easy to lose track of time.

Bottom line: If you’re looking for a place that turns “just one drink” into a full evening, Snake Bar is it. Come for the cocktails, stay for the soundtrack.

Address: Calle del Marqués de la Ensenada 16, Madrid

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Here Are 5 Things to Do in Madrid This Weekend

It’s Friday again!

Guess what? Madrid is in full celebration mode (again!) and honestly, there’s no better time to lean into it.

• From the Feria de San Isidro to festivals, exhibitions, and enough plans to completely wreck your sleep schedule, this city is doing what it does best: giving you zero excuses to stay home.

• This week, we’re taking you from chulapos and rosquillas to Star Wars fan madness, underground dance, poetry, and restaurants with long waiting lists but definitely worth the wait. Basically: if you’re bored, it’s on you.

Happy weekend!

1. 🌺 Put on your chulapo outfit and pretend you understand rosquillas: San Isidro is back

Wait, is Madrid throwing yet another celebration? Yes, we just had one with the whole Madrid Day thing last week, but what can we say? We love a good excuse to party.

• Going until next weekend, Madrid hits a very specific vibe that involves religious devotion, picnic chaos, and a city-wide excuse to drink wine disguised as lemonade. That’s San Isidro in a nutshell. It's also known as the Feast of Saint Isidore the Laborer (aka the moment when locals collectively decide that the best way to honor the city’s patron saint is by dressing up, heading to a field, and day drinking).

• The heart of it all is the Pradera de San Isidro, a public park in southwestern Madrid you’ve never been to, even though things there get wonderfully unhinged. The madness began yesterday (whoops!) but things keep going until May 17, so check out the official program for the countless things to do in the city.

• You’ve got chulapos and chulapas (aka this) lining up to drink the “holy water” from the saint’s fountain (yes, that’s a thing), while others are parked on the grass with rosquillas and limonada — which, just to be clear, is not lemonade. It’s wine, lemon, sugar, and fruit. So basically it’s sangría, but who cares.

• And then there are the rosquillas. You’ll be forced to pick a side. The tontas (plain, egg-based), the listas (with sugar glaze), the Santa Clara (covered in meringue), the francesas (almond-coated)… and now even chocolate-covered ones for the modern crowd. Wrong year to start dieting.

• Beyond the picnic-core aesthetic and the live music, the city leans fully into tradition. There are religious ceremonies tied to San Isidro’s supposed miracles (he was known for finding water, which explains the whole fountain obsession), and, of course, the Feria de San Isidro — one of the biggest bullfighting events in the world — taking over Las Ventas, which we disapprove of because we’re woke (at least according to some of you on Instagram).

🖥️ What: Fiestas de San Isidro 2026

📍 Where: Multiple locations around Madrid

📅 When: Through May 17 (main event is May 15)

🎟 Tickets: Mostly free (some events like bullfighting require tickets)

2. 👽 Madrid just got its biggest Star Wars fan exhibition

Attention trekkies (kidding)! If you’ve ever argued about whether The Empire Strikes Back is objectively the best one (it is), this is your moment. Madrid has just been taken over by one of the biggest fan-made Star Wars exhibitions in the world.

• El Imperio Fan Contraataca lands in the city after touring places like New York, London, and Paris, bringing with it over 600 collectible items and 50+ sculptures dedicated to the saga.

• There are life-size figures, original-style costumes, posters, photos… basically the kind of stuff that makes you giggle like a little kid even though your doctor is already recommending regular prostate checkups.

• But the real hook here isn’t just the scale — it’s the fact that this is built by fans, for fans. Every corner feels like someone went way too deep into Star Wars lore and never returned.

Even if you’re not a die-hard, there’s something oddly satisfying about seeing that level of detail and devotion up close. And if you are a fan? Clear your schedule.

🖥️ What: El Imperio Fan Contraataca (Star Wars Fan Exhibition)

📍 Where: Espacio Delicias, Paseo de las Delicias 61, Madrid

📅 When: Through July 5

🎟 Tickets start at €13,60

3. 🇮🇹 Put your Duolingo learning to good use: Madrid’s getting very poetic (and Italian) this weekend

Not your usual Friday plan, but hear us out. For five days, a palace in Madrid is turning into a full-on poetry vortex for the first Festival of Italian Poetry. Intrigued? Read on!

• The event brings together poets, thinkers, and performers to explore how Italian and Spanish literary traditions have been quietly influencing each other for centuries. If you’re trying to look pretentious smart in front of your date, this is for you.

• The program mixes readings, debates, and performances that lean into big, slightly intimidating questions — like what nature actually means when poets get involved — alongside more grounded conversations around women, poetry, and freedom.

• And then it gets a bit more experimental, blending poetry with live music, rhythm, and performance pieces that feel closer to a live set than a lecture.

• There’s also a strong historical angle, with events marking 800 years since San Francisco of Assisi and nods to Lorca (because no Spanish cultural moment is complete without him).

🖥️ What: Festival de la Poesía Italiana en Madrid

📍 Where: Instituto Italiano de Cultura, Palacio de Abrantes, Calle Mayor 86, Madrid

📅 When: May 8–12

🎟 Tickets: Free entry (subject to capacity and you need to book it via their website)

4. 🩰 Forget the plot, just feel: this dance show is like a dream you don’t fully understand (and that’s OK)

Is an Italian poetry festival too mainstream for you? Here’s a really cool (and abstract) option.

• If you need a story with a beginning, middle, and end… this is not your show. But if you’re up for something different, then Goyo Montero’s latest piece might be exactly what you needed.

• The choreographer presents a modern dance performance inspired by Bach’s Goldberg Variations, but don’t expect anything classical in the traditional sense. This is a fully emotional, almost hypnotic experience, where 28 dancers move through a series of solos, duos, and trios that explore connection, vulnerability, tension — all the good human stuff.

• There are no characters, no heroes, no clear storyline. Just bodies in motion, shifting between tenderness and aggression, calm and chaos. A place where dreams and nightmares blend together, and movement becomes the only language that matters.

• The music plays a big role too, mixing Bach’s mathematical precision with contemporary soundscapes by Owen Belton. The result is something cyclical, almost meditative — like everything is constantly dissolving and coming back again.

It’s not the easiest plan for the weekend. But it might be the most interesting one.

🖥️ What: Goyo Montero’s Goldberg

📍 Where: Centro Danza Matadero, Paseo de la Chopera 14, Madrid

📅 When: Through May 9

🎟 Tickets start at €27

5. 💿 The city’s biggest vinyl treasure hunt is back

If your idea of a perfect weekend includes flipping through crates for hours, chasing that one record you didn’t know you needed — this is your moment.

• The International Record Fair returns to Madrid for its 28th edition, taking over Casa de Campo during the San Isidro festivities. The fair is a full-blown music playground with around 130 stands from across the world bringing everything from rare vinyl and cassettes to CDs and deep cuts across every genre imaginable.

• But it goes beyond collecting. Expect live performances, DJ sets, book presentations, and panels with people who actually shape the music scene. It’s about nostalgia and cultural dive, and an excuse to spend way too long debating whether you really need another record (you probably do, but maybe buy a turntable first?).

Whether you’re a serious collector or just someone who misses the ritual of physical music (damn you, Spotify!), this is one of those events where you walk in “just to browse” and walk out with a bag full of bad decisions.

🖥️ What: Madrid International Record Fair (28th Edition)

📍 Where: Pabellón de Convenciones, Casa de Campo, Av. de Portugal s/n, Madrid

📅 When: May 9–10,

🎟 Tickets start at €5,10

📺 What to watch if you’re staying in this weekend…

🖥️ What: My Dearest Señorita (Mi querida señorita) | Movie | 2026

📍Where to watch: Netflix

❓What’s it about: A young woman's medical discovery challenges everything she knows about herself, leading her on an unexpected path toward self-acceptance and a love that defies convention.

🤩 Why you should watch: Because it’s a sensitive, modern reimagining of a classic from 1972 that explores identity, empathy, and self-discovery without judgment, updating its themes for today’s audience. While it doesn’t try to outdo the original, it deepens it, offering a more intimate, emotionally nuanced look at a story that still feels surprisingly relevant today. Oh, and it’s produced by Los Javis.

💬 English Subtitles: Yes.

💃🏻 Places to try this weekend…

🍝 Circolo Popolare: The most Instagrammable Italian that actually delivers on the plate

What’s it about: Circolo Popolare is a two-floor Italian restaurant inside Torre Picasso that leans hard into maximalism. (Red walls, leopard-print carpets, vintage bottles everywhere, and plates that look like they belong in a design museum). It’s theatrical, and very intentionally over the top — basically built for both dinner and your camera roll.

Why you should go: Because beneath all that visual noise, the food actually delivers. The arancini are the standout and worth the visit alone: crispy, rich, and dangerously easy to demolish. And there’s something fun about a restaurant that fully commits to the experience without completely phoning in the kitchen.

Bottom line: Yes, it’s loud and engineered to go viral — but it works. Circolo Popolare is one of those rare “Instagrammable” spots that doesn’t collapse under its own hype.

Address: Paseo de la Castellana 89, Torre Picasso, Madrid

🐙 Casa Nokiate: A Chueca taberna where Spain meets Latin America and Asia

What’s it about: Casa Nokiate is what happens when a Madrid taberna decides to travel — and comes back with Guatemala, Japan, and a bit of Peru in its suitcase. Located in Chueca, it blends classic Spanish tapas culture with Latin American energy and Asian technique.

Why you should go: Because it’s not fusion for the sake of it — it actually makes sense. The menu is built for sharing, with playful, well-executed dishes like torrezno with salsa acevichada, nikkei-style tiradito, and standout appetizers like their reinvented gildas.

Bottom line: Casa Nokiate doesn’t try to be overly fancy — it just wants to feed you well and surprise you a bit along the way. It’s a solid pick for a relaxed but memorable meal in Chueca, especially if you’re into sharing plates with a twist.

Address: Calle de San Bartolomé 14, Madrid

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Here Are 5 Things to Do in Madrid This Weekend

It’s Friday again (and a holiday)!

• This weekend is basically a collision of everything: history spilling into the streets with 2 de Mayo reenactments, rooftops opening up all over the city, and a lineup of cultural plans that range from thoughtful to chaotic (in a good way).

• Are you in the mood to time-travel to 1808? Or maybe sip something overpriced on a rooftop? Or just wander into whatever’s happening and call it a plan? We have great news, because this XL weekend is offering lots of possibilities (even the Madrid Open tennis tournament!).

Happy weekend 🧐

1. 🪭 Community of Madrid Day: the city goes full 1800s with history, chaos, and a massive party

Madrid’s big moment is here! If you’ve ever wanted to learn more about this city’s history but opening a book feels soooo 20th century, you’re in luck: the 2 de Mayo celebrations are here to show you what happens when a national uprising that left hundreds of people dead gets rebranded as a long weekend of concerts, sun, and fun!

• History lesson. May 2, 1808, was the day that the population of Madrid rose against Napoleon’s troops occupying the city. It didn’t go so great (Goya created one of his most iconic paintings to make sure we never forget), but fast forward several centuries, and it’s now one of the most symbolic (and fun!) dates in the city’s calendar. It is, now, officially considered the Day of the Community of Madrid.

• Across Madrid, things get very busy. The Explanada de Puente del Rey turns into the unofficial HQ of the celebrations, with live concerts, crowds, and people who say they are there to learn history, but really, they just care about the beer.

• Elsewhere, you’ve got traditional folklore performances, brass bands popping up in different towns, and even a full-on drone show lighting up the sky in La Latina.

• If you’re into animal cruelty “tradition”, there’s a bullfight in Las Ventas (honestly, very on-brand for the day).

• There are smaller, less brutal more local traditions like the Mayas festivals (not related to Mexico’s Maya culture) happening across the region, where things get a bit more folkloric as they involve a young girl adorned with flowers (often wearing a crown) who sits on an altar or in a decorated spot during May festivals.

So yeah, it’s one of those weekends where the past and present collide, and where history gets just enough of a glow-up to make you actually care. (The rest of the year, you can go back to watching Ancient Aliens on the History network).

🖥️ What: Madrid’s 2 de Mayo Festivities

📍 Where: Multiple locations around Madrid. See links above.

📅 When: May 1-3

🎟 Tickets: Mostly free entry (some events ticketed, access subject to capacity)

2. 🥁 Muskets in Madrid: the uprising returns, with a reenactment playing live in the streets

If you’ve ever wondered what Madrid looked like when things got deadly, this is your chance to see it live (except for the actual killing, obvi). The city is once again recreating the 2 de Mayo uprising, when locals decided they’d had enough of Napoleon’s troops, and things escalated quickly.

• For two days, Madrid turns into a historical film set, with committed performers, real uniforms, and gunfire. The whole thing is led by the Asociación Histórico-Cultural Voluntarios de Madrid 1808–1814, a group that’s been doing this for over 20 years, which means they’re either passionate or just really into uniforms. Or both.

• Things kick off today with reenactments in Torrejón de Ardoz and Vicálvaro, where you’ll see full-on street battles between locals and French troops. Then, tomorrow (May 2), things move into central Madrid, and that's when it gets good.

• At 12 p.m., right next to the Banco de España metro station, you’ll get a pasacalles down Alcalá (yes, actual soldiers marching through modern Madrid), followed by a dramatic reenactment at the Puerta del Sol at 1 p.m. of the iconic “¡Que nos lo llevan!” (“They are taking him away!”) moment — basically the spark that lit the whole uprising after the French troops attempted to remove Infante Francisco de Paula—the last remaining member of the Royal Family in the city.

• And then, the main event: the defense of the Monteleón artillery barracks at Puente del Rey, which is as intense as it sounds.

So if you’re into history, or just want to watch people in period costumes scream at each other in the middle of the street, this one’s for you.

🖥️ What: 2 de Mayo Historical Reenactments

📍 Where: Puente del Rey, Puerta del Sol, Torrejón de Ardoz and Vicálvaro

📅 When: May 1–2

🎟 Tickets: Free entry (access subject to capacity)

3. 🌞 Madrid a Cielo Abierto: rooftops, drinks, repeat

Indoors is for the winter. Rooftop lovers, rejoice! Madrid A Cielo Abierto is back, and for 11 days the city’s hotels basically unlock their best-kept secrets — rooftops, terraces, gardens, pools — and invite you in like you belong there.

• Now, this isn’t your average “grab a drink and leave” situation. We’re talking sunset sessions with views that make you reconsider your current apartment, rooftop workouts (yes, that’s a thing), jazz nights, open-air cinema, brunches that start civilized and end in fights similar to the ones you see on Real Housewives, and enough tardeos to justify calling it a lifestyle.

• More than 50 different plans are spread across some of Madrid’s best hotels. From the polished elegance of the Four Seasons to the effortlessly cool Only You or the classic rooftop vibes of H10 Puerta de Alcalá.

If you’ve been meaning to explore the city’s rooftops but never quite made it past the Azotea del Círculo, this is your best time to do it.

🖥️ What: Madrid A Cielo Abierto (Open-Air Hotel Rooftop Festival)

📍 Where: Multiple hotels across Madrid

📅 When: May 1–10

🎟 Tickets: Free entry/pay per drink

4. 🎭 Trauma, inheritance, and secrets nobody asked for: ‘I just want to go to France’ is a play that digs deep

If you’re in the mood for something a bit heavier than rooftop cocktails and muskets being fired, this one hits differently. Elisabeth Larena’s debut play is a story that starts like a mystery and slowly turns into something much more uncomfortable: the kind of past that refuses to stay buried.

• It all begins with a funeral and a very weird inheritance. Inés shows up at the wake of a woman she’s never met, only to discover she’s been left her house… instead of the dead woman’s own granddaughter. What follows is a slow excavation of everything that went wrong.

• As the main characters start digging into the woman’s past, they uncover a story shaped by the final years of the Spanish Civil War and the suffocating influence of Francoist institutions and the kind of ideological machinery that didn’t just control lives back then, but quietly echoes into the present.

• This play is about the emotional leftovers of a bygone era that get passed down without anyone consciously choosing them.

It leans into a female, multi-generational perspective that feels intimate, reflective, and at times a bit too real.

🖥️ What: I just want to go to France

📍 Where: Gran Teatro Pavón, C. de Embajadores 9, Madrid

📅 When: Through May 23 (Wednesday to Sunday)

🎟 Tickets start at €24

5. 🗿 Giant sculptures, hidden gardens, and a rare excuse to snoop inside Banca March

This city doesn’t usually let you wander into private gardens in the middle of the city. But for its 100th anniversary, Banca March is doing exactly that, reopening its secret garden and filling it with the kind of art that makes you stop doomscrolling.

• The star of the show is British sculptor Thomas Houseago, getting his first major exhibition in Spain. And this isn’t subtle, minimalist stuff. We mean massive, raw, slightly unsettling human figures — some pushing five meters tall — made from a mix of traditional materials like bronze and plaster. It’s like a classical sculpture that’s also part construction site.

• Houseago’s whole thing is blending influences that shouldn’t really coexist: ancient sculpture, Rodin, Picasso… and then suddenly Ziggy Stardust or Darth Vader. It’s all timeless and very now.

• And honestly, half the appeal here is the setting. The Banca March garden in Salamanca is one of those places most people walk past without even realizing it exists — a quiet, green pocket in the city centre with over 1,600 square meters of vegetation, ponds, and curated calm. It rarely opens, which makes this feel a bit like being let in on a secret.

🖥️ What: Thomas Houseago Exhibition at Banca March Garden

📍 Where: Banca March Gardens, C. de Castelló 75, Madrid

📅 When: May 1 – Oct. 30

🎟 Tickets: Free entry (access subject to capacity)

📺 What to watch if you’re staying in this weekend…

🖥️ What: Naughty Business (Cochinas) | TV Series | 2026

📍Where to watch: Amazon Prime Video

❓What’s it about: In 1998, a conservative housewife has to confront her beliefs when her husband falls into a coma, leaving her in charge of their video store on the brink of bankruptcy. She specializes in selling adult films, causing uproar in the neighborhood.

🤩 Why you should watch: Because it’s the kind of show that sounds like it shouldn’t work (conservative, small-town women in the late 90s accidentally reinventing themselves through the porn section of a video store) and yet somehow it does. It’s sharp, funny, and a nostalgic love letter to VHS-era cinema, packed with references that hit if you grew up around video stores. It’s also a slow, awkward (and often hilarious) sexual awakening told from a female perspective.

💬 English Subtitles: Yes. Oh, and also it’s not for kids.

💃🏻 Places to try this weekend…

🍔 Ponzano gets its groove back: Nolita is already the place to beat

What’s it about: Nolita is what happens when two Basque Culinary Center grads ditch New York’s Little Spain and land in Ponzano with something to prove. The concept: informal, loud, slightly chaotic, and built around “tapas viajeras” — small, bold bites with global influences but a Mediterranean backbone.

Why you should go: Because the food hits that sweet spot between playful and precise: gildas with red tuna, boquerón on brioche with blueberries, and a now-hyped ensaladilla wrapped in nori with eel. Add a tight, rotating menu, a strong wine list in progress, and a bar where everything happens in front of you, and you’ve got energy and an incredible place.

Bottom line: Nolita is exactly what Ponzano needed. Go for the food, just accept that getting a table might require some strategy.

Address: Calle de Ponzano, 11, Madrid

🎷 The show goes on: Madrid’s jazz temple refuses to die

What’s it about: Madrid’s most iconic jazz club, Café Central, closed its historic location at Plaza del Ángel… and reopened 24 hours later inside the Ateneo. After more than 40 years and 14,000+ concerts, the move marks the end of one chapter — and the immediate start of another.

Why you should go: Because it nails that very specific fantasy for people who live here: an aperitivo that turns into dinner that turns into “one last drink.” Upstairs, the rooftop leans Mediterranean and a bit more refined. Downstairs, La Galería is all about sharing plates and good energy.

Bottom line: Nothing really dies here — it just gets a new address. If you care about Madrid’s cultural institutions, this is one to show up for.

Address: Calle de Santa Catalina, 10 (Ateneo de Madrid), Madrid

👨🏻‍💻 Viral Memes of the Week

🍷 Water, meet wine

🤑 5 best moments of the blackout (btw #1 is fake news — it’s actually from the COVID lockdowns)

@javierpv_26Top 5 momentazos del apagón en España. Hace ya 1 año de este día de ciencia ficción JAJAJA #españa #apagon #humor

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Here Are 5 Things to Do in Madrid This Weekend

It’s Friday again!

And it’s time to put your phone away. We’re having a very cultural weekend that involves silent films, book clubs, and street art. So gather your monocles and mount your penny-farthings, and make haste to the picture house for an evening of most agreeable diversion!

Happy weekend 🧐

1. 🎬 The Passion of Joan of Arc: Silent film, a live orchestra, and emotional damage

If your idea of cinema is The Fast and the Furious saga, caramel popcorn, and looking at your phone every five minutes, this might not be your scene. But if you’re ready for something a bit more intellectual intense, then you don’t want to miss this.

• The Passion of Joan of Arc — yes, that French silent film from 1928 you never heard of before — lands in Madrid tomorrow for a one-time-only screening that goes all in.

• Pay attention. We’re talking live orchestra, live choir, and a full immersive setup inside Cine Capitol that turns the film into something closer to a mesmerizing ritual.

• And the film itself? Not exactly light viewing. Widely considered one of the greatest movies ever made, this masterpiece by Danish director Carl Theodor Dreyer strips everything down to raw emotion.

• It follows Joan of Arc’s trial and execution through a series of brutal close-ups. No distractions, no spectacle, just the face of Maria Falconetti carrying the entire weight of the story. It’s uncomfortable and weirdly modern for something that’s almost 100 years old.

We’re not done. Now add a live score.

• The Caspervek Ensemble performs an original composition (Missa Ioanna Arcensis), backed by orchestra and choir, which basically means the emotional impact goes from “intense” to “why am I crying on a Saturday afternoon.”

This is so much more than watching a film. Definitely memorable.

🖥️ What: La pasión de Juana de Arco (with live orchestra & choir)

📍 Where: Cine Capitol, Gran Vía 41, Madrid

📅 When: April 25, 12:30 p.m.

🎟 Tickets start at €24

2. 🎨 Malasaña becomes a live canvas again, and yes, you get to judge it

A long, long time ago (like, in 2010), Malasaña was all graffiti, which meant it was gross. Sixteen years later, the neighborhood has changed: it’s now all graffiti, which means it’s great! It’s gone from “place for gang members to hang out” to “open air art project”. And this Sunday, we’re all celebrating the rebranding.

• Pinta Malasaña is back, and the neighborhood is once again turning into Madrid’s street gallery, with artists literally taking over shop shutters, walls, and whatever space locals are brave enough to offer.

• Dozens of urban artists will be painting live across the streets for one day only, all at the same time. Forget those snobbish art galleries and Instagram filters. This is all about spray cans, ladders, and a crowd watching the whole thing unfold in real time.

• The concept is simple but great: local businesses, neighbors, and associations lend their spaces, and artists compete to transform them. You walk around, watch the process, and by the end of the day… you actually get a say. Because yes, there’s a public vote for the best piece, so your uneducated opinion about art finally matters! No more staring at a banana duct-taped to a white canvas. This is real art!

Beyond the painting, the vibe is very Malasaña: workshops, side activities, people wandering around with beers pretending they understand street art. It’s one of those plans where you show up, walk around, and end up spending all day there.

🖥️ What: Pinta Malasaña

📍 Where: All over Malasaña, Madrid

📅 When: April 26

🎟 Tickets: No tickets necessary

3. 📚 Books are taking over Madrid, and it’s getting out of hand (in a good way)

If you thought “La Noche de los Libros” was already a lot, welcome to the upgraded version. This year, Madrid has decided one night isn’t enough and turned it into a full-blown four-day literary takeover called LIBROMAD.

• The entire region basically becomes one giant book club this week — except instead of pretending you read Truman Capote, you get 400+ activities, 300 authors, and events happening across 100 municipalities.

• The theme this year is “Los confines de los libros,” which sounds boring but really means that books aren’t just books anymore. They’re conversations, performances, concerts, workshops, and whatever else happens, especially now that no one reads anymore.

• Libraries and bookstores become the main stage. This is reading as a social experience — something that crosses generations, mixes formats, and turns into a collective event.

Sunday’s closing event at Plaza de España is doing the most, if you need a starting point. There’s a collective reading (with hot chocolate, because Madrid knows what matters), live music, performances, and even a mini book fair.

🖥️ What: LIBROMAD - Madrid Book Week

📍 Where: All over Madrid (main event at Plaza de España)

📅 When: Through April 26

🎟 Tickets: Free entry to most activities

4. 🌏 Feeling lost? Imperio is a theatre piece that turns identity into a journey

Feeling a bit lost in life, but you’re poor, so you can’t go to Bali to find yourself and eat, pray, and love? Great. We’re offering a play that is basically a similar existential crisis… but with better lighting and choreography (sorry, but it’s true).

• Carles Fernández Giua’s latest piece lands in Madrid with a mix of theatre and dance that tries to answer one of those annoying questions we all avoid: what actually gives your life meaning, and why is it so hard to adult figure out?

• The show follows two journeys at the same time. One is physical: an artistic company traveling through China and Tibet. The other is way more personal: Yan Huang, a performer who left China and now, from Europe, is trying to reconnect with a culture she somehow understands better from afar than when she was actually living there. Pretty on brand for us, isn’t it?

• The whole piece plays with that idea — distance giving clarity, identity being something you rebuild rather than inherit, and the strange feeling of not fully belonging anywhere.

• It mixes documentary footage, movement, and poetic storytelling to create something that’s less about plot and more about… vibes (intellectual vibes, don’t worry).

If you’re in the mood to feel something slightly deeper than usual (or just want to say you went to something cultured this weekend), this might be your move.

🖥️ What: Imperio

📍 Where: Centro Cultural Conde Duque, Calle del Conde Duque 11, Madrid

📅 When: April 24–25

🎟 Tickets start at €20

5. 🖼️ Colores y Formas: Abstract art that you can actually take home

Alright, let’s be serious for a sec. If you’ve ever walked into a contemporary art show and thought, “This is too sophisticated for me,” this one might be your entry point.

• Eduardo Chillida Belzunce — son of famous Basque sculptor Eduardo Chillida — is bringing together a group of artists to explore the basics of art: form, color, and space.

• The whole thing is a deep dive into abstraction (textures, structures, and pieces that are less about “what is it?” and more about “what does it do to you?”). There will be works that play with materials, shapes, and visual tension in a way that feels very intentional and very contemporary.

• You’ll find works by Pedro Txillida, María Chillida, Ignacio López, Christian Iglesias, and several guest artists — so it’s more like a collective conversation than a single vision. Different styles, same obsession: how far can you push the language of art before it stops being obvious?

The exhibition also launches Chillida Belzunce Art & Design, a project that takes those abstract ideas and drops them into everyday objects — clothing, lamps, furniture, even skateboards. (Yes, skateboards!)

🖥️ What: Colores y Formas

📍 Where: Calle de Belén, 2, Madrid

📅 When: Through May 18

🎟 Tickets: Free entry

📺 What to watch if you’re staying in this weekend…

🖥️ What: I Always Sometimes (Yo Siempre a Veces) | TV Miniseries | 2026

📍Where to watch: Movistar+

❓What’s it about: A pregnant woman navigates life as a single mom in Barcelona, facing ups and downs and trying to survive adulthood in a system that is clearly not designed to help her.

🤩 Why you should watch: Because it just… feels real and painfully relatable. Produced by Los Javis, it leans into that raw and chaotic style, but this time with a quieter, more grounded approach. It’s not about big plot twists, but about dialogue and awkward silences. If you’ve ever felt like adulthood showed up too fast and underdelivered, this one will hit close to home.

💬 English Subtitles: No.

💃🏻 Places to try this weekend…

🍸 Los Gabrieles: Madrid’s most iconic taberna is finally back, and it’s still the ‘Sistine Chapel of tiles‘

What’s it about: A historic taberna that’s been closed for over 20 years has finally reopened — fully restored and still covered in its iconic hand-painted tiles. Once a hotspot for everyone (from Ava Gardner and, allegedly, King Alfonso XIII to Lorca and Hemingway), Los Gabrieles is basically a mix of cultural landmark, flamenco haunt, and old-school eating house, now updated for 2026.

Why you should go: Because you’ll be stepping into a piece of Madrid history that almost disappeared. The space alone is worth it (it’s literally called “the Sistine Chapel of tiles”), but there’s also a proper bar scene.

Bottom line: Madrid loves a comeback story, and this might be one of its best. Come for the tiles, stay for the food.

Address: Calle de Echegaray, 17, Madrid

🍹 Drinks, tapas, and sunsets: Florida Park is doing the most (and we’re here for it)

What’s it about: Florida Park is basically what happens when El Retiro decides to get a warm-weather glow-up. It’s an urban escape surrounded by trees and sky where Madrid goes to snack, drink, and stay longer than planned.

Why you should go: Because it nails that very specific fantasy for people who live here: an aperitivo that turns into dinner that turns into “one last drink.” Upstairs, the rooftop leans Mediterranean and a bit more refined. Downstairs, La Galería is all about sharing plates and good energy, mixing classic Spanish tapas (croquetas, tortilla) with sushi, poke, and gyozas.

Bottom line: Solid music, well-made cocktails, and a crowd that’s clearly enjoying themselves in El Retiro. What else can you ask for?

Address: P.º de Panamá, 1, El Retiro Park, Madrid

👨🏻‍💻 Viral Memes of the Week

🧑‍🦲 Easier to apply sunscreen

🤑 Spanish millionaires pay (to leave)

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Here Are 5 Things to Do in Madrid This Weekend

It’s Friday again!

The sun is out, terraces are full again, and Madrid is officially in that sweet spot where the city feels alive without being unbearable.

• This weekend, it’s all happening: from futuristic pizza experiments and Japanese-inspired cocktails to highbrow opera at the Teatro Real, thought-provoking festivals at the Reina Sofía, and immersive exhibitions that actually make you think. In other words, no excuses. It’s time to have fun!

Happy weekend!

1. 🌿 Put down your phone and touch grass: Madrid’s Biophest turns nature into an experience

Alright, plant people and reluctant nature lovers, this one’s for you. If your idea of reconnecting with nature is buying one of those sad basil plants at the Lidl checkout, Biophest is here to raise the bar. Matadero is becoming a full-blown ecosystem for a few days this week, blending art, science, and greenery in a way that’s actually… not weird.

• Biophest is back for its second edition, and it’s leaning hard into the idea that maybe (just maybe) we should put down our phones and reconnect with Gaia, Pacha Mama, or whatever the hell the cool kids are calling Mother Nature these days.

• The festival revolves around biophilia (sounds like a scary illness, but it actually means love of nature), bringing together artists, scientists, musicians, and botanists to explore how we coexist with the plant world. There are concerts, talks, and installations that will make you feel guilty for those plants that you found died after coming back from that trip to Cancún.

• There are also film screenings, including cult classics and documentaries about our relationship with plants, plus guided walks around the Manzanares and urban green spaces that might actually make you look at Madrid differently for once.

• The more experimental side kicks in at Nave Una, where things get weird in the best way: installations that imagine feeding plants through images instead of light, chemical “conversations” with vegetation, and even an exhibition about lettuce (yes, lettuce) that quietly exposes how dependent we’ve become on industrial agriculture.

And remember: if plants could kill you, they would. (So be nice to them).

🖥️ What: Biophest Festival

📍 Where: Matadero Madrid, Plaza de Legazpi 8, Madrid

📅 When: Through April 19

🎟 Tickets: Free (but check website to book your spot)

2. 📚 Ready for an intellectual weekend? READ Festival takes over Reina Sofía

Not into plants, but yes into pretending to like books? Great, this one’s for you. READ Madrid is basically what happens when books stop behaving and start picking fights with reality. (A line that makes no sense but sounded nice in our head, so we’re leaving it).

• This two-day festival turns the Reina Sofía Museum into a meeting point for writers, thinkers, and editors who are less interested in neat conclusions and more into tearing things apart (language, politics, memory, identity, you know… what smart people like).

• The whole idea is to rethink how knowledge is produced and who gets to produce it, with a strong transatlantic focus that brings Latin American voices into the mix.

• The themes are not exactly light reading. We’re talking about redefining “the popular” beyond populist clichés, exploring what a “furious peace” might look like in a world shaped by conflict, and using fiction, especially sci-fi and speculative narratives, as a tool to resist collective amnesia.

• But it’s not just panels where people nod seriously. The program mixes conversations, performances, and film: today, you get debates on reclaiming popular culture and the politics of language, followed by a performance that leans into censorship and provocation.

• Tomorrow goes deeper, with discussions on rejecting militarized thinking, collective grief as a literary practice, and a screening of Lucrecia Martel’s Nuestra Tierra, before wrapping with a roundtable on sci-fi as a form of resistance.

So yeah, READ Madrid is not for passive consumption. It’s for people who want to engage, argue, and maybe leave with more questions than answers. If your favorite book is 50 Shades of Grey, maybe skip this one.

🖥️ What: READ Madrid: Festival of Books and Ideas

📍 Where: Museo Reina Sofía, Ronda de Atocha 2, Madrid

📅 When: April 17–18, 2026

🎟 Tickets: Free entry until capacity is reached

3. 🗣️ Opera at its finest: Gerald Finley live at Teatro Real

Dust off your H&M clip-on bowtie, peasants. We’re going to the opera! The Teatro Real is hosting one of those nights where you sit still and feel important.

• Canadian bass-baritone Gerald Finley, one of the most respected voices in opera right now, lands in Madrid for a recital that moves through some of the heavyweights of the repertoire. His résumé is, frankly, ridiculous: Metropolitan Opera, Royal Opera House, Vienna State Opera, Salzburg Festival… plus Grammys and national honors.

• For this event, we’re talking Mozart, Schubert, Mahler, Britten… the kind of lineup that you know is important, even if you’re not a fan of the genre. Finley’s known for his versatility and emotional depth, which is a polite way of saying he can go from controlled precision to quietly devastating in a matter of minutes.

• Oh, and this isn’t just a “greatest hits performance” either. The program pulls from iconic operas like Don Giovanni, Le nozze di Figaro, Otello, and Macbeth, alongside more modern pieces like Doctor Atomic.

Remember, opera is about storytelling, tension, and knowing exactly when to hold back and when to hit you. If lately you’ve been thinking, “I should probably go to more classical concerts,” this is your moment.

🖥️ What: Voces del Real presents: Gerald Finley

📍 Where: Teatro Real, Plaza de Isabel II, s/n, Madrid

📅 When: April 18

🎟 Tickets start at €14

4. 📸 An intimate portrait of Spain across the 20th century

If your idea of Spanish history is limited to paellas and political chaos, then we’re afraid we’ll need you to recalibrate things a bit (don’t worry, this is why we’re here). The Fundación María Cristina Masaveu Peterson is offering a quieter (but sharper) look at Spain through the lens of photography with Gabinete de Obra en Papel (IV).

• Running alongside Colección Masaveu. Arte español del siglo XX, this exhibition brings together a curated selection of photographs spanning nearly a century, from the 1930s to the early 2000s. The lineup mixes generations and styles, from early photography pioneers like Antonio Arissa to contemporary names like Alberto García-Alix, capturing a country constantly in transition.

• What makes it worth your time is the range of perspectives. You’ll see everything from workers in gas stations and artists in their studios to fragmented landscapes and intimate close-ups that feel almost tactile.

• Some images hit harder than others, like Ramón Masats’ Seminario de Madrid, which somehow captures religion, football, and urban change in a single frame.

There’s also something quietly powerful about how these photos document the everyday moments that might seem insignificant but end up telling the bigger story of a country evolving through decades of tension, growth, and identity shifts.

🖥️ What: Gabinete de Obra en Papel (IV)

📍 Where: Fundación María Cristina Masaveu Peterson, Calle de Alcalá Galiano, 6, Madrid

📅 When: Through July 19

🎟 Tickets: Check website

5. 🎭 A view from the bridge: Arthur Miller’s darkest drama, updated for a new era

If the four options we presented before are not appealing enough for you, then how about some light (and by “light” we mean intense) drama from Arthur Miller? The Fernán Gómez Centro Cultural de la Villa is staging a modern take on one of his famous plays, A view from the bridge, which leans into obsession, migration, and the kind of emotional chaos that never really goes out of style.

• Directed by Javier Molina (from the Actor’s Studio in New York), this updated version by Eduardo Galán relocates Miller’s classic tensions into a more contemporary context.

• The story still centers on Eddie Carbone (a dockworker spiraling into jealousy and repression over his feelings for his niece), but now framed against today’s migration realities, drawing a clear line between 1950s New York and present-day Madrid.

• The cast, led by José Luis García-Pérez, María Adánez, and Ana Garcés, carries a story that moves from uncomfortable family dynamics to (spoiler alert!) full-blown tragedy.

• What starts as tension over love and belonging quickly escalates into betrayal, as Eddie’s obsession pushes him to report an undocumented immigrant, triggering a chain reaction that doesn’t end well for anyone involved.

This isn’t just a revival for theatre purists. The production leans into the universality of Miller’s themes (desire, identity, masculinity, and the fragile line between loyalty and destruction) while making them feel very current. Immigration isn’t background noise here; it’s the engine driving everything.

Very current, considering the times we’re living in. Also, it’s in Spanish (we figured you already knew, but just in case…).

🖥️ What: Arthur Miller’s A view from the bridge

📍 Where: Fernán Gómez Centro Cultural de la Villa, Plaza de Colón 4, Madrid

📅 When: Through May 17

🎟 Tickets start at €22

📺 What to watch if you’re staying in this weekend…

🖥️ What: Reversión (Reversal) | Movie | 2025

📍Where to watch: HBO Max

❓What’s it about: Mario sees his brother David being kidnapped. When David returns 19 days later with no memory, Mario suspects the returnee isn't really his brother. His investigation challenges his grip on reality.

🤩 Why you should watch: Because it’s good for those who are into smart, twist-heavy thrillers that mess with your head. Jaime Lorente carries the film as a man pulled into a spiraling mystery where nothing (and no one) is what it seems. Built like a set of Russian dolls, the story keeps unfolding layer after layer, with sharp visuals and a constant sense of unease driving you toward a surprising reveal.

💬 English Subtitles: Yes

💃🏻 Places to try this weekend…

🍕 Pazzi: Where robots make pizza, and people line up to watch

What’s it about: PAZZI is Madrid’s first “pazziria”, a retro-futuristic takeaway pizza spot where robots make your pizza in full view, blending Italian tradition with high-tech precision.

Why you should go: Because it’s not just pizza, it’s a show. You get fresh dough, proper Italian ingredients, and a robot assembling and baking your pizza in about five minutes right in front of you. It’s fast, weirdly satisfying, and genuinely different from your usual slice.

Bottom line: A novelty that actually delivers. Go for the robot spectacle, stay because the pizza holds up.

Address: Calle de Gaztambide, 14, Madrid

🇯🇵 For a different kind of night out: Masaru in Justicia

What’s it about: Masaru is a small, Japanese-inspired cocktail bar in Madrid’s Justicia neighborhood, focused on refined mixology, especially around Japanese whisky.

Why you should go: Because it nails the details. The cocktails are thoughtful and balanced, the lighting is low, the music comes from vinyl, and the whole place feels like a quiet escape from the city. Perfect for a date or a slow drink where you actually talk.

Bottom line: Not for loud nights—this is where you go when you want something intimate, elegant, and a bit different.

Address: Calle Santo Tomé 7, Madrid

👨🏻‍💻 Viral Memes of the Week

🧑‍🦯 We've all thought about it

😎 Bill Murray does the Prado

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Here Are 5 Things to Do in Madrid This Weekend

It’s Friday again!

Holy Week is over, Madrid is back, and the weather is… doing its usual thing. We’re starting the weekend warm enough to justify a rooftop plan, only to cool down just in time to remind you that spring here is basically a trust exercise.

At least there’s tons of stuff to do: Stylish voyeurism, ancient empires, vintage impulse buys, or something more existential. The only real question is how many of them you can realistically fit in before Monday shows up again.

Happy weekend!

1.⚜️ Casa Decor is your excuse to (legally, of course) snoop around a Madrid palace

Alright, heathens. Holy Week is over. Time to go back to our usual Friday-to-Sunday habits — which, in this case, involve a bit of stylish voyeurism.

• If you’ve ever walked past one of those grand Madrid buildings and thought what does it actually look like inside?, this is your moment. Casa Decor is back, and this year it’s taken over a full-on 19th-century palace in the Barrio de las Letras—arguably one of the most Madrid locations it could have picked.

For six weeks, designers, architects, brands, and artists basically move in and transform the entire building into a series of wildly different spaces. You can find maximalist living rooms next to futuristic kitchens, next to bathrooms that look like a Stanley Kubrick movie or a five-star spa you can’t afford.

• Imagine a design playground where you can wander room to room, judging everything in front of your friends so they think you’re an interiors expert.

The building itself is part of the appeal. Located on Calle San Agustín, it was originally a noble residence from the late 1800s, later turned into a convent, and still packed with original details — marble floors, stained glass, and dramatic staircases à la Death Becomes Her, a really old but really good movie.

• In a couple of years, it’ll become a luxury hotel (ugh, we know), so this is basically your chance to see it before it turns into somewhere you’ll enter once, look at the €20 cocktails, and then say, “let’s just get a beer in Plaza Chueca”.

But yeah, it’s a big place. We’re talking dozens of spaces, hundreds of participants, and tens of thousands of Casa Decor visitors every year. Even if you’re not particularly into design, it’s one of those rare events that’s worth a visit

🖥️ What: Casa Decor 2026

📍 Where: Calle San Agustín 11, Madrid

📅 When: Through May 24

🎟 Tickets: Check website

2. 🦁 Before empires fell, they looked like this: Ashurbanipal at CaixaForum

If your idea of a cultural plan involves something slightly older than a Madrid palace, you’re in luck! The I am Ashurbanipal exhibition has landed at CaixaForum, and it’s basically a deep dive into one of the most powerful figures of the ancient world (someone, who, let’s face it, you have no idea who he was).

• Who? Ashurbanipal was the last great king of Assyria, ruling around 2,700 years ago, and not exactly known for being chill. He built one of the most formidable empires of his time through military force, but he was also unusually intellectual for a ruler (he assembled what is considered one of the first great libraries in history). So yes, muscle and brain.

• Now, while “I am Ashurbanipal” sounds like something he’d say after you accidentally resurrected him and he’s about to suck the soul out of your body, this exhibit is so much more than that, as it brings together over 150 objects from the British Museum, including reliefs, sculptures, and intricate luxury items that show both the grandeur (and brutality) of his reign.

Oh, and there’s also a more modern angle running through it. The exhibition quietly raises questions about cultural heritage, conflict, and what it means to preserve history in unstable regions. In other words, it’s not just about an ancient empire. Enjoy! (Just don’t read from The Book of the Dead while visiting).

🖥️ What: I am Ashurbanipal exhibition

📍 Where: CaixaForum Madrid, Paseo del Prado 36, Madrid

📅 When: Through October 4

🎟 Tickets start at €6

3.🏺 ANTIK is where your ‘I’m just browsing’ budget goes to die

If you’ve ever said “I’m just going to browse” and then walked out with something you absolutely didn’t need but now can’t live without (like, say, the Book of the Dead), this is your natural habitat.

ANTIK Almoneda Spring Edition 2026 is back, and it’s basically a playground for anyone with a weakness for objects with a past.

• There’s furniture, art, jewelry, clothes, and all kinds of beautifully unnecessary things (everything at least 50 years old), which automatically makes it either “timeless” or “vintage” depending on how much you paid for it.

• The fair brings together dozens of antique dealers, galleries, and collectors, which means you can go from admiring a mid-century chair to seriously considering whether you need a (probably haunted) 19th-century mirror in about five minutes.

• And no, this is not just for hardcore collectors. Every year, more people show up just to wander, get inspired, and maybe pick up something small that makes their apartment feel marginally more sophisticated. Or at least more interesting.

Last year’s numbers were strong, and this edition looks set to be the same, so expect crowds, temptation, and at least one internal debate about whether something is a great find or a terrible financial decision.

🖥️ What: ANTIK Almoneda Spring Edition 2026

📍 Where: IFEMA, Avenida del Partenón 5, Madrid

📅 When: April 11 – 19

🎟 Tickets start at €11 (online). €13 at the door.

4.👹 Goblin Party: A night market full of mischief, music, and controlled chaos

Feel like you need an exorcism after so many torrijas and Easter eggs last week? Then here’s something that fixes that quickly: Goblin Party performance lands in Madrid for three nights, bringing a mix of dance, theatre, and live Korean music that feels somewhere between a drug fever dream and a very curated cultural experience.

• The premise is simple but weird (in a good way). You’re dropped into a mystical goblin market that only appears at night, where everyday objects turn into something more valuable: memories, emotions, dreams, all up for exchange.

• On stage, that translates into a mix of movement, storytelling, and live sound, with traditional Korean instruments giving the whole thing a rhythm that feels unfamiliar but oddly hypnotic. (The company behind it, Goblin Party, is known for its playful, collaborative style).

There’s no single artistic director here; everyone performs, everyone creates, and you can feel that energy throughout. The result is something immersive and very different from your standard theatre night. (Ed. Note: there are strobe lights, so maybe don’t go in expecting a calm, meditative evening).

🖥️ What: Goblin Party

📍 Where: Teatros del Canal (Sala Negra), Calle de Cea Bermúdez 1, Madrid

📅 When: April 10–12

🎟 Tickets start at €20

5. 🎭 The Silence: Not exactly a light night at the theatre

If you’re in the mood for something easy and uplifting, this is not that. The Silence by Falk Richter is intense, personal, and very much designed to sit with you long after you leave the room. Oh, and the play is in German (with Spanish subtitles). So if you don’t feel comfortable with Spanish yet, we suggest you skip this one.

• The piece is an autofiction by German playwright Falk Richter, who turns the spotlight on his own family history. At its core is a conversation that never happened (with a father who died before reconciliation) and a difficult, ongoing dialogue with his mother.

• What unfolds is a layered exploration of buried trauma, post-war memory, family secrets, and the long shadow of silence, including the repression of Richter’s identity growing up.

• But this isn’t just a straight autobiographical confession. The play constantly blurs the line between truth and fiction, questioning memory itself and opening the door to alternative versions of the past (and maybe even different ways of living in the future).

It’s heavy, yes, but also sharp, reflective, and quietly hopeful in the questions it dares to ask.

🖥️ What: The Silence by Falk Richter

📍 Where: Teatro Valle-Inclán (Sala Grande), Plaza de Ana Diosdado, s/n, Madrid

📅 When: April 10–12

🎟 Tickets start at €18

📺 What to watch if you’re staying in this weekend…

🖥️ What: The Predator of Seville (El Depredador de Sevilla) | 3-part documentary | 2026

📍Where to watch: Netflix

❓What’s it about: One woman's quest for justice against a tour guide in Spain sparks a surge of similar claims from many U.S. students over the years.

🤩 Why you should watch: Because this true crime doc is a gripping story that goes beyond the crime itself, exposing how years of silence, guilt, and systemic failures allowed a predator to operate in plain sight.

💬 English Subtitles: Yes

💃🏻 Places to try this weekend…

🍷 No photos, no beer, no nonsense: welcome to La Venencia

What’s it about: A nearly century-old tavern in the heart of Madrid that feels frozen in time, serving exclusively sherry wines straight from the barrel.

Why you should go: La Venencia is the anti-modern bar: no beer, no photos, no tips. Orders are chalked onto the wooden bar, the decor hasn’t changed in decades, and the whole place hums with old-school Madrid energy. You come for the fino or manzanilla, stay for the atmosphere—and maybe some mojama or cecina on the side.

Bottom line: It’s not for everyone, but if you want something authentically Madrid (and a little stubborn about it), this is as real as it gets.

Address: Calle de Echegaray, 7, Madrid

🍽️ Nubel: Brunch, cocktails, and contemporary art—pick your excuse

What’s it about: A design-forward restaurant inside the Museo Reina Sofía, where food, art, music, and architecture all blur into one experience.

Why you should go: Nubel is a full sensory setup. Vibrant interiors, a constantly shifting vibe (brunch, cocktails, live music), and a terrace overlooking Roy Lichtenstein’s Brushstroke.

Bottom line: Come for brunch, stay for the atmosphere, and leave feeling like you’ve done something slightly more cultured than usual.

Address: Museo Reina Sofía, Calle de Santa Isabel, 52, Madrid

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Here Are 5 Things to Do in Madrid This Weekend

Wait, what? Did we skip an issue? Is today Friday? Have you been subjected to an unscheduled time jump?

None of the above! You see, it’s the Semana Santa holiday, so we’ve combined the Thursday news edition with the Friday what-to-do one because, let’s be honest, pretty much everyone in Spain has checked out (yes, even our God-fearing politicians).

Still, because we love you, we’ve made a quick summary of some of the things that happened in Spain this week, and that pretty much no one cared about (at least until next week).

• When Spain closed its airspace to American flights involved in its war in Iran, we got all sorts of excited and thought we should write the full newsletter because THE WORLD WAS ABOUT TO END. But with coverage outside of Spain being, like, a 243-word article in Bloomberg and a veiled threat from a U.S. Congressman we’d never heard of that Spain could lose Ceuta and Melilla (a la “Those are nice territories you have there. It would be a shame if something happened to them.“), we figured maybe we were overdoing it. Marco Rubio also complained about Spain “bragging” about cutting off its airspace, but everyone was already on their way to Granada or the Canary Islands for the week, so no one cared.

• And then there was the hat. Pedro Sánchez went mountain biking after filming himself with a “Make Science Great Again” hat trolling the Orange Menace, so we suppose he wasn’t too worried about Ceuta (or Melilla).

• But Rosalía! Rosi is back on tour for eight nights in Madrid, and everyone says it’s amaze-balls. El País saw the show on “Holy Monday, which we experienced in glory“; El Confidential spoke of “tears and euphoria”; El Español said Rosi “conquered” Madrid with her “thousand faces: from mysticism to rave, from opera to saeta.”; and Telva noted her artistic shoutouts, from the Mona Lisa to Goya’s Black Paintings to Madonna’s pointy bras. (Editor’s note: Adrian saw her yesterday and was blown away by her; Ian saw the Motomami tour in 2022 and blessed it as very, very good.)

• Spanish home prices are up 14.3% in ONE YEAR. Not much else to say about that except, jeez.

• And not only did former Public Works Minister José Luis Ábalos meet one of his girlfriends, Jésica Rodríguez, in the Atocha apartment that was rented for “a party with ladies” in 2018, but she also filmed a video to celebrate his 60th birthday the next year in that very apartment. “It was here,” she said. Really, nothing more to say about that.

More news next week. For now, let’s get onto the fun, what-to-do stuff below. Enjoy the long weekend, and we’ll see you on the heretical side.

1. ⛪️ Madrid goes even more Catholic for Holy Week weekend (Part 2)

Wherever we say Jesuspalooza: Part 2 - Jesus Lives, we can’t help but think of this Friday the 13th movie poster. It’s disrespectful, so let’s move on.

Thought it was over? Think again! Last week was just a preview; this long weekend is the main feature. There are more processions, more saetas, and a now-classic giant tamborrada (see video above) on Sunday at the Plaza Mayor that we recommend you don’t miss.

The official Semana Santa program we shared last week is still good (you can download it here), so here’s a quick guide to what you can do this weekend if you want to cosplay devoteness:

Paschal Triduum. For those of you non-Latin speakers who think this is some sort of Belgian tooth paste, let us remind you that the Triduo Pascual is the period that starts with the liturgy on the evening of Maundy Thursday (aka tonight), reaches its high point in the Easter Vigil (aka Saturday night), and closes with evening prayer on Easter Sunday (aka Sunday night). Yeah, that’s pretty much the whole weekend.

Processions: Yes, they are still happening. And yes, the guys who look like the KKK are still stalking the streets of Madrid, so tread carefully. (

Remember to check the official program to see their routes and start times.

Maundy Thursday (today):

• El Divino Cautivo

• Nuestro Padre Jesús del Gran Poder y María Santísima de la Esperanza Macarena

• Nuestro Padre Jesús Nazareno “El Pobre” y María Santísima del Dulce Nombre en su Soledad

• Jesús Nazareno y Santísima Virgen de la Soledad (Villaverde)

Good Friday:

• Santo Entierro y Santísima Virgen de la Soledad (Villaverde Alto)

• El Divino Cautivo (leaves from the Almudena Cathedral)

• Jesús Nazareno de Medinaceli

• Santísimo Cristo de los Alabarderos

• María Santísima de los Siete Dolores

• Santo Entierro (Parroquia de Santa Cruz)

• Procesión del Silencio (Carabanchel)

• Stations of the Cross at Retiro Park (not a procession but still cool)

Holy Saturday:

• Procesión de la Soledad y Desamparo

Saetas: People are still singing these Andalusian religious songs from the balconies, and yes, you can go see them.

Maundy Thursday:

• 6:30 PM — Ismael de la Rosa, Casa de la Villa (Plaza de la Villa)

• 9:15 PM — Saray Muñoz, Hotel Moderno (Calle del Arenal 2)

• 9:30 PM — Ismael de la Rosa, Real Casa de Correos (Puerta del Sol)

Good Friday:

• 9:00 PM — José Fernando Caballo, Casa de la Villa (Plaza de la Villa)

• 9:15 PM — Fernando Caballo, Casa de la Villa (Plaza de la Villa)

• 9:50 PM — José “El Berenjeno”, Consejería de Medio Ambiente (Calle Alcalá, 16)

• 10:15 PM — Lucía Beltrán, Real Casa de Correos (Puerta del Sol)

Holy Saturday:

• 6:30 PM — Lucía Beltrán, Casa de la Villa (Plaza de la Villa)

Tamborrada: This show is how Madrid closes Semana Santa, but instead of silence and slow processions, it ends with noise. Lots of it.

• Organized by the Real e Ilustre Congregación de Nuestra Señora de la Soledad y Desamparo, and performed by the Cofradía de la Exaltación de la Santa Cruz de Zaragoza, it takes place on Easter Sunday and basically flips the mood of the entire week.

• After days of solemnity, mourning, and heavy symbolism, the city suddenly fills with drums, loud, rhythmic, impossible to ignore. It’s less about reflection and more about release.

• The drummers parade through the city in a kind of controlled chaos, turning the Plaza Mayor into a full-on soundscape. It’s a moment that’s less about watching and more about feeling the city vibrate.

Ruta Dulces Pasiones de Semana Santa: The Ruta Dulces Pasiones 2026 food route turns the city into a full-blown tribute to the torrija, with bakeries, pastry shops, and restaurants offering everything from the classic version (milk-soaked, fried, and drenched in sugar or honey) to more experimental takes. Click on that link for a list of all participating bakeries and cafes in Madrid.

• If you’re wondering what to eat besides torrijas to follow tradition, make sure you try Soldaditos de Pavia (an Andalusian tapa that’s fried cod wrapped in a slice of roasted red pepper), potaje de vigilia (a stew made with chickpeas, spinach, and cod, cooked slowly), and (of course), chocolate Easter eggs.

Have a blessed weekend!

2. 📷 Before Instagram, there was Oriol Maspons, and Madrid is bringing him back

This one is for people who like culture and photography (so, hopefully, you?).

At the Real Academia de Bellas Artes de San Fernando, Madrid is hosting a retrospective of Oriol Maspons, one of the photographers who basically helped Spain figure out how to look at itself in the second half of the 20th century (aka the Franco era), in a sharp, ironic, very human one.

• Maspons moved effortlessly between worlds: fashion, street photography, portraiture, and editorial work. One day he was capturing everyday life, the next he’s shooting for major magazines, and somehow it all feels part of the same visual language. His style is direct, sometimes playful, sometimes brutally honest, but always intentional.

• This is also not your typical “walk around quietly and pretend you understand everything” exhibition. His work is accessible, and you don’t need a degree in photography to get it. You just need eyes—and maybe a bit of curiosity about how Spain changed, culturally and socially, during those decades.

This is basically a masterclass in visual storytelling

🖥️ What: Oriol Maspons Photo Exhibit

📍 Where: Real Academia de Bellas Artes de San Fernando, Calle de Alcalá 13, Madrid

📅 When: Through June 14

🎟 Tickets start at €10

3. 👾 There’s a Stranger Things reunion happening this weekend in Madrid, and yes, you can meet the cast

If Semana Santa isn’t exactly your thing (or you’d rather swap incense for the Upside Down), we have options.

• Stranger Fan Meet lands at IFEMA this weekend, bringing a solid chunk of the Stranger Things cast to the city. We’re talking Noah Schnapp (Will), Caleb McLaughlin (Lucas), Dacre Montgomery (Billy), Cara Buono (Karen Wheeler), and more, all in one place, ready to meet fans who are still not over the fact that the finale sucked show is actually over.

• The whole thing is exactly what you think it is: Q&As, autographs, photos with the actors, and a lot of people who know way too much about Hawkins. You can lean into it as much as you want (from casual curiosity to full fan mode), and yes, there will absolutely be people dressed like Eleven.

It’s chaotic, a bit intense, and very fan-driven, but that’s also the point. If you grew up with the show (or binged it in one weekend like a normal person), this is basically your chance to step inside that universe, minus the demogorgons.

🖥️ What: Stranger Fan Meet 9 – The Tour

📍 Where: IFEMA Madrid (Hall 5), Avenida del Partenón 5, Madrid

📅 When: April 4–5

🎟 Tickets start at €69

4. 🎭 Bergman, but make it local: a quietly brutal theatre experience at Teatro Español

If your idea of a good night out involves zero small talk and a mild existential crisis, this one’s for you. The Teatro Español is staging a Bergman adaptation directed by Ernesto Caballero, which already tells you the vibe: intense, intimate, and not exactly light entertainment.

• The play unfolds in an empty theatre, where a veteran director starts reflecting on his life, his work, and, inevitably, the messy overlap between the two. Then a young actress walks in, and what starts as a casual conversation slowly turns into something much sharper.

• What follows is less “plot” and more emotional excavation. Old relationships resurface, including a complicated connection with a former actress who links both characters in ways that are… not simple. There’s tension, resentment, admiration, and that very Bergman-esque obsession with how art and life blur into each other until you can’t really separate them anymore.

It’s the kind of play where not much happens, but everything matters. If you’re into theatre that leans psychological, uncomfortable, and very human, this will land. If you’re looking for something easy… maybe stick to Stranger Things.

🖥️ What: Ingmar Bergman’s After the Rehearsal

📍 Where: Teatro Español (Sala Margarita Xirgu), Calle del Príncipe 25, Madrid

📅 When: April 4 – May 17

🎟 Tickets start at €18

5. 👗 Corsets, drama, and designers: what happens when Balenciaga meets the 19th century

Yes, Fashion Week may be over, but if you’re still interested in the subject matter, here’s a chance to time-travel to the 19th century and lean into some different outfits.

• The Museo del Romanticismo is hosting an exhibition that reimagines romantic-era fashion through the lens of modern designers like Balenciaga, Pertegaz, and Pedro Rodríguez.

• There are dramatic silhouettes, historical references, and a lot of fabric, all curated by people who know how to make it look good in 2026.

• The interesting part is how it’s set up: these pieces don’t just sit there looking pretty; they’re placed in dialogue with the museum’s permanent collection, which makes the whole thing feel less like a fashion exhibit and more like a conversation across centuries.

• You also get original sketches and designs from Pedro Rodríguez, which adds a nice behind-the-scenes layer to all the glamour.

And if you’re the kind of person who likes a bit of context (or just wants to sound smart later), there are guided visits, workshops, and talks to go with it.

🖥️ What: Ecos de la moda romántica Exhibit

📍 Where: Museo del Romanticismo, Calle de San Mateo 13, Madrid

📅 When: Through June 7

🎟 Tickets start at €3

📺 What to watch if you’re staying in this weekend…

🖥️ What: If it’s Tuesday, it’s Murder (Si es martes, es asesinato) | TV Show | 2026

📍Where to watch: Disney+

❓What’s it about: A group of Spanish tourists on an organized trip to Lisbon find themselves investigating a murder after one of them is killed on the first morning. As they try to find the killer among the group, they also visit some of the most beautiful Lisbon sites.

🤩 Why you should watch: Because it’s Knives Out meets Only Murders in the Building. It takes the classic whodunit formula and gives it a playful twist, mixing humor, satire, and mystery in a way that feels fresh and different from the traditional crime drama. It’s self-aware, the characters are exaggerated, and the mystery is engaging enough to keep you guessing without demanding too much from you. Also, Lisbon!

💬 English Subtitles: Yes

💃🏻 Places to try this weekend…

☕️ Café Gijón is back, just not exactly as you remember it

What’s it about: The legendary Café Gijón is back (after being closed for five months), but under new ownership and with a very different vibe. The historic literary café (it opened in 1888) now leans toward a more polished, international concept, complete with a revamped menu and a subtle (or not so subtle) introduction of U.S.-style suggested tipping.

Why you should go: Because it’s still Café Gijón (or at least it looks like it). The classic interiors are intact, the history is very much there, and it remains one of those places you go for the atmosphere as much as the coffee.

Bottom line: A cultural institution going through a bit of an identity crisis. Worth visiting once, if only to decide how you feel about it.

Address: Paseo de Recoletos 21, Madrid

💿 Fenómeno is a new bar where you actually listen to the music

What’s it about: A hi-fi listening bar where music isn’t background noise; it’s the main event. Inspired by Japanese jazz kissas, Fenómeno is built around vinyl, carefully curated DJ sets, and a custom sound system designed to make you actually hear every detail.

Why you should go: Because here, the vibe is the music. Funk and disco from the 80s and 90s played on vinyl, a sound system with 20 handcrafted speakers, and a crowd that’s there to listen, not shout over it.

Bottom line: A stylish, slightly obsessive temple for music lovers, come for the sound, stay for everything else.

Address: Calle de Recoletos 13, Madrid.

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🎉 Happy Semana Santa!

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Here Are 5 Things to Do in Madrid This Weekend

It’s Friday again!

And this is one of those weekends. First, many people you know are probably leaving the city (many of them are going back to their hometowns). Semana Santa is a big thing here, and everyone loves to take off.

• Fortunately, those of us staying still have a lot of options. Are you into religious experiences? Then the processions are for you.

• Not happy with the current state of the world and the slow decline of our democracies? Then you’ll probably be joining the No Tyrants protest this Saturday at the Puerta del Sol.

• Just want to decompress at home, watch Netflix, and eat torrijas? We got you covered, too.

Semana Santa is that magical time of year when Madrid collectively slows down, reflects on its life choices, and briefly considers atoning for their sins.

• For a few days, we trade chaos for incense, late nights for processions, and questionable decisions for going to Church.

• We eat torrijas, fish and chocolate eggs, and then eventually come to the realization that no, we don’t need to atone. Hell of a week, though.

Happy weekend!

1. ⛪️ Madrid goes full Catholic for Holy Week weekend (Part 1)

Put on your Sunday clothes, heretics! Holy Week (aka Jesuspalooza) is back, which means that for a few days, Spain, a deeply Catholic country, becomes a humble nation devoted to humanity’s one true religion: consumerism.

It’s important to remember the premise of Semana Santa is actually false advertising (festivities take more than one week), but don’t let that get in the way.

• From March 27 to April 5, Spain’s streets fill with incense, drums echo through historic districts, and at any given moment, you might even turn a corner and run into those guys who you think look like the KKK but are totally not the KKK (seriously, we’re tired of explaining it).

• On today’s edition, we recommend what’s happening this weekend (Part 1), while next week we’ll tell you how to celebrate that He is risen by eating chocolate eggs.

Jesuspalooza, Part 1. Alright, let’s get down to business. Things properly kick off with stuff happening throughout the afternoon and well into the night, where you may get to see some of the most striking processions take over central Madrid.

• The brotherhoods, dressed in robes and those unmistakable pointed hoods 👀, will be carrying enormous pasos (ornate religious sculptures that look like they belong in a museum but are instead moving slowly through the streets for hours).

• The atmosphere is serious, almost heavy (so be respectful), until suddenly it isn’t: out of nowhere, someone leans out from a balcony and sings a saeta, a raw flamenco-style lament directed at the procession below.

Saturday is when you start to understand what’s really going on. Yes, there are still processions (and plenty of them), but this is also the day to explore the quieter layers of Semana Santa.

• Churches and cultural spaces open exhibitions of religious art, sculptures, and historical pieces that explain the visuals you’ve been watching in the streets. It adds context and makes the whole thing feel less random and more like a centuries-old performance that Madrid is still very committed to.

• And then there’s the food, which deserves its own moment. This is peak season for the Ruta de los Dulces de Pasión, a city-wide excuse to eat your way through torrijas (Spain’s answer to French toast), pestiños dripping in honey, bartolillos filled with cream, and basically anything fried and covered in sugar. Wrong week to start your diet. Deal with it; resistance is futile.

By Sunday, the mood softens a bit. The processions are still happening, but the city feels more social. People move around more, hopping between neighborhoods. It’s the best day to go with the flow.

• Madrid’s Official Holy Week Program (March 27 to April 5)

Processions: Over the weekend, some of the city’s most important processions pass through the Puerta del Sol. We’re talking about some serious heavyweights: the Cristo de Medinaceli, one of the most venerated figures in the city; the Cristo de la Fe y del Perdón by Luis Salvador Carmona; the Divino Cautivo by Mariano Benlliure; or the Virgen de la Soledad y Desamparo, a masterpiece by Juan Pascual de Mena.

• If you want the “front row” version of all this, the city has you covered. A 600-seat viewing area is set up right in front of the Real Casa de Correos, turning Sol into something like a ceremonial theater. It’s free, first come, first served. The main event on Sunday; La Borriquita leaving from Almudena Cathedral, the Procesión del Silencio, and later the Cristo de la Fe y la Salud and Los Estudiantes, one of the most anticipated processions of the weekend. You can check it all out in the program above.

Saetas: A saeta is an Andalusian religious song that people sing from the balconies (when you least expect it). Fortunately for you, some of them are scheduled for this Palm Sunday, so you can go see (and listen) to them for free.

From the balcony of the Casa de la Villa (Plaza de la Villa, s/n, near the Ópera / Sol metro stations):

• Saeta during the Borriquita procession. Around 4:30 p.m.

• Saeta during the Silencio procession. Around 5:30 p.m.

• Saeta during the Los Estudiantes procession. Around 6 p.m.

Organ music at the San Ginés Church: If you’re into the more safe classic stuff, head over to the San Ginés Church (Calle del Arenal 13) tonight for some live organ music.

• March 27, at 6:30 p.m. (doors open at 6 p.m.). Saskia Roures, organ professor at the Higher Conservatory of Music of Castilla y León, will play works by Johann Sebastian Bach, César Franck, Elfrida Andrée, and Michael Radulescu

Ruta Dulces Pasiones de Semana Santa: The Ruta Dulces Pasiones 2026 food route turns the city into a full-blown tribute to the torrija, with bakeries, pastry shops, and restaurants offering everything from the classic version (milk-soaked, fried, and drenched in sugar or honey) to more experimental takes. Click on that link for a list of all participating bakeries and cafes in Madrid.

• If you’re wondering what to eat besides torrijas to follow tradition, make sure you try Soldaditos de Pavia (an Andalusian tapa that’s fried cod wrapped in a slice of roasted red pepper), potaje de vigilia (a stew made with chickpeas, spinach, and cod, cooked slowly), and (of course), chocolate Easter eggs.

Semana Santa Craft Fair: The Feria de Artesanía de Semana Santa is back for its fourth edition and is taking over Paseo de Recoletos all the way up to Cibeles through April 12.

• It’s the biggest showcase of local craftsmanship in Madrid, bringing together artisans from the city and across Spain to display and sell the result of months of work. There are ceramics, jewelry, textiles, glass, and leather.

That’s all for now. We’ll be back next week with the sequel, Jesuspalooza, Part 2: Jesus Lives!

2.🎈 Madrid gets a giant, inflatable reality check with Balloon Museum’s Euphoria

This has nothing to do with Zendaya’s HBO hit drama, despite its misleading name. However, if the whole Semana Santa thing feels a bit too solemn, this city has a backup plan for you: giant inflatable art.

• Balloon Museum lands in the city with Euphoria – Art is in the Air, an exhibition that turns air into the main character and invites you to literally walk inside the artwork.

• The show features 14 large-scale installations by big-name contemporary artists like Philippe Parreno, Martin Creed, and Rafael Lozano-Hemmer.

• Remember that time you tried to touch one of the Goyas at the Prado, and you were almost arrested? Well, that’s not happening here. Because here, the whole point is interaction.

• You move through it, play with it, and become part of it. The concept leans into something almost childlike (if you’ve always complained about the fact that only insufferable children seem to be allowed to enjoy inflatables, this is for you), but pushes it into something more conceptual: how we experience space, emotion, and art itself.

• Bullshit, of course. You just want to play in there like a child.

But we digress. The project has already pulled in more than 7 million visitors in New York, London, and Paris, which tells you everything you need to know about its appeal.

🖥️ What: Euphoria: Art is in the Air (Balloon Museum immersive exhibition)

📍 Where: Paseo del Embarcadero, Recinto Ferial de la Casa de Campo, Madrid

📅 When: March 28 to Sept. 6

🎟 Tickets start at €15

3. 🔥 Jugar con Fuego: A 19th-century zarzuela gets reimagined as a contemporary football (aka soccer) drama

This city loves to take something deeply traditional and give it just enough of a twist to make you look twice. In this case, with one of the defining works of Spanish zarzuela.

• Before you ask, a zarzuela is a Spanish lyric-dramatic genre that incorporates elements of opera, but makes it a bit more flexible, more local, and usually more fun.

• Jugar con fuego (Playing with Fire) is a three-act show that is a landmark in the history of zarzuelas. It originally premiered in 1851 with a libretto by Ventura de la Vega and music by Francisco Asenjo Barbieri, and it was such a hit that it became the most performed title in Spain for years.

• However, in this new version directed by Marina Bollaín, don’t expect a classic period-piece revival. While at its core, it’s a comedy of entanglements and chaos, Bollaín’s version relocates it somewhere unexpected: a football stadium.

• The action unfolds in VIP boxes, corridors, and shared spaces where the city’s elite brush up against hooligans, fans, and other weirdos.

It’s a clever shift that makes the story feel surprisingly current. It deals with power dynamics, class divides, and social performance, all playing out in a setting that Madrid understands very well.

🖥️ What: Jugar con fuego (zarzuela in three acts, directed by Marina Bollaín)

📍 Where: Teatro de la Zarzuela, Calle de Jovellanos 4, Madrid

📅 When: Through April 12

🎟 Tickets start at €5

4. 🎨 Madrid reclaims a forgotten pioneer with Menchu Gal retrospective

Let’s all take a moment to look back, properly this time, at someone who probably deserved more attention all along: Menchu Gal. (If you thought we were talking about Lindsay Lohan, yes, we get it. But this isn’t about her. Sorry.)

• Espacio Cultural Serrería Belga is hosting a retrospective of one of Spain’s most quietly groundbreaking painters and, notably, the first woman to win the National Painting Prize back in 1959.

• If Menchu’s name doesn’t immediately ring a bell, that’s kind of the point. This exhibition feels like a long-overdue correction. She spent more than 50 years living and working in Madrid and was part of the influential Escuela de Vallecas, yet she never quite made it into the mainstream narrative in the way many of her male contemporaries did.

• This exhibit walks you through her artistic evolution across landscapes, portraits, still lifes, and interiors, and what ties it all together is a very distinctive voice. In her portraits, many of them of women, she’s not interested in just capturing appearances; there’s a clear attempt to get at something more essential, something psychological.

You can feel the independence in her work, shaped by the turbulence of the 20th century and by an artist who wasn’t particularly interested in fitting into neat categories.

It’s the kind of exhibition that makes you wonder how someone so present in Madrid for decades managed to stay under the radar and why that’s starting to change now.

🖥️ What: Menchu Gal: Imágenes de una vida

📍 Where: Espacio Cultural Serrería Belga, Calle de la Alameda 15, Madrid

📅 When: Through June 28

🎟 Tickets: Free admission

5.♠️ El banquete quemado serves a burnt feast that says more about us than we’d like

If Semana Santa is all about tradition and sugar, this one goes in the opposite direction: same food, different mood.

At Infinito Delicias, artist Rosalía Banet presents El banquete quemado (or the burned feast, also known as El gran banquete), an installation that reimagines a Roman-style feast as something much darker.

• Picture a long table filled with desserts (cakes, sweets, celebratory foods) but completely burned, stripped of color, reduced to blacks and greys. And yet, somehow, still oddly appealing.

• That tension is the point. The piece plays with our relationship to food, excess, and consumption, turning what should feel indulgent into something closer to a funeral ritual.

• These are the kinds of foods you associate with celebrations, but here they hint at an ending instead, a system pushed too far, a society running on overconsumption and slowly burning out.

There’s a recurring idea in Banet’s work that what we’re living through is a kind of exhaustion: systems that no longer quite work, identities in flux, and a growing need to rethink how we relate to each other and to the world around us.

It sounds heavy, and it is. But the visual impact of the installation does a lot of the work for you. You don’t need to read the theory to feel that something is off.

🖥️ What: El banquete quemado

📍 Where: Infinito Delicias, C. de Juana Doña, 5, Madrid

📅 When: Through May 26 (5 p.m. to midnight)

🎟 Tickets: Free admission

📺 What to watch if you’re staying in this weekend…

🖥️ What: That Night (Esa Noche) | Miniseries | 2026

📍Where to watch: Netflix

❓What’s it about: Three sisters face a moral crisis when the youngest hits a man with her car in the Dominican Republic. They must decide how far they'll go to keep her out of jail and prevent her child from losing a mother.

🤩 Why you should watch: Because it turns a simple “what would you do?” into a tense, addictive moral dilemma that keeps shifting under your feet. And just when you think you understand what happened, it rewrites the story and your judgment.

💬 English Subtitles: Yes

💃🏻 Places to try this weekend…

🍽️ GranDuke is the kind of hidden Madrid spot you almost don’t want to share

What’s it about: A hidden, intimate restaurant tucked into one of Jorge Juan’s prettiest alleyways, where classic Madrid vibes meet a slightly irreverent, cosmopolitan edge.

Why you should go: Because the food is seriously good without trying too hard: short menu, bold flavors, and standout dishes like some of the best callos in town, a next-level lentil stew, and a homemade ice cream that’s just too good.

Bottom line: A low-key gem that feels like a private dinner party, but with food that makes you want to come back immediately.

Address: Calle de Jorge Juan, 12G, Madrid

☕️ Café Cervantes gets a literary makeover in Plaza de España

What’s it about: A brand-new restaurant (reopened in January!) in Plaza de España that mixes Madrid tradition with a literary twist, inspired by Don Quixote and the Spanish Golden Age.

Why you should go: Because it’s a full experience: dishes inspired by Cervantes, a beautiful handcrafted dome space, a future terrace setup, and even a small bookstore to lean into the theme (plus proper Madrid vermouth).

Bottom line: It’s a stylish and theatrical spot that feels very Madrid, but with enough originality to make it worth the visit.

Address: Plaza de España 18, Madrid

👨🏻‍💻 Viral Memes of the Week

❤️ De Madrid al cielo…para siempre

🥂 Spain certainly left the whole conservative Franco thing behind quickly

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Here Are 5 Things to Do in Madrid This Weekend

It’s Friday again!

Madrid this weekend isn’t just a city… It’s a catwalk! From IFEMA’s runways to the streets of Chamberí, Malasaña, and beyond, everything starts to feel a little more curated, a little more performative.

• Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week takes over the calendar, but the real show spills outside: sunglasses go on despite the clouds, outfits get riskier, and suddenly everyone looks like they might be on their way to (or from) a casting.

• And the best part? You don’t need an invitation to be part of it. Just grab coffee at a perfectly aesthetic spot in Salesas, front-row your own life at a terrace like the main character you are, or just people-watch like it’s a competitive sport. Madrid feels like The Devil Wears Prada on steroids

This weekend, style isn’t something you watch; it’s something you walk into.

Happy weekend!

1.🧵 Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week Madrid is back (and looks cooler than ever)

Move over, losers! Madrid is fully leaning into its fashion capital ambitions this week, as the Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week Madrid (MBFWM) returns for its spring edition, spreading across the city with a packed schedule of runway shows, presentations, and industry events.

• The MBFWM is the biggest fashion event in Spain and one of the few moments where Madrid genuinely competes, at least for a week, with the likes of Paris, Milan, or London. (We may not be as cool as them, but we’re definitely getting there.)

• Fashion Week is a mix of established designers and emerging talent presenting their collections for the next season. Big names like Ágatha Ruiz de la Prada, Custo, Hannibal Laguna, or Ángel Schlesser share the spotlight with newer designers trying to break into the industry. It’s where brands build relevance, where trends start to take shape, and where the local industry connects with international buyers, influencers, press, and insiders.

• This year’s edition is also about evolution. The main runway at IFEMA has been redesigned with a more modern, brighter identity, signaling a shift toward a more contemporary and global positioning.

• And importantly, this isn’t just happening inside IFEMA. The OFF program means fashion spills into the city itself, with shows, events, and collaborations all over Madrid.

Even if you’re not sitting front row (let’s face it, you won’t unless you’re one of the cool kids or a Kardashian), you’ll feel it all around. Pop-ups, parties, or just the general increase in people dressed significantly better than you await you.

🖥️ What: Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week Madrid (MBFWM)

📍 Where: IFEMA Madrid plus various locations across the city

📅 When: Through March 22

🎟 Tickets: Check website. Runway events are paid, some off events are free.

2.🍫 El Escorial is turning into a chocolate wonderland this weekend

If your weekend plans don’t involve eating chocolate until you explode, you may want to rethink them. This weekend, El Escorial (yes, it’s far away, shut up) turns into a full-blown cacao paradise with its III Chocolate Festival, a two-day event that mixes food, history, and family-friendly chaos just under an hour from Madrid.

• There will be tastings, workshops, routes, and enough sugar to carry you emotionally through the rest of this horrendous year.

• The heart of it all is Casa Miñana, where 17 chocolatiers and artisan producers set up shop with everything from bonbons and pastries to high-end cocoa and more experimental creations.

• You can taste, buy, and pretend you understand the difference between origins like a pro. But this isn’t just about eating: the event also leans into El Escorial’s surprisingly rich chocolate history, paying tribute to Matías López, the 19th-century industrialist who basically turned the town into Spain’s cacao capital.

• Beyond the food, there’s a full program designed to keep you moving (and justify the calories): historical routes through the town, family gymkhanas, kids’ workshops, and even a theatrical spin on Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (we hope it’s not like the one in Glasgow).

Add in expert-led tastings, live demos, and show cookings, and you’ve got a plan that somehow manages to be indulgent and “cultural” at the same time. Dangerous combo.

🖥️ What: III Chocolate Festival (Jornadas del Chocolate)

📍 Where: Casa Miñana, Av. de Castilla, 4, El Escorial

📅 When: March 21–22

🎟 Tickets start at: Free entry (some activities may require booking)

3.🗣️ Poetry Is Taking Over the Thyssen Museum for World Poetry Day

Despite what you may think, poetry is still a thing. So if you needed a sign to slow down this weekend, this is it.

To mark World Poetry Day, the Thyssen Museum is turning its galleries into something far more intimate: a live poetry circuit where 21 poets will be reading their work across different rooms of the museum.

• That means you’ll be wandering past masterpieces while suddenly stumbling into someone reciting a verse a few meters away.

• The concept is simple but surprisingly powerful: pairing visual art with spoken word, and letting visitors experience both at once (unless you’re wearing those headsets for the museum audio guides, in that case, you’re kinda screwed). It’s less of a structured event and more of a cultural treasure hunt.

• The opening reading will be delivered by singer Massiel (she won the Eurovision song contest in 1968!), setting the tone for an experience that blends disciplines and breaks the usual museum rhythm.

The event also marks the launch of a national poetry initiative aimed at promoting live and experimental formats across Spain, so this isn’t just a one-day thing, but part of a broader push to bring poetry back into public spaces.

🖥️ What: World Poetry Day readings at Museo Thyssen-Bornemisza

📍 Where: Museo Nacional Thyssen-Bornemisza, Paseo del Prado 8, Madrid

📅 When: March 21, 11:45 am to 1:30 pm

🎟 Museum Tickets: €14

4.🤤 Madrid is hosting the World Cup of Cachopo (and it’s absolutely unhinged)

You know what? Fuck it. It’s impossible to follow a strict diet in this country, so we’re no longer feeling guilty for it. As if things weren’t already hard enough, now we have to put up with one of the most gloriously excessive competitions of the year: the Best Cachopo in the World International Contest.

• 100 restaurants across 10 countries are battling it out over Spain’s most unapologetically indulgent dish, and it’s so much more exciting than the World Cup. Even better, you don’t need to go to Asturias (where it’s from) to try it, because 20 restaurants in Madrid are competing, serving their entries all month long.

• Chefs are experimenting and flexing with versions that are stuffed with morcilla, wild boar, or trout, and others are topped with gold flakes. There’s one even featuring Cabrales cheese valued at €37,000.

• The competition is a great excuse for a city-wide food crawl, and you can hop from spot to spot trying different contenders, comparing textures, fillings, and levels of post-meal regret.

Each cachopo comes with a drink (cider or beer), and while the official winner will be crowned in Oviedo, Madrid basically gets to host the tasting phase of these weird Olympics of fried meat.

🖥️ What: Concurso Internacional al Mejor Cachopo del Mundo 2026

📍 Where: Multiple locations around Madrid (and the world!)

📅 When: Through March 31

🎟 Menu: 28,50€ (cachopo + drink)

5.🚂 Madrid’s most charming time machine Is back (and it comes with strawberries)

Now that the spring has sprung, Madrid is bringing back one of its most charming (and slightly surreal) traditions: the Strawberry Train.

• First launched in 1984, this historic train recreates the original railway journey from Madrid to Aranjuez, dating all the way back to 1851, when Queen Isabel II inaugurated the line connecting the capital to the royal palace.

• Today, it’s less about transportation and more about stepping into a slower, more nostalgic version of Spain.

• The experience is very much part theater, part history lesson. You depart from the Railway Museum in the old Delicias station in Madrid (one of those beautiful iron-structure buildings that feel frozen in time) and travel in vintage carriages from the 1920s, 40s, and 60s.

• Along the way, staff dressed in period costumes serve you strawberries (yes, that’s the whole point), while you head toward Aranjuez, a UNESCO-listed cultural landscape famous for its royal heritage and, of course, its strawberries.

• Once you arrive, the plan doesn’t stop. The train is basically your entry point into a full day trip: gardens, palace, walks, and a town that feels like a quieter, more elegant extension of Madrid.

Yes, yes. It’s touristy, but in a way that actually works. It’s like time travel but with snacks. If you’re looking for something different this spring that doesn’t involve another terraza and tinto de verano, this is it.

🖥️ What: Tren de la Fresa (Strawberry Train)

📍 Where: From Museo del Ferrocarril (Madrid) to Aranjuez

📅 When: Selected dates from March to June (starting March 22)

🎟 Tickets start at: Check official site (Depends on the tour. Lowest price is €24).

📺 What to watch if you’re staying in this weekend…

🖥️ What: Zeta (Agent Zeta) | Movie | 2026

📍Where to watch: Prime Video

❓What’s it about: A Spanish spy must track down a former spy involved in an undercover mission decades ago, while a Colombian agent is also after him. Secrets from the past will be uncovered.

🤩 Why you should watch: Because it’s Spain’s most serious attempt yet at doing a proper, international-level spy thriller, and with a character that’s less of a James Bond and more of a Jack Reacher. Shot across Spain, Brazil, and Estonia, it actually feels global. Also, actor Luis Zahera absolutely carries the film with a standout performance, making Zeta worth your time because it shows where Spanish action cinema could be heading next.

💬 English Subtitles: Yes

💃🏻 Places to try this weekend…

🍽️ Brazza is Madrid’s hottest new table (and it’s all about fire)

What’s it about: Brazza is Madrid’s newest must-know spot—a fire-driven restaurant by Argentine chef Franco Malacisa that blends open-flame cooking with a deeply personal, global menu built around sharing.

Why you should go: Because it’s not just about the grill: from empanadas and falafel to perfectly cooked meats, seafood, and nostalgic desserts like chocotorta, everything is bold, precise, and full of character—backed by a thoughtful wine list and a warm, family-run vibe.

Bottom line: Brazza doesn’t try to please everyone—it aims to move you. And in a city full of openings, this is one that actually matters.

Address: Orfila 7, Madrid

☕️ Escaramuza is Chueca’s new real-life Central Perk - and it’s amazing

What’s it about: A cozy Chueca café run by a Uruguayan team that feels straight out of Friends, with a Central Perk-style couch, great coffee, and a brunch menu that hits all the right notes.

Why you should go: Because everything works: seriously good eggs Benedict, standout avocado toast, delicious coffee, and a pastry selection (alfajores, cookies, rogeles) that’s borderline addictive, all in a chill, welcoming space with lovely staff.

Bottom line: Escaramuza isn’t just aesthetic; it delivers. Come for the vibe, stay because the food and coffee are actually that good.

Address: Calle de Barbieri 1, Chueca, Madrid

👨🏻‍💻 Viral Memes of the Week

🕊️ Pigeon poops on mayor; mayor laughs at self

💃🏻 Remember Morrissey's run-in with Valencia?

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Here Are 5 Things to Do in Madrid This Weekend

It’s Friday (the 13th) again!

And it feels like the perfect day to kick off a weekend that already looks slightly surreal.

• Madrid is turning green because of St. Patrick’s, and it’s also glowing thanks to a citywide light festival. Add a bit of high drama with a play that’s packed with murder and family secrets, and you basically have the ingredients of a very respectable horror movie plot. (Not as good as the Friday the 13th movies, but getting there).

• It’s the kind of weekend where you might begin admiring a contemporary art installation and somehow end up drinking Guinness with strangers dressed like leprechauns at 2 a.m.

Happy weekend!

1. 🇮🇪 St. Patrick’s Day Parade & Irish Week: Gran Vía turns green

Kiss me, I’m Irish. Madrid may be far from Dublin and have a relatively small Irish community, but since 2023, every March, the city suddenly discovers its inner Celtic spirit.

• St. Patrick’s Week has become a surprisingly big event in the capital in recent years, celebrating Ireland’s culture and its historical ties to Spain’s own Celtic roots. (We say surprisingly, because when the city was approached by a bunch of crazies visionaries with the idea, the first response was a resounding “huh?”)

• The festivities run from March 10 to 17 and include a full lineup of concerts, dance performances, literature events, film screenings, and cultural activities scattered across the city.

• There is tons of stuff going on (download the official program here). The Gran Vía metro station is transformed into the “Green Vía,” where musicians and dancers from University College Dublin perform daily busking-style shows throughout the week.

• Elsewhere in the city, there are Irish-themed talks, literary events, film screenings and even poetry readings marking the 300th anniversary of Jonathan Swift’s Gulliver’s Travels.

• Of course, the real highlight is the St. Patrick’s Day parade, which has quickly become one of the city’s most colorful street celebrations. The parade, now in its fourth edition, is spearheaded by Galician musician Bras Rodrigo, along with countless bagpipers, aim to bring a bit of Dublin-style spectacle to Madrid.

The procession kicks off at the Metropolis Building, marching down Gran Vía toward Plaza de España with bagpipers, dancers, performers, sports groups, and plenty of people dressed in green.

🖥️ What: St. Patrick’s Day Parade & Ireland Week

📍 Where: Parade along Gran Vía (Metropolis Building to Plaza de España)

📅 When: Parade on March 14 at 5 p.m. (Ireland Week events run through March 17)

🎟 Tickets: Free admission

2.💡 LuzMadrid is back to turn the city into art

Let there be light. Madrid is damn beautiful at night, so why not turn it up to 11? That’s the idea behind LuzMadrid, the international light festival that returns for its third edition, transforming parts of the city into a glowing open-air strip club gallery.

• Created in 2021 to celebrate the UNESCO designation of the Paisaje de la Luz (the cultural landscape that includes the Prado Museum, Retiro, and Paseo del Prado), the festival invites artists from around the world to use light as their medium, turning plazas, monuments, and façades into temporary works of art.

• This year’s edition features 15 installations by national and international artists, scattered across different locations, encouraging visitors to wander through the city (check the official program here).

• The result is a city-wide night walk where buildings suddenly glow, installations pulse with color, and familiar landmarks look like they’ve been quietly upgraded with a sci-fi filter. And yes, it will look great on your Instagram stories. Your crush might even react to it with a 👏🏻 (the most disappointing of reactions, but you can’t win ’em all).

If you’ve ever wanted an excuse to wander Madrid after dark that doesn’t make it sound like you’re cruising, this is probably it.

🖥️ What: LuzMadrid International Light Festival

📍 Where: Various locations across central Madrid (see official site)

📅 When: Through March 14

🎟 Tickets: Free admission

3.👗 Listen up, cool kids: Madrid’s Fashion Week has already started

And you’re probably not invited. The city’s Spring Fashion Week season kicked off yesterday with one of the key events designed to bring Spanish fashion out of the runway and into the streets.

• Now, before you run out the door with your phone in hand, this is not the Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week Madrid (aka the country’s biggest fashion event). That’s actually next week.

• This is OMODA Madrid es Moda (basically the warmup event), and instead of confining fashion to convention halls and icy looks from Anna Wintour-wannabes, the event transforms the city itself into a stage, with shows, presentations, and installations across the capital.

• Focused on promoting Spanish designer fashion, the event features 32 designers (like Dominnico, Carlota Barrera, Roberto Verino, and Paloma Suárez) and brands showcasing their work through a packed program of 18 runway shows and performances, eight exhibition-style presentations, and several public events and talks designed to connect designers, industry professionals, and the plebs public.

Instead of traditional catwalk venues, designers present their collections in places that highlight Madrid’s architecture and urban spaces, allowing peasants the public to experience fashion more directly.

🖥️ What: OMODA Madrid es Moda

📍 Where: Various venues across Madrid

📅 When: Through March 17

🎟 Tickets start at: Many events are free, some require invitation (check website)

4. 🎭 A classic Spanish drama returns to the stage with Malquerida

Attention fans of the 1995 movie starring Keanu Reeves, “A Walk in the Clouds”, this one is for you! If you’re in the mood for high drama, forbidden passions, and the kind of rural intrigue that defined early 20th-century Spanish theater, then you better head over to the Teatro Español.

• La Malquerida, one of the most famous plays by Nobel Prize–winning playwright Jacinto Benavente, is back on stage in a new adaptation directed by Natalia Menéndez and Juan Carlos Rubio.

• First premiered in 1913, the story unfolds in a country estate where a wedding celebration turns into tragedy when the groom is mysteriously murdered. Suspicion spreads across the village, old rivalries resurface, and a web of secrets begins to unravel. It’s basically the plot of The Hangover, except the groom dies.

• Leading the cast is veteran Spanish actress Aitana Sánchez-Gijón (omg she was Keanu’s love interest in the movie!!!), who plays Raimunda, a widow determined to uncover the truth behind the crime, even if doing so exposes uncomfortable realities about her own family.

The play explores topics that were controversial when it premiered — jealousy, desire, violence, and forbidden love, all things that are totally non-controversial anymore because who gives a fuck.

Anyway, this new production leans into those tensions, offering a modern staging of one of the most iconic works of Spanish theater.

🖥️ What: Malquerida

📍 Where: Teatro Español, Calle del Príncipe 25, Plaza Santa Ana, Madrid

📅 When: Through April 26 (Tuesday to Sunday)

🎟 Tickets start at €6

5. 🍣 Chifa Nikkei Fest: Las Rozas’ Asian-Peruvian Food Festival

Look, we know that for you, going to Las Rozas feels like you need to grab your passport. God forbid you dare step north of Chamberí, right? Well, grab a few friends and call a Cabify, it’s not the (literal) end of the world. And it’s worth it.

• This city’s love affair with Peruvian cuisine is getting a new twist this month with Chifa Nikkei Fest, a festival dedicated to one of the most fascinating culinary mashups in the world: the fusion of Peruvian, Chinese, and Japanese flavors.

• The Centro Multiusos de Las Rozas will, for two weekends, transform into a mini street-food market where 10 restaurants from across the Madrid region will serve their signature dishes inspired by chifa (Chinese-Peruvian cuisine) and nikkei (Japanese-Peruvian cuisine). There will be bold wok dishes, sushi reinterpretations, classic Peruvian desserts, and plenty of cocktails.

• But wait, there’s more! There will also be free tastings, masterclasses, traditional dance performances, and family-friendly activities, including workshops and games for kids.

• And if all that eating wasn’t enough, the festival will also screen the Real Madrid–Atlético derby on March 22, for those of you soccer weirdos.

Enjoy!

🖥️ What: Chifa Nikkei Fest, Asian-Peruvian Food Festival

📍 Where: Centro Multiusos de Las Rozas, Las Rozas, Madrid

📅 When: March 12–15 and March 19–22 (check website for opening hours)

🎟 Free admission (food and drinks sold separately)

📺 What to watch if you’re staying in this weekend…

🖥️ What: Parecido a un asesinato (Hidden Murder) | Movie | 2025

📍Where to watch: Prime Video

❓What’s it about: A woman is living happily with her family when her police officer ex-husband bursts into their lives. Hiding in her childhood haven will do her no good; nothing will protect her.

🤩 Why you should watch: If you liked the twists and psychological tension of Contratiempo (The Invisible Guest), Parecido a un asesinato delivers a similar experience, mixing an oppressive mountain setting with clever flashbacks and constant plot turns. As the story unfolds through conflicting perspectives, the film keeps you questioning every character and every version of the truth until the very end.

💬 English Subtitles: Yes

💃🏻 Places to try this weekend…

🍽️ La Parra: Old-school Madrid done right

What’s it about: A long-running Madrid classic serving traditional Spanish home cooking with international touches, blending Andalusian charm with a subtle British influence in both the menu and atmosphere.

Why you should go: Signature dishes like roast beef, steak tartar, and crispy cochinillo have made it a local favorite for decades, all served in an elegant dining room mixing Spanish tiles and English-club vibes. (Splurge!)

Bottom line: A Chamberí institution since 1983, perfect for a relaxed business lunch or a romantic dinner with classic Madrid flair.

Address: C. del Monte Esquinza, 34, Chamberí, Madrid

☕️ Porte is Chamberí’s tiny temple of coffee

What’s it about: A tiny specialty coffee shop in Chamberí where the focus is simple: great beans, thoughtful brewing, and a calm space to actually enjoy your coffee.

Why you should go: The baristas help you find the perfect cup (espresso or filter), and their cookies and creamy artisanal ice cream (especially the affogato) are dangerously good.

Bottom line: A cozy neighborhood café where coffee lovers come for the quality and stay for the atmosphere.

Address: Calle de Sta Engracia, 39, Chamberí, Madrid

👨🏻‍💻 Viral Memes of the Week

🥱 Valencia 1, Morrissey 0: Mr. Smiths can't handle the Fallas

Morrissey just wasn't tough enough to handle Valencia's 24/7 Fallas madness, and he's been bashing the city ever since he arrived. Take the hotel: “Indescribable hell. It will take me one year to recover. And that is an understatement”. 😂

🍷 Galicia has a point

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Here Are 5 Things to Do in Madrid This Weekend

It’s Friday again!

Get ready, art connoisseurs and pretentious influencers, this weekend Madrid once again transforms into what can only be described as the global capital of contemporary art and confident interpretations of things nobody actually understands.

• For real, everywhere you look, there’s a fair, an installation, or a white wall with art. The entire city fills with collectors, curators, gallery owners, and people wearing smart people glasses.

• So if you’ve ever wanted to spend a weekend nodding thoughtfully at abstract stuff, discussing “the tension between form and absence” with your friend who is also pretending to know what you’re talking about, congratulations: this is your moment.

Happy weekend!

1.🎨 Madrid’s art world takes over: ARCO returns for its 45th edition

It’s finally here! Madrid’s contemporary art world is celebrating the 45th edition of ARCOmadrid, which returns this week and brings together galleries, collectors, artists, and curious visitors from all over the planet.

• ARCOmadrid is considered one of Europe’s key contemporary art fairs, and it has been shaping the city’s cultural calendar for decades. For a few days, Madrid becomes a global meeting point for the art world.

• This year’s edition features around 170 galleries from 31 countries, showcasing everything from established international names to emerging spaces discovering new artists.

• The fair is structured around various sections: the main General Program, which includes major Spanish and international galleries, Opening: Nuevas galerías, highlighting younger galleries and experimental proposals, and Perfiles | Arte Latinoamericano, which focuses on individual artists and reflects ARCO’s long-standing connection with Latin America.

But wait, there’s more! The Spanish gallery scene will also be strongly represented, with well-known spaces such as Elvira González, ProjecteSD, Nordés, and Travesía Cuatro participating alongside newer galleries making their debut at the fair.

• International heavyweights are also back, including galleries like Esther Schipper, neugerriemschneider, and Thaddaeus Ropac, reinforcing ARCO’s reputation as one of Europe’s most influential contemporary art marketplaces.

Beyond the booths themselves, ARCO also attracts curators, museums, and collectors from across the globe, making it one of the most important networking events in contemporary art.

• Finally, this is your chance to look at a blue blot on a white canvas and interpret it as a profound meditation on the ontological fragility of the self in late-capitalist modernity, preferably while murmuring something about liminality, negative space, and the politics of absence (with a 🍸 in your hand, obvi).

🖥️ What: ARCOmadrid Contemporary Art Fair

📍 Where: Avenida del Partenon, 5, IFEMA Madrid (Pavilions 7 & 9)

📅 When: Through March 8

🎟 Tickets start at: €33 (online)

2.🫟 We’re just getting started: Welcome to Madrid’s Art Week

Hold on to your butts! If ARCOmadrid feels a little too intimidating (or too full of people discussing the “semiotics of absence” while holding a €14 natural wine), don’t worry, it gets worse better: because it’s also Madrid’s Art Week!

This weekend the city is also packed with alternative fairs and exhibitions happening across galleries, hotels, cultural centers, and even shopping malls (yes, those still exist)!

There are emerging artists and experimental galleries, there’s urban art and collector-focused showcases… so many ways to immerse yourself in the art world!

If you enjoy wandering around and pretending to understand conceptual installations, this is pretty much all you will be doing this weekend. Have fun!

• SAM – Salón de Arte Moderno

  A boutique fair focused on modern art and collectors, bringing together galleries specializing in 20th-century works.

  📍 Círculo de Bellas Artes (Ballroom)

  📅 Through March 8

• FLECHA Madrid

  One of Madrid’s longest-running art fairs, known for turning commercial spaces into temporary art galleries.

  📍 Centro Comercial Arturo Soria Plaza

  📅 Until March 15

• Art Madrid

  A major contemporary art fair featuring more than 150 national and international artists presented by dozens of galleries.

  📍 Galería de Cristal – Palacio de Cibeles

  📅 Through March 8

• Artist 360

  A more intimate fair focused on direct interaction between artists and the public, designed to encourage dialogue and discovery.

  📍 Hotel Ilunion Pío XII

  📅 Through March 8

• JUSTMAD Contemporary Art Fair

  One of Spain’s key international contemporary art fairs, with a strong focus on emerging artists and experimental galleries.

  📍 Palacio de Neptuno

  📅 Through March 8

• CAN Madrid Art Fair

  A fair dedicated entirely to contemporary urban art and street-art–inspired practices.

  📍 Matadero Madrid

  📅 Through March 8

• HYBRID Art Fair

  One of the most unusual fairs in the city, where hotel rooms are transformed into mini galleries showcasing emerging contemporary artists.

  📍 Hotel Petit Palace Santa Bárbara

  📅 Through March 8

3.🔮 Mercury is probably in retrograde: Madrid’s Esoteric Fair returns!

Wait, wait! We’re serious! If Madrid Art Week is too pretentious, then don’t worry, we can suggest… whatever the opposite of pretentious is.

Welcome to the Feria Esotérica de Madrid, where people are equally confident about things nobody can prove, except here, there are crystals, tarot cards, cosmic energies, and enough incense to summon half the cast of Rosemary’s Baby.

• Now in its 36th edition, the fair will feature more than 70 stalls selling everything your inner Aunt Gladys might need: Tibetan singing bowls, amulets, talismans, books about summoning Cthulhu unlocking your spiritual path, and probably at least one person explaining which planet is randomly to blame for the fact that everyone on Tinder sucks these days. (Looking at you, TOI-3757 b)

• There will also be talks and workshops (no, really) on subjects like palm reading (seriously), energetic astrology (we’re not kidding), meditation (ah, that one is a thing), and other alternative therapies (sure, Jan). Visitors can book sessions for tarot readings (fun!), aura photography (sounds terrifying), and astrology consultations, which means that by the end of the afternoon, you’ll either have clarity about your future or depression for your present.

The event kicks off with “La Diablada,” a traditional Bolivian performance full of elaborate masks and choreography representing the battle between good and evil (sounds deliciously heretical, we’ll take it).

• You can also join free workshops on Reiki, sound meditation, Tibetan medicine, and therapeutic massage. And on the final day, there’s even a special blessing ceremony designed to help you achieve your 2027 goals (because, let’s face it, 2026 is already a lost cause).

🖥️ What: Feria Esotérica de Madrid (36th Edition)

📍 Where: Sala DEMO 1 & 2, Estación de Chamartín – Calle Agustín de Foxá, Madrid

📅 When: Through March 8

🎟 Tickets start at €3 (splurge!)

4.🚺 Ellas Crean: a festival celebrating women artists

It’s International Women’s Day this Sunday, and Madrid is celebrating it with the return of Ellas Crean, a multidisciplinary festival dedicated to female creators across music, dance, literature, theater, and visual arts.

• Now in its 22nd edition, the festival runs from March 5 to 15 and brings together both established artists and emerging voices in venues across the city.

• The festival has a slightly tighter format this year (10 days of programming) with a particular focus on the Tetuán district, alongside events hosted in several of Madrid’s major state museums, including the Museo del Traje, Museo de América, Museo Nacional de Artes Decorativas, and the Museo Arqueológico Nacional.

• The idea is simple: showcase the depth and diversity of women’s creative work while using culture as a platform for social change.

If you hate contemporary art and aura photography, here are a few highlights:

• Contemporary dance performances will take center stage, including La peor de todas by the Compañía Inés Narváez Arrospide 10&10 on March 7 at the Museo de América, and After the Drop by Lucía Montes and Mado Dallery on March 8 at the Museo del Traje.

• Live music arrives on March 7 with Leonor Watling & Leo Sidran performing their new project Leo & Leo at the Centro Cultural Eduardo Úrculo, accompanied by The Groovy French Band and guest musicians from Spain’s jazz scene.

• Poetry lovers can attend the presentation and reading of La llama ebria. Antología de mujeres poetas del surrealismo on March 5 at the same cultural center, a collection that revisits surrealism through the voices of women poets often left out of the movement’s official history.

The festival continues through mid-March with more dance, theater, music, and literature events, but this weekend offers a particularly strong lineup and a good excuse to explore parts of Madrid’s cultural scene that don’t always get the spotlight.

🖥️ What: Ellas Crean - Festival of Female Creativity

📍 Where: Multiple venues across Madrid (Museo del Traje, Museo de América, Centro Cultural Eduardo Úrculo, and others)

📅 When: Through March 15

🎟 Tickets start at: Many events free or low-cost depending on the venue

5.🐸 The Mercado de las Ranas street market is back tomorrow

The Mercado de las Ranas is back this Saturday!

• This street market is similar to the Portobello Road or Camden Town markets in London. This Saturday, stores participating in this mercado in Plaza Santa Ana, in the Las Letras district, bring their goods outside into the street so visitors can buy their favorite book, t-shirt, or grab a slice of pizza on the go.

• If there’s one thing we love about Madrid (and there are actually many), it’s the street market scene, and this one doesn’t disappoint. After a bit of retail therapy, grab a table at the plaza and sip a cool caña or a latte in one of the nearby specialty coffee shops.

You’re welcome.

🖥️ What: Mercado de las Ranas

📍 Where: Las Letras neighborhood, Madrid

📅 When: March 7

🎟 Free admission

📺 What to watch if you’re staying in this weekend…

🖥️ What: Los Domingos (Sundays) | Movie | 2025

📍Where to watch: Movistar+

❓What’s it about: A young woman named Ainara faces personal crossroads (she wants to become a nun) while exploring career possibilities, much to her family's concern.

🤩 Why you should watch: Well… because it just won the Goya Award for Best Film. Also, it’s directed by Alauda Ruiz de Azúa, who brilliantly portrays how Ainara’s decision triggers an emotional earthquake in her family, forcing everyone to confront their beliefs, fears, and the limits of control over someone you love.

💬 English Subtitles: No.

💃🏻 Places to try this weekend…

🍸 Casa Clavel: Malasaña’s comeback bar you should know

What’s it about: Some Madrid places never really disappear; they just reinvent themselves. Casa Clavel is one of them. Once a legendary late-night bar in Malasaña, it has now returned with a new identity: a cocktail bar, a restaurant and fully in tune with the neighborhood’s creative energy.

Why you should go: Because the vibe is relaxed and social, with a menu built around the kind of food that works for everything from a casual bite to a long dinner that slowly turns into drinks.

Bottom line: Come for the tapas and sandwiches, stay for the wine and atmosphere.

Address: Corredera Baja de San Pablo, 18, Malasaña, Madrid

☕️ Hermanas Arce is a beloved neighborhood café in Salesas

What’s it about: Opened in 2018 by sisters Ana and Elena Arce, Hermanas Arce quickly became one of the defining cafés of Madrid’s Salesas neighborhood. Long before “specialty coffee,” “natural wine,” and “real food” became trendy buzzwords, the sisters were already building a place around those ideas.

Why you should go: Because it’s famous for the kind of breakfasts and lunches that make you feel like you’ve discovered a local secret. The sisters have also done something unusual in Madrid’s hospitality scene: they close weekends and shut the café in the afternoon, prioritizing a healthier work-life balance for their team.

Bottom line: Hermanas Arce helped shape Madrid’s modern brunch culture and remains one of the most charming spots in Salesas for a slow breakfast or relaxed lunch.

Address: Calle Marqués de Monasterio, 6, Salesas, Madrid

👨🏻‍💻 Viral Memes of the Week

💥 If Trump gets really angry at Mr Handsome

😍 We wholeheartedly agree!

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@thebubblecomSpain’s right wants to ban the burka and niqab. Is this about women’s rights, security, or pure political theater? #vox #pp #psoe #politica #españa

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Here Are 5 Things to Do in Madrid This Weekend

It’s Friday again!

And what do you know? We’re once again recommending activities that involve a high-calorie diet and getting out of downtown Madrid your comfort zone because, unless you’re a certain British spy, you only live once. I don’t think you can blame us.

• This has undoubtedly been the winter of our discontent: non-stop rain, stupidly cold mornings, and the inevitable retreat of democratic values. Dude, if you’re not depressed, do you even have a pulse?

• So loosen that belt, put away those ridiculous winter jackets (finally!), and get ready for a weekend of fun and sun with your friends. The nuclear winter Spring is only a few weeks away, so you’d better make it count.

Happy weekend!

But first, click on this if you love art and the Prado Museum ⬇️

1.🥢 China Taste 2026: A taste of the Year of the Horse

Yes, we celebrated the Chinese New Year last week, but that doesn’t mean we’re done partying. In fact, Madrid is hosting the ninth edition of China Taste, a month-long gastronomic festival bringing together 24 top Chinese restaurants across Madrid to celebrate the Year of the Horse.

• Each restaurant offers a special menu or dish inspired by Lunar New Year traditions, giving you the perfect excuse to explore everything from fiery Sichuan flavors to delicate Cantonese classics.

• And it’s not just about food; there’s meaning behind every bite. In Chinese culture, the New Year reunion dinner is the most important meal of the year, symbolising prosperity, longevity, and good fortune.

• Some of the dishes include whole fish (unity), long noodles (long life), dumplings, and other traditional delicacies reimagined for the occasion.

• We know that for some of you, making it all the way to Usera (Madrid’s Chinatown) is cause for anxiety. So before you go all Kim Kardashian on us, asking if it’s “safe to be there 😭”, let us tell you the good news: some of these restaurants are in the Centro area. You’re welcome.

Oh, and there’s also a solidarity angle: for every special menu sold, a donation goes to the Red Cross.

🖥️ What: China Taste 2026

📍 Where: 24 participating restaurants across Madrid

📅 When: Through March 3

🎟 Prices vary by restaurant (special set menus available)

2.🤤 The reopening of the Mercado de San Miguel

In the immortal words of contemporary mean girl Madison Montgomery: Surprise, bitch. That’s right, after being closed for renovations for some time, one of Madrid’s most iconic tourist traps culinary landmarks reopened this week and it’s ready to be busy.

• Oh, we kid. The Mercado de San Miguel was inaugurated in 1916 as a traditional food market and one of the city’s best examples of iron architecture. But it exploded in popularity in 2009, when it became the first gastronomic market in the city.

• Located just steps from another tourist trap Plaza Mayor, it now attracts more than 10 million visitors a year and remains a temple of Spanish produce under one elegant glass-and-iron roof.

• Inside, you’ll find more than 30 stalls showcasing top-quality ingredients from across Spain: Galician seafood, Iberian ham, artisan cheeses, rice dishes, tortillas, smoked fish, vermouth, pastries, and more.

• Big culinary names that you probably never heard of are part of the draw, including Joan Roca’s Rocambolesc ice cream, Rodrigo de la Calle’s paellas, and Arzábal’s classic Madrid-style tapas.

So yes, it’s one of the city’s most touristed spots. But if you time it right and go in with a strategy (lap first, order second), it’s still one of the easiest ways to taste Spain in one sitting.

🖥️ What: Reopening of Mercado de San Miguel

📍 Where: Plaza de San Miguel s/n, Madrid

📅 When: It just re-opened!

🎟 Tickets start at: Free entry, but you must pay for the food inside, or you’ll get kicked out and/or arrested.

3.🎨 From Heaven to Hell: Bosch’s nightmares return with a digital twist

Alright, so you’re on a diet because the summer is only four months away. Then let us offer you something darker (and stranger) than tapas and vermut.

The Fundación Juan March is presenting an exhibition co-produced with the Colección SOLO that places two small panels by a follower of Hieronymus Bosch (aka El Bosco, aka the guy who painted this) alongside contemporary works charged with surreal, metamorphic, and fantastical imagery.

• The two paintings (Heaven and Hell) originally formed part of a now-lost triptych dedicated to the Last Judgment. They capture the moral satire, meticulous detail and delirious imagination that made Bosch a singular figure in art history. But the exhibition makes a bigger point: Bosch’s dreamlike logic didn’t die in the 15th century.

From André Breton (who saw in Bosch a kind of proto-surrealist) to today’s digital artists experimenting with AI as a “machine of metamorphosis,” the show traces a lineage of fantasy, mutation, and black humor that runs straight into the present. Medieval nightmares meet Fortnite on psychedelics.

🖥️ What: A la Manera del Bosco

📍 Where: Calle de Castelló 77, Madrid

📅 When: Through April 12

🎟 Tickets: Free admission

4.📸 Unveiling the gaze: Hoda Afshar at La Casa Encendida

If you’re looking for something more esoteric so you can look cool on Instagram, La Casa Encendida is hosting The Fold, one of the season’s most thought-provoking exhibitions, created by Iranian visual artist Hoda Afshar, who interrogates photography, power, and perception.

• The exhibition stems from Afshar’s research at Paris’s Musée du Quai Branly, where she encountered an archive of thousands of photographs taken in Morocco by French psychiatrist and photographer Gaëtan Gatian de Clérambault.

• His images of veiled Muslim women (and occasionally men) were tied to his psychoanalytic theories about the veil and fantasy — and embedded in a distinctly colonial gaze.

• In The Fold, Afshar reworks this archive for the first time in her practice, examining the legacy of Orientalist and colonial photography while asking a sharper question: who controls what we see — and how we see it?

• Through silver mirroring, darkroom printing, digital animation, video and installation, she builds a layered response that connects past regimes of representation with today’s politics of visibility.

Afshar’s work consistently explores the tension between aesthetics and violence, knowledge and control. Highly recommended.

🖥️ What: The Fold by Hoda Afshar

📍 Where: La Casa Encendida (Sala A), Ronda de Valencia 2, Madrid

📅 When: Through April 26

🎟 Tickets: Free admission

5.💃🏻 Flamenco, pushed to the edge: Jesús Carmona’s Tentativo at Matadero

You think you know flamenco? Jesús Carmona is here to challenge you. Centro Danza Matadero hosts Tentativo (Basado en paisajes reales), the latest creation by the National Dance Prize-winning bailaor and choreographer.

• Performed by his company, the piece is an exploration of identity, vulnerability and the limits of movement, all through the evolving language of contemporary flamenco.

• Carmona, one of the most innovative figures in today’s dance scene, blends technical precision with emotional intensity. In Tentativo, he turns inward, questioning what it means to be a bailaor while opening flamenco to dialogue with other disciplines and soundscapes.

With an international career that includes stages like Sadler’s Wells in London and New York City Center, Carmona is synonymous with global experience, but the raw power remains deeply rooted in flamenco tradition.

🖥️ What: Tentativo (Basado en paisajes reales) by Jesús Carmona

📍 Where: Centro Danza Matadero (Nave 11), Paseo de la Chopera 14, Madrid

📅 When: Through March 8 (Wednesday to Sunday performances)

🎟 Tickets start at €27

📺 What to watch if you’re staying in this weekend…

🖥️ What: Singular | Movie | 2025

📍Where to watch: HBO Max

❓What’s it about: Twelve years after their son's death, Diana and Martín reunite for a weekend at their old lake house. She's an AI specialist; he lives in seclusion. When a mysterious young man appears, old secrets and new suspicions emerge.

🤩 Why you should watch: Because it’s Spain’s most direct, intimate answer to the AI anxiety we’ve all been quietly absorbing since Black Mirror, and this time, it hits closer to home. It starts tense and elegant, and while the plot eventually loops and overstretches its central idea, Singular captures something unsettlingly current: the feeling that the future we feared is no longer theoretical.

💬 English Subtitles: No.

💃🏻 Places to try this weekend…

🍦 Colosso Gelato: Madrid’s creamiest obsession

What’s it about: Colosso Gelato, in Plaza de Santa Bárbara (Alonso Martínez), is serving authentic Italian artisan gelato made on-site under the direction of master gelato maker Julio Bertoni. Everything is produced in their own obrador, with Mediterranean-inspired recipes.

Why you should go: Because it’s proper gelato. Less fat, creamier texture, served at the right temperature, so the flavor actually hits. The pistachio is a must. The Dulce de Leche Colosso (with chocolate shards folded in) is dangerously good. Tramontana and the viral Chocolate Dubái are also standouts. Add specialty coffee and a prime central location, and you’ve got the perfect post-lunch, mid-afternoon or late-night stop.

Bottom line: If you love real gelato, Colosso delivers some of the smoothest, most flavour-packed scoops in Madrid right now.

Address: Plaza de Santa Barbara, 6, Madrid

🦞 A taste of Galicia in Retiro: Why O’Grelo still delivers

What’s it about: For over 30 years, O Grelo has been flying the Galician flag in Madrid’s Retiro neighbourhood. Get ready for top-quality seafood, fish, meats, and rice dishes prepared with traditional techniques and subtle modern touches.

Why you should go: It’s the kind of place that understands its product — and doesn’t need to overcomplicate it. You order pulpo con cachelos, empanada de vieiras, arroz con bogavante or merluza a la gallega and let the ingredients do the talking.

Bottom line: If you’re craving Galicia without leaving Madrid, O’Grelo is a reliable classic that still earns its reputation.

Address: Calle de Menorca, 39, Madrid

👨🏻‍💻 Viral Memes of the Week

😱 Therians everywhere!

📸 We'll never get tired of what a good idea Madrid Río was

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@thebubblecomSpain’s right wants to ban the burka and niqab. Is this about women’s rights, security, or pure political theater? #vox #pp #psoe #politica #españa

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Here Are 5 Things to Do in Madrid This Weekend

It’s Friday again!

And as you probably know by now, Madrid doesn’t really do quiet weekends.

• This one especially feels like the city has decided to throw everything at you at once. From dragons dancing through Usera for Chinese New Year to steaming bowls of cocido and late-night cultural openings in Lavapiés, there’s a great option for everyone.

• Yes, yes. It still may be cold, but socially, this city is on fire. If you’re looking for fireworks, comfort food, and contemporary photography, we’ve done the filtering for you.

Happy weekend!

1.🐲 Welcome the year of the horse with dragons, fireworks, and a Lunar New Year Parade in Usera

Face it, you don’t go to Usera often (some of you don’t even know where that is!), but at least once a year, it’s good to grab your coat and head over to Madrid’s Chinatown to witness the unexpectedly cinematic Chinese New Year celebrations.

• One of the city’s coolest neighborhoods becomes the stage every February for a festival that mixes tradition, community pride (the non-gay one), and pure street-level energy. In 2026, the celebrations welcome the Year of the Horse, and we once again lean into the joy, noise, and color of the Lunar New Year.

• The centerpiece is the Gran Desfile (Big Parade), which this year comes with a major novelty: instead of sticking only to the usual streets, it will also unfold through Parque de Pradolongo, giving the celebration a wider, more open-air setting. There will be cool costumes, giant dragons, martial arts demonstrations, choreographed performances, and those drums, gongs, and cymbals that make it totally worth it to leave the comfort of Chamberí.

• But wait, there’s more! Turns out the celebration doesn’t end with the parade. In fact, one of the highlights this year is the final performance by the Escuela Superior de Wudao de Madrid and the prestigious Compañía Juvenil de Yingge de Cantón, bringing the ancient Yingge warrior dance (a tradition with more than 300 years of history) right into the heart of the city.

Boom! However, if you want the most magical moment, come the night before. On Saturday, Pradolongo hosts a fireworks show over the lake: fifteen minutes of lights, color, and sound designed to scare away pets bad spirits and welcome the new year with prosperity.

• DJ Dr. Kielmannsegge will be setting the mood beforehand, so it’s the perfect weekend plan. Can’t afford a trip to China? There’s always Usera.

🖥️ What: Chinese New Year Parade (Year of the Horse)

📍 Where: Parque de Pradolongo, Usera (Madrid)

📅 When: Feb. 22 (parade starts at 12:00) + Fireworks on Feb. 21

🎟 Tickets: Free admission

2.🤤 Ruta del Cocido Madrileño: the ultimate comfort food tour is back

Yes, spring is a month away, and it looks like we’re starting to get glimpses of warmer weather. But it’s still fucking cold outside, so don’t get your hopes up. And since you can’t wear those sexy jorts of yours, why not just give in to the winter blues and grab a comforting plate of proper cocido madrileño?

• The city’s most beloved cold-weather ritual is back: the Ruta del Cocido Madrileño, celebrating its 16th edition. For a month and a half, Madrid turns into one big steaming map of chickpeas, broth, and unapologetic comfort food.

• If you’ve never had cocido, you’re missing out. Traditionally, cocido is served in its famous three “turns”: first the soup, then the chickpeas and vegetables, and finally the meats. Consider it a full Madrid winter ceremony, best enjoyed slowly, preferably with friends (and forget about making plans afterward, you’ll be unable to move).

• The idea for this Ruta is simple: 40 restaurants across Madrid and the surrounding region serve their own version of cocido, the city’s most iconic slow-cooked dish.

• Some are historic taverns in Centro, others are neighborhood favorites, but all of them are part of a collective tribute to the kind of cuisine that takes hours to make and about five minutes to gulp fall in love with.

Big names are on the list, including legendary spots like Malacatín, La Bola, Taberna Antonio Sánchez, Los Galayos, and La Rayúa, alongside lesser-known contenders like Los Arcos de Ponzano, El Café de la Ópera, and Manolo 1934. Also worth noting: La Gran Tasca, which won the award for Best Cocido in 2025, is back to defend its title.

🖥️ What: Ruta del Cocido Madrileño 2026

📍 Where: Participating restaurants across Madrid & the region

📅 When: Through March 31

3.🗿 Eduardo Chillida at 100: A landmark retrospective celebrates the sculptor’s centenary

Madrid has a habit of doing cultural anniversaries properly, and this spring it’s Eduardo Chillida’s turn. The Centro Cultural Conde Duque hosts a major exhibition marking the centenary of the famous Basque sculptor’s birth — a rare chance to see the full breadth of an artist who shaped the language of modern sculpture in Spain and beyond.

• Chillida is best known for his monumental works in iron and stone, the kind that seem to wrestle with space itself. But this show goes deeper than the public icons. Curated by Alicia Vallina and organized with the support of Chillida Leku and the Fundación Eduardo Chillida-Pilar Belzunce, the exhibition brings together 102 pieces spanning his entire career: small and large sculptures, graphic work, drawings, and portraits.

• The heart of the exhibition is a set of 20 sculptures that invite an unusually intimate encounter with Chillida’s materials. You’ll see works in plaster, alabaster, forged iron, reinforced concrete, and his famous Lurrak — dense clay blocks fired in wood ovens, where subtle tonal shifts depend on time and heat.

• Even when barely “touched,” these pieces feel alive, like physical meditations on weight, silence, and form.

If you want a crash course in one of the most important sculptors of the 20th century, a man who won the Prince of Asturias Award and spent his final years building the Chillida-Leku museum, this is the perfect entry point.

🖥️ What: Eduardo Chillida Centenary Exhibition

📍 Where: Centro Cultural Conde Duque, Calle del Conde Duque 11, Madrid

📅 When: Through June 21

🎟 Tickets: Free admission

4.🍸 Lavapiés reopens a community cultural hub: Espacio Loseta launches this Saturday

Great news! Lavapiés is getting back one of those places that feels instantly necessary: Espacio Loseta, a new community cultural hub opening tomorrow. It’s a shared living room for the neighborhood, a “casa común” created by a group of young locals who want to bring artists, neighbors, and curious visitors together around exhibitions, workshops, and gatherings that don’t revolve around spending money.

• In a city where so much culture comes with a price tag, Loseta is trying something refreshingly different: a space built on presence, participation, and community rather than transactions. The goal is simple: to create new ways of relating, meeting, and making things happen in the barrio.

• The opening day is already shaping up to be a proper Lavapiés-style celebration. From midday until late, there will be churros and vermut, DJs, bingo, and a few surprises thrown in for good measure.

It’s casual, welcoming, and very much the kind of plan that reminds you why Madrid’s neighborhood culture still matters.

🖥️ What: Reopening of Espacio Loseta (community cultural space)

📍 Where: Espacio Loseta, Calle Torrecilla del Leal 32, Madrid

📅 When: Feb. 21, noon to 11 p.m.

5.📷 New York on the walls of Madrid: Helen Levitt’s street photography lands at Fundación MAPFRE

Fundación MAPFRE’s Sala Recoletos hosts one of the season’s standout photography exhibitions: a sweeping retrospective of Helen Levitt, bringing together nearly 200 works that trace more than seven decades of her singular gaze.

• If you’ve ever wondered how something as simple as children playing on a New York sidewalk can feel epic, poetic, and politically charged all at once, this show has your answer.

• Levitt (1913–2009) made the streets of 20th-century New York her studio. She was drawn not to grand events but to the small, fleeting moments of urban life: chalk drawings on brick walls, mischievous glances, improvised games, tired faces, tender gestures.

• What might seem insignificant in real time becomes, through her lens, a subtle but powerful portrait of social reality. The exhibition is organized into nine sections, offering a full journey from her early black-and-white street photography to the more mature, layered work that cemented her legacy.

A pioneer among women photographers, Levitt balanced documentary commitment with a quiet lyricism that feels surprisingly contemporary.

🖥️ What: Helen Levitt: A Life in the Streets

📍 Where: Fundación MAPFRE, Sala Recoletos, Paseo de Recoletos 23, Madrid)

📅 When: Through May 17

🎟 Tickets start at €5

📺 What to watch if you’re staying in this weekend…

🖥️ What: Yakarta (Jakarta) | Miniseries | 2025

📍Where to watch: Movistar+

❓What’s it about: Olympic badminton player Joserra now teaches PE at a state high school. His routine life changes after spotting Mar, a young prodigy, during a school tournament.

🤩 Why you should watch: Screenwriter Diego San José builds a complex, wounded protagonist brought to life by a quietly magnetic Javier Cámara, whose performance is full of restraint and emotion. Opposite him, Carla Quílez holds her own with striking maturity and intensity. What seems provocative on the surface becomes a thoughtful reflection on trust, second chances and the fine line between suspicion and genuine devotion.

💬 English Subtitles: No

💃🏻 Something to try this weekend…

🍣 Down the rabbit hole: unlimited sushi in the heart of Malasaña

What’s it about: The Kaiten Lab Wonderland is a playful, Alice-in-Wonderland-inspired sushi spot tucked away in Malasaña. From the moment you step through its discreet, almost secret-looking entrance, you fall down the rabbit hole into a bold red dining room filled with checkerboards, mirrors, card motifs, and nods to Lewis Carroll’s surreal universe.

Why you should go: At its heart is a kaiten (conveyor belt) sushi system, plates of sushi, nigiri, baos, dumplings, and even the occasional patatas bravas glide past your table in a continuous loop of temptation. It’s a great stop if you want a traditional Madrid meal with character: tapas, seasonal dishes, and attentive service.

Bottom line: It’s not trying to be the most refined sushi in Madrid; it’s trying to be the most entertaining. And it succeeds.

Address: Calle de Manuela Malasaña, 5, Madrid

☕️ Pink Bourbon: Where Salamanca’s specialty coffee gets serious

What’s it about: Pink Bourbon Espresso Bar is a sleek, modern specialty coffee spot where the bean truly takes center stage. It’s inspired by the Pink Bourbon variety (known for its floral and fruity notes), and it’s all about celebrating high-quality coffee through careful sourcing.

Why you should go: If you care about coffee beyond “just caffeine,” this is your place. The baristas are passionate and knowledgeable, happy to walk you through origins, roast profiles, and brewing methods like V60 or Chemex

Bottom line: Pink Bourbon is for people who treat coffee like wine: nuanced, layered, worth discussing. Come for the aesthetic, stay for the craftsmanship.

Address: Calle de Diego de León, 41, Madrid

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Here Are 5 Things to Do in Madrid This Weekend

Happy Carnivalentine’s™️ Weekend!

Celebrating Valentine’s Day and Carnival, all on the same day? Our wallets are not ready!

• Yes, the skies threaten rain, but the city’s response involves turning the volume up on absolutely everything. This weekend is especially surreal because Madrid is simultaneously in full romantic mode and full costume-party chaos.

• You can throw on a mask and dive into Carnaval madness around Matadero, fall down a rabbit hole of manga, cosplay and Pokémon, or spend your Saturday surrounded by the most serious coffee people in Europe at CoffeeFest.

Happy weekend!

1. 🎭 Carnival takes over Madrid

Madrid does Carnaval the way Madrid does everything: with chaos and charm, and just enough tradition to remind you this city has been throwing parties for centuries.

Through Ash Wednesday, the city turns into a playground of costumes, masks, music, parades, and tons of identity-swapping. The celebrations are now mostly concentrated around Matadero Madrid, which becomes the city’s unofficial headquarters for glitter, satire, and circus energy.

• The big kickoff is tomorrow, when Matadero hosts a full day of activities before the city’s main Carnaval parade rolls out at 1 p.m., moving from Puente de Toledo down to Plaza de Matadero.

• There will be floats, crazy outfits, loud music, and that very Madrid feeling of “this is ridiculous but fun”. Later that afternoon, the party keeps going with a full celebration at Matadero (it’s basically your excuse to spend Valentine’s Day dressed as a Bauhaus harlequin instead of paying for overpriced dinner menus in Malasaña, you’re welcome).

• Sunday leans harder into old-school Madrid tradition. At Madrid Río, you’ll see the manteo del pelele alongside giants and big-headed characters stomping around like it’s the 18th century but with less smallpox.

And then, of course, Carnaval ends the only way it can: with the burying of the sardine on Wednesday.

• We’re aware that “have you buried the sardine yet?” is something your pervert uncle would ask at a family dinner in normal circumstances. But here in Madrid, it literally means to bury a sardine.

• Madrid closes the Carnaval party by staging a mock funeral for a humble fish, burying it with full ceremonial drama, marching through the streets, and officially putting the costumes back in the closet until next year (seriously, this is a thing, Goya painted it). Don’t overthink it.

🖥️ What: Madrid Carnival 2026

📍 Where: Multiple locations around Madrid (check official program)

📅 When: Through Feb. 18

🎟 Tickets: Most events are free but check website just in case

2. 🌹 Valentine’s Day in Madrid

Huh. It looks like we’re still celebrating Valentine’s Day despite living in this horrific, dystopian timeline. Anyway, you can celebrate romance in Madrid 365 days a year, so it’s not like we’re coming up with life-changing ideas here. But if you’re looking to save your marriage surprise your partner, here are a few original ideas that do not involve bringing a child to this world chocolates and roses.

• 🍬 Step into the candy-colored universe of Sweet Space. Madrid’s most sugar-coated museum is basically a Valentine’s fever dream: themed rooms, surreal installations, and enough marshmallow energy to make even the most cynical couple take a selfie.

• 🛶 Go full Venice with a romantic boat ride. Rent a rowboat at El Retiro’s Estanque Grande (or Casa de Campo’s lake) and pretend you’re in a movie montage (think The Talented Mr. Ripley Bridget Jones Diary), drifting past monuments and winter sunlight.

• 💃🏻 Feel something real at Teatro Flamenco. If you want drama in a good way, book a night of flamenco at Teatro Flamenco Madrid. The show is literally called Emociones, and it delivers.

• 🎤 Sing your heart out at a karaoke bar. Nothing bonds a couple like screaming over the microphone like Sonny & Cher before they hated each other. Try BAM Karaoke Box for expensive private rooms or Cheers in Huertas for typical Madrid mayhem.

• 🌇 Touch the sky at the Riu Plaza España rooftop. Not for the faint of heart (or the vertigo-prone), but the views are jaw-dropping — and the perfect place for a romantic “Ugh, this place is so crowded” moment.

• 🍂 Take a slow walk through El Capricho Park. One of Madrid’s most elegant, romantic gardens, designed for 18th-century flirting and still perfect for modern-day wandering. Is it far? Yes. But honestly El Retiro is so cliche.

• 🌭 Go big with a Michelin-star dinner. If you want the full luxury treatment, Madrid’s starred restaurants are ready: DiverXO, Coque, DSTAgE… and some even come with hotel stays for the ultimate upgrade. 😉 If you can’t find a table, there’s always this place.

• 🏛️ Walk like an Egyptian Watch the sunset at the Temple of Debod. It’s cliché for a reason: Madrid sunsets here are unreal, and the atmosphere does the romantic work for you.

• 🧺 Pack a picnic (yes, even in winter). Casa de Campo or Quinta de los Molinos are perfect for a simple blanket-and-snacks moment, especially as almond blossom season approaches.

• 🦁 Get swept up in a musical. Madrid is a musical city, and few dates feel more cinematic than an evening at The Lion King at Teatro Lope de Vega or Wicked. Or if you’re more into Wednesday Addams, you can always check the forensic museum. We don’t judge here.

• 🗺️ Try something different: a romantic treasure hunt. This Valentine’s weekend, couples can join a themed treasure hunt through Madrid’s old town starting at Puerta del Sol. It’s kind of like The DaVinci Code, except here you have to pay and the Vatican is not trying to murder you.

• 🎬 A very Hollywood rom-com evening with Hollylove. If you’re into live music and film soundtracks, then don’t miss the Film Symphony Orchestra live performing the themes from unforgettable classics like Titanic, Love Actually, Cinema Paradiso, Moulin Rouge, La La Land, Gone with the Wind and many other movies that either end with a tragic death or a breakup. Love hurts, and the sooner we all learn that lesson, the better.