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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

🔔 Don’t forget to follow us on Instagram!

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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?

🔔 Don’t forget to follow us on TikTok!

If you’re not following us on Instagram yet, you’re missing out. We’re posting exclusive content with our collaborators across Spain, breaking news updates, and pop culture coverage. Click on the post above and come hang with us!

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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

🔔 Don’t forget to follow us on TikTok!

If you’re not following us on Instagram yet, you’re missing out. We’re posting exclusive content with our collaborators across Spain, breaking news updates, and pop culture coverage. Click on the post above and come hang with us!

🙏 Once again, please remember to share this newsletter with your friends on social media. The more we grow, the more information we’ll be able to offer each week.

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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

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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

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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

👨🏻‍💻 Viral Memes of the Week

🌞 My god, is that…the sun?

📸 Fine, we're a sucker for a good drone shot

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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.

3. 🇯🇵 Japan Weekend Madrid is back!

Madrid is about to go full otaku mode. This weekend, IFEMA (Pavilions 3 and 4) will once again be taken over by Japan Weekend Madrid, the city’s biggest celebration of manga, anime, videogames, and all things Japanese digital culture.

• This is basically the perfect excuse to spend an entire weekend away from Carnivalentine™️ and surrounded by cosplay contests, concerts, workshops, artist stands, merch, board games, and gaming zones — including a dedicated Pokémon area with official championships for trainers ready to battle it out.

• The event also brings in a mix of well-known illustrators, professional cosplayers, YouTubers, and performers, turning IFEMA into a massive pop culture playground.

• Prepare for the Japan Weekend Cosplay Show the idol dance festivals, K-pop and J-pop cover competitions, cosplay runways, and even karaoke for anyone brave enough to channel their inner anime protagonist.

🖥️ What: Japan Weekend Madrid 2026

📍 Where: IFEMA Madrid (Pavilions 3 & 4), Avenida del Partenón 5, Madrid

📅 When: Feb. 14–15

🎟 Tickets start at €27

4.🪢 El Nudo Gordiano: a tense two-woman thriller at Teatro Español

If you’re in the mood for theatre that doesn’t just entertain but quietly wrecks you, Teatro Español has one of the most intriguing plays of the season. Directed by Israel Elejalde, this adaptation of Johnna Adams’ Gidion’s Knot is a sharp, unsettling drama about childhood, responsibility, and impossible decisions adults are forced to make.

• The story unfolds as a verbal duel between a devastated mother and a teacher under intense pressure, both circling around the case of a young boy, Gidion, and the question no one can answer: what do you do when a child doesn’t fit the mold?

• Set inside the sterile world of a school staff room, the play becomes a kind of psychological thriller built on silences, moral uncertainty, and the uncomfortable grey zones society prefers to ignore.

• Beneath the surface, it’s also a broader reflection on how childhood has become an ideological battlefield since the 19th century, where debates about freedom, discipline, education, and difference collide.

There are no easy solutions here. And that’s exactly the point.

🖥️ What: El Nudo Gordiano (Gidion’s Knot)

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

📅 When: Through March 22 (Tue–Sun)

🎟 Tickets start at €18

5.☕️ CoffeeFest: Madrid’s biggest weekend for coffee nerds

If your idea of a perfect plan involves espresso, latte art, and casually debating beans like it’s a sport, CoffeeFest Madrid is basically your Super Bowl.

• Taking over IFEMA this February, CoffeeFest is positioning itself as the largest coffee event in Europe; a three-day celebration of premium coffee culture that brings together everyone from hardcore baristas to curious caffeine addicts.

• Expect a full program of national and international talks, hands-on workshops, tasting zones, and even coffee routes across the city.

• With 240 exhibitors and tens of thousands of visitors, it’s less “grab a quick cappuccino” and more “welcome to the future of coffee.”

If you’re a specialty coffee purist or just want to drink something life-changing, this is the place to be.

🖥️ What: CoffeFest 2026

📍 Where: IFEMA Madrid (Pavilion 14), Avenida del Partenón 5, Madrid

📅 When: Feb. 14-16

🎟 Tickets start at €20

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

🖥️ What: Salvador | Miniseries | 2026

📍Where to watch: Netflix

❓What’s it about: A desperate father infiltrates a neo-Nazi group to save his daughter. As he delves deeper, he struggles to understand her transformation and the forces that led her astray, all while confronting values that clash with his own beliefs.

🤩 Why you should watch: Because it’s a gripping thriller that tackles one of the most unsettling realities of today’s Spain and Europe: the rise of a new, younger far-right. Led by (the great) Luis Tosar, and his fantastic eyebrows, the series created by Patria’s Aitor Gabilondo delivers tension, action, and a slick visual style, using the thriller format to explore radicalization, scapegoating, and how ordinary lives can get swept into extremist politics.

💬 English Subtitles: Yes

💃🏻 Something to try this weekend…

🐙 Mesón Rincón de la Cava: a classic tavern hideaway steps from Plaza Mayor

What’s it about: Mesón Rincón de la Cava is a centuries-old tavern tucked just off Plaza Mayor in La Latina, serving classic Spanish and Mediterranean fare (ibéricos, pulpo a la gallega, and callos a la madrileña).

Why you should go: It’s a great stop if you want a traditional Madrid meal with character: tapas, seasonal dishes, and attentive service are highlights mentioned often by visitors, and the location on Cava de San Miguel makes it perfect for walking around central Madrid before or after eating.

Bottom line: Solid, authentic Spanish cooking in a charming, historic setting.

Address: Calle Cava de San Miguel, 17, Madrid

🍸 Ciriaco Brown: Madrid’s secret licorería where the legend is totally made up

What’s it about: Ciriaco Brown is Madrid’s “castizo speakeasy”; a hidden licorería near El Rastro that feels like a tribute to a legendary nightlife icon… except the legend is completely invented.

Why you should go: Because Madrid doesn’t have many places where the night can stretch out quietly, stylishly, and without the usual club chaos. This is for grown-up late nights: classic cocktails only, top-shelf spirits, and the kind of intimate atmosphere where you might stumble into an impromptu DJ set or a surprise performance on a random Tuesday.

Bottom line: Ciriaco Brown is a strange (and delicious) little nocturnal hideout where the story about and adventurer named Ciriaco Brown is fake, but the mood is very real.

Address: Calle de los Abades, 13 (near Plaza del Cascorro), Madrid

👨🏻‍💻 Viral Memes of the Week

🥚 Rosalía will now teach you how to live well

🤷 Just saying…

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Here Are 5 Things to Do in Madrid This Weekend

It’s Friday again!

Yes, it’s still raining. The cold, drizzly weather makes the city feel a little slower, a little moodier, and honestly, a little more cinematic (which is nice). But the good news is that Madrid is basically built for rainy weekends.

• You step off the street, shake off your umbrella, and suddenly you’re inside a theater, a museum, a gallery, or a bar that feels like it’s been waiting for you all week.

• This edition is all about escaping the grey skies with the best possible plans. From the city turning into a design capital to flamenco-jazz piano nights that feel like pure warmth, there’s no shortage of reasons to stay curious even when the forecast says otherwise.

And if you’d rather lean into the cozy side of things, we’ve also got neighborhood food adventures: a tapa route in Prosperidad, the kind of bar where mezcal meets old-school Madrid vibes, and plenty of excuses to end the night somewhere delicious while the rain keeps tapping on the windows.

So yes, it’s going to be wet outside. But inside, Madrid is very much alive.

Happy weekend!

1. 🧑‍🎨 Madrid’s month of creativity: the design festival that redraws the city

Woo! Madrid just got seriously stylish. The city is hosting the 9th edition of Madrid Design Festival, turning it into a full-blown playground for creativity, architecture, interiors, and the future of how we live.

• This year’s theme is “Redesigning the World,” and the festival leans into big questions: how design can be more responsible, more meaningful, more impactful, and how ideas get passed between generations.

• There are nearly 200 activities, 20 exhibitions, and dozens of OFF spaces, studios, and showrooms across the city. One of the highlights is Guatemala as the guest country, with a beautiful exhibit dedicated entirely to contemporary Guatemalan textile design (this is a rare chance to see traditional techniques like brocade and backstrap weaving reimagined as modern art).

• The main hub is the Fernán Gómez Cultural Center, but the festival spreads all over town: CaixaForum, Matadero, Reina Sofía, the Círculo de Bellas Artes, and more.

If you’re into furniture, graphic design, fashion, urbanism, and other stuff you probably couldn’t afford if it were for sale, or just love beautiful things, this is one of the best ways to spend a winter afternoon.

🖥️ What: Madrid Design Festival 2026

📍 Where: Fernán Gómez Centro Cultural de la Villa and other venues across Madrid

📅 When: Through March 8

🎟 Tickets: Check website (many events are free)

2.💃🏻 Manuel Liñán turns flamenco into a living archive of love

Love flamenco? Then this is one of the most exciting dance events of the season. Granada-born bailaor (aka flamenco dancer) and choreographer Manuel Liñán (winner of the 2017 National Dance Prize and multiple Max Awards) arrives at Teatro de la Zarzuela for four performances

• Liñán’s new show is described as an “archive of loves”: a deeply personal work built around the relationships, desires, fantasies, and emotional shocks that have altered his body and pushed his flamenco into unexpected directions.

• Rather than a traditional narrative, the performance unfolds as a choreographic passage through intimacy, provocation, and longing, a kind of flamenco diary written in movement.

• With 12 artists on stage, the piece carries the spirit of copla, shifting between atmospheres of tenderness and intensity, while exploring the needs that come from within, the ones that sustain our vital energy. It’s flamenco as something raw, contemporary, and constantly evolving, without ever losing its roots.

Liñán is considered one of the most innovative performers of his generation. Besides collaborating with major flamenco figures, his career has been defined by reinvention and artistic risk. So again, if you’re a flamenco fan, this is unmissable.

🖥️ What: Manuel Liñán’s “Muerta de Amor”

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

📅 When: Through Feb. 8

🎟 Tickets: €25-€40

3.🤤 Prosperidad’s ultimate tapas crawl is back

Face it. Not every weekend has to be about appreciating art or music. Sometimes you just want to pass out drunk on a cold Saturday evening, hoping that you can momentarily forget about the inevitable demise of democracy. Well, we’ve got news for you!

You have the perfect excuse to eat your way through one of Madrid’s most underrated neighborhoods this weekend, because the VI Ruta de la Tapa Prospe is calling.

• La Prosperidad (“La Prospe”) neighborhood (right next to Salamanca) turns into a full-on tapas playground, this weekend with 11 local bars and restaurants serving special конкурс tapas paired with the neighborhood’s own signature craft beer: La Rubia del Barrio de Prospe.

• For €5.95, you get a drink (beer, wine, or soft drink) plus a competition tapa, and the lineup is genuinely tempting: Argentine brioche with homemade chorizo and chimichurri, pasta with truffle and cacio e pepe, cochinita tacos, tequeños with caramelized onion dip, beer-and-mustard chicken skewers, and plenty more.

• The fun part? Guests can vote for the best tapa of the route, and participants are entered into a prize draw for beer lovers.

This route has become a beloved annual tradition, turning food into an excuse for community. Oh, and it once again coincides with the Madrid Design Festival, giving the whole weekend an extra buzz of cultural energy.

Bring friends, come hungry.

🖥️ What: VI Ruta de la Tapa Prospe 2026

📍 Where: Prosperidad neighborhood (Chamartín). Check website for participating venues.

📅 When: Through Feb. 8

🎟 Price: €5.95 (drink + tapa)

4.🎨 Generación 2026: Madrid’s next generation of artists takes over La Casa Encendida

Want a glimpse of where Spanish contemporary art is heading right now? Well, Generación 2026 is one of the smartest stops you can make this season. Running through April 19 at La Casa Encendida, the exhibition brings together six emerging artists selected through the Fundación Montemadrid’s long-running Generaciones program, one of the country’s most respected platforms for young creative talent.

• The show features projects by Élan d’Orphium, Hodei Herreros Rodríguez, Claudia Pagès Rabal, Maya Pita-Romero, Víctor Ruiz Colomer, and Victor Santamarina, offering a wide-ranging snapshot of new voices working across today’s most exciting artistic languages.

• The whole point of Generaciones is simple: give young artists the resources, visibility, and production support to take their work seriously, and to bring it directly to the public.

• This year’s edition also reflects a shift toward better working conditions in the art world. Instead of awarding eight projects, the program selected six, increasing the funding to €12,000 per artist (including dedicated fees, not just production budgets). In other words: more support, more sustainability, and more space for these creators to develop ambitious work.

If you’re curious about the future of Spanish art, this is the kind of exhibition that feels like discovering tomorrow’s headline artists before everyone else does (and so you can brag to your friends).

🖥️ What: Generación 2026

📍 Where: La Casa Encendida, Ronda de Valencia 2, Madrid

📅 When: Through April 19

🎟 Tickets: Check Website

5.✍️ Want to write your own story? Madrid’s public libraries have you covered

If the start of the year has you itching to finally write that short story, poem, or half-finished novel sitting in your Notes app, Madrid’s public libraries are offering the perfect excuse to begin.

• Through the end of March, libraries across the Comunidad de Madrid will host a series of creative writing workshops designed for anyone who wants to develop their voice and learn the craft of storytelling.

• The program covers a range of genres, from short fiction and novels to poetry and even monologues, with sessions focused on the fundamentals that matter most: style, structure, clarity, and finding your own rhythm on the page.

• Each workshop is led by a specialist who guides participants through practical exercises, offers techniques to sharpen writing skills, and helps turn inspiration into something concrete.

• It’s also one of those rare cultural plans that feels both creative and genuinely useful: a chance to meet other writers, build a routine, and start producing work instead of just thinking about it.

Spots are limited, and registration opens on a first-come, first-served basis, with each participant allowed to sign up for one workshop unless places remain available.

If you’re looking for a serious push to finally write, this is a simple, free, and a very Madrid way to start.

🖥️ What: Creative Writing Workshops at Madrid Public Libraries

📍 Where: Libraries across Madrid

📅 When: First trimester of 2026 (various dates)

🎟 Price: Free

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

🖥️ What: Esto no es Suecia (This isn’t Sweden) | Miniseries | 2023

📍Where to watch: SkyShowtime

❓What’s it about: Follows Mariana and Samuel, who move to a mountain neighborhood up in the mountains of Barcelona, away from their traumatic childhoods, but their beliefs start to crumble when a tragic event rocks the neighborhood and shatters their dreams.

🤩 Why you should watch: Because it skewers, with brutally funny, pitch-black humor, the kind of progressive and slightly self-deluded parenting culture you’ll quickly notice in big Spanish cities. A couple is obsessed with raising their kids “the Nordic way” and is fixated on their seemingly perfect Swedish neighbor, only for everything to unravel into envy, hypocrisy, and painfully relatable social cringe.

💬 English Subtitles: No

💃🏻 Something to try this weekend…

🍸 Marrufo: Malasaña’s mezcal bar where even Rosalía comes to blend in

What’s it about: Marrufo is the kind of mezcal-forward neighborhood bar that somehow feels both completely normal and quietly special — a “bar de viejos” reinvented with Oaxacan soul, vintage vibes, and cocktails that range from perfectly classic to playfully agave-fueled.

Why you should go: It’s become a Malasaña favorite precisely because it doesn’t try too hard: just good drinks, warm service, and the feeling that you’ve stumbled into someone’s living room.

Bottom line: Marrufo is proof that the coolest places in Madrid aren’t always the loudest; they’re the ones that feel real, rooted, and full of good mezcal and even better vibes.

Address: Calle del Noviciado 16, Madrid

☕️ Wolføx: Madrid’s coffee purist hideout

What’s it about: Wolføx Madrid is the kind of specialty coffee spot that feels like it was made for people who actually care about coffee — not as a side option, but as the main event. Small, focused, and beautifully done, it’s a quiet little refuge in the middle of the city’s buzz.

Why you should go: Because everything here is crafted with real attention to detail: smooth, fragrant espresso, perfect flat whites, fresh pastries, and toast that somehow tastes better when paired with a cappuccino. The vibe is cozy-modern, the staff know their beans, and it’s the sort of place you’ll want to return to on every trip back to Madrid.

Bottom line: A true coffee purist’s gem — minimal menu, maximum quality, and one of the best ways to start a Madrid morning.

Address: Calle de Pérez Galdós, 2, Madrid

👨🏻‍💻 Viral Memes of the Week

🌧️ 8 ways to say if it rains one more day, I'll turn British

🇻🇪 Ah, that old chestnut: The Maduro-themed bachelor party

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Here Are 5 Things to Do in Madrid This Weekend

It’s Friday again!

Rainy weekends in Madrid can go two ways: staying in and doomscrolling about 🧊 and the current state of the world, or leaning into the city and letting it do the work for you.

• This one looks firmly set to be wet, grey, and very Madrid in the winter. But we have the best antidote: good food, warm interiors, dark cinemas, theatre seats, exhibitions you can lose track of time in.

• From comfort food elevated to obsession, to films everyone will be talking about in a few weeks, to culture that demands effort, consider this your short, sharp guide to making the most of a rainy Madrid weekend.

• And if your Weather app says it will be sunny tomorrow… don’t trust it.

Happy weekend!

1.🎬 Catch the Goya 2026 nominees on the big screen before the awards

Want to understand where Spanish cinema is right now? This weekend is a very good place to start. The local film industry is gearing up for the Goya Awards 2026 (Spain’s version of the Oscars). The Goyas are awarded annually by the Spanish Film Academy, and they recognize the best films, directors, actors, and technical achievements of the year.

• As part of the run-up to the ceremony (which takes place on Feb. 28 in Barcelona) the Sala Berlanga is having its traditional Goya warm-up cycle and is giving audiences the chance to watch a wide selection of nominated films in cinemas, at really low prices, before the ceremony takes place.

• This weekend’s program brings together animation, intimate drama, and some of the strongest contenders for the prizes.

Friday, Jan. 30

• El tesoro de Barracuda

  One of the animated films competing this year, showing how Spanish animation continues to expand beyond children’s cinema into visually ambitious storytelling.

• La buena letra

  Directed by Celia Rico Clavellino, this is quiet, carefully observed cinema, centered on memory, family and emotional inheritance. A good example of the intimate, literary strand that remains one of Spanish cinema’s strengths.

• Sirat, which is also nominated in the Best Foreign Film category at the Oscars, is also screening today but is already sold out :(

Saturday, Jan. 31

• Norbert

  Another animation nominee, confirming the strong presence of the genre in this year’s Goyas.

• Maspalomas

  From Jose Mari Goenaga and Aitor Arregi, Maspalomas has picked up nine nominations and stands out for its emotional depth and careful storytelling. One of the films most likely to feature prominently on awards night.

If you want to arrive at the Goyas knowing what deserves applause (and what doesn’t) this is the cheapest and most enjoyable way to do it (also, Susan Sarandon is coming!).

🖥️ What: Goya Screenings at the Sala Berlanga

📍 Where: Sala Berlanga, Calle de Andrés Mellado, 53, Madrid.

📅 When: Through Feb. 14

🎟 Tickets: €3,50

2. 🤤 Hungry? Enjoy Spain’s best croqueta de jamón and the best torrija in the world

Look. It’s gonna rain for the next 10 days or so (except maybe tomorrow). So if your idea of a perfect weekend involves eating exceptionally well and indoors, we’re going to make things very easy for you.

Madrid Fusión 2026 (Spain’s most important international gastronomy congress) just concluded that this year, Spain’s best croqueta de jamón and the world’s best torrija are both here in the city. (FYI, a torrija is Spain’s version of French toast. So, like, Spanish toast).

• The title of Spain’s best croqueta de jamón ibérico has gone to Salino, a restaurant next to El Retiro Park, where chef Alejandro Cano has turned a humble classic into a masterclass in precision.

• The winning croqueta combines Sánchez Romero Carvajal ibérico ham with a silky béchamel inspired by traditional home cooking. It’s looser, creamier, and damn it, it's tasty. Technically flawless.

When you’re done enjoying that one, we hope you’ve saved room for dessert.

• The world’s best torrija, officially crowned at the First World’s Best Torrija Championship during Madrid Fusión Pastry 2026, is made at Villaroy’s.

• This is no surprise to locals. Their torrija had long been making waves. Created by Madrid-born chef Martín Martínez Villamor, the winning formula is all about restraint and quality: ultra-soft bread that absorbs without collapsing, and top-grade milk and cream that give the dessert depth and identity. Perfection.

One city, two icons, zero excuses.

🖥️ What: Spain’s best croqueta de jamón & the world’s best torrija

📍 Where: Salino (Menorca 4, Retiro, Madrid) & Villaroy’s (Calle de Maudes 11, Chamberí, Madrid)

📅 When: Whenever you’re hungry

3.🎭 A modern return of Luces de Bohemia at Teatro Español

One of the cornerstones of Spanish literature is back on stage and, to be honest, it feels… pretty timely.

Director Eduardo Vasco has revived Luces de Bohemia, the landmark play by Ramón María del Valle-Inclán, in a new production now running at Madrid’s Teatro Español.

• Written in the early 20th century, Luces de Bohemia is a foundational text of Spanish modern theatre and the work that introduced the concept of “esperpento”, a genre that distorts reality into something grotesque and exaggerated in order to expose its cruelty, hypocrisy, and injustice.

• Valle-Inclán famously described it as holding society up to a concave mirror: the image is warped, but the truth is sharper.

• The play follows Max Estrella, a blind, impoverished poet and archetypal bohemian artist, during the final day of his life. As night falls, Max wanders through Madrid with his companion, Latino de Hispalis. Their nocturnal journey takes them through taverns, streets, police stations, and backrooms of power, encountering characters who embody political corruption, repression, poverty, exploitation, and moral decay.

Sounds like a typical Saturday night for The Bubble crew, to be honest. The cast is led by Ginés García Millán and Antonio Molero, two familiar faces of Spanish stage and screen, who help deliver a devastating portrait of a society that crushes its artists and normalises injustice.

🖥️ What: Luces de Bohemia (in Spanish, duh)

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

📅 When: Through March 7, Tuesday to Sunday. Check website for schedule.

🎟 Tickets start at: €6 to €22

4.🚫 NO-DO: An exhibit on how propaganda shaped Spain’s reality under Franco

Hey, Gen Zers! Here’s an exhibit on how Franco’s dictatorship, which some of you fantasize so much about these days, turned propaganda into entertainment and made it feel normal.

• Filmoteca Española’s exhibition, “NO-DO. The World of Yesterday: Image and Propaganda under Franco” focuses on NO-DO (Noticiarios y Documentales), the state-controlled newsreels that Spaniards were required to watch in cinemas during the Franco dictatorship.

• Shown before every film, NO-DO became one of the regime’s most powerful tools: tightly linked to authoritarian power, yet packaged as sexist harmless news, spectacle, and escapism.

• More than 80 years after NO-DO’s creation (and nearly 45 years after its disappearance), the exhibition asks what meaning these images hold today. Were they simply crude propaganda? Or did their polished tone, optimism, and ritualised presence help shape how an entire society understood reality, authority, and normality?

• More importantly, are they getting a reboot soon? (Although they would probably come in the shape of Elon Musk’s brain-farts tweets).

But we digress. Rather than offering easy answers, the exhibit invites visitors to rewatch these films with modern eyes, questioning how audiovisual language can soften repression, rewrite history, and turn ideology into background noise.

🖥️ What: NO-DO. The World of Yesterday: Image and Propaganda under Franco

📍 Where: Filmoteca Española, Calle de la Magdalena 10, Madrid

📅 When: Through July 26

🎟 Tickets: Free admission

5. 🧳 Since we’re at it: Trace Spain’s exile through memory, objects, and letters

The Francoist dictatorship was marked not only by those who stayed, but by those who were forced to leave (and by what they carried with them).

• The Casa de América hosts until next month The Wandering Body: Spanish Exile 1939–1975, an exhibition that explores the lived experience of exile after the Civil War through deeply personal materials: objects, letters, photographs, and memories preserved far from home.

• Much of the material on display is previously unseen, focusing not on political history as abstraction, but on how people lived, loved, remembered, and held on to identity while living abroad.

• The exhibit begins with documents disguised to cross borders illegally, followed by a narrow corridor where more than 1,500 suspended letters reconstruct the correspondence between a mother and her son separated by exile.

One of the most striking sections is a sound installation featuring six women’s voices, highlighting the central role women played as keepers and transmitters of collective memory.

🖥️ What: The Wandering Body: Spanish Exile 1939–1975

📍 Where: Casa de América, Plaza de Cibeles, 2, Madrid.

📅 When: Through Feb. 14

🎟 Tickets start at: Free entry

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

🖥️ What: Pelayo - Más Allá del Límite | Documentary Miniseries | 2025

📍Where to watch: Prime Video

❓What’s it about: A former instructor ventures into the heart of drug trafficking, exposing its dark reality as a global system that profits from violence. His dangerous journey reveals a silent war that can no longer be ignored.

🤩 Why you should watch: Because it offers rare, first-hand access to a real and ongoing conflict that usually remains abstract or distant: the global war on drug trafficking.

💬 English Subtitles: Yes

💃🏻 Something to try this weekend…

🌮 Madrid’s new taco obsession: why everyone is queuing for Taquería Puerco

What’s it about: A no-frills neighbourhood taquería in the Universidad area, just opposite Casa de México, serving proper Mexican-style tacos the way you’d find them in Mexico City: simple menu, zero gimmicks, no reservations, and everything made in-house.

Why you should go: Puerco focuses exclusively on pork-based tacos: pastor cooked on a real trompo, carnitas, their signature taco puerco, and rajas poblanas for vegetarians, with handmade corn or flour tortillas and proper salsas. Tacos are €4, generously filled, and capped at around 300 a day, which explains the constant queues and daily sell-outs.

Bottom line: If you want tacos that taste like Mexico (messy, bold, and deeply satisfying), this is one of the most exciting places in Madrid right now. Go early, don’t overthink it, and order more than you think you need.

Address: Calle de Alberto Aguilera 19, Madrid

☕️ Breaking Coffee: The Madrid café you’ll wish was your local

What’s it about: A cosy neighbourhood coffee bar that gets the fundamentals right: excellent coffee, a calm, welcoming space, and genuinely warm service. Breaking Coffee feels equally right whether you’re stopping in to grab a quick cup of coffee, settling in to work or study, or just catching up with someone over a carefully made drink.

Why you should go: Because this is one of those places where the experience is as good as the coffee. The staff (shout out to Walter) are consistently praised for being friendly, attentive, and genuinely passionate about what they serve. The menu goes beyond the basics, with standout drinks like the pistachio coconut coffee and pistachio mocha.

Bottom line: A true local gem: great coffee, great people, and the kind of place you end up missing after you’ve left.

Address: Calle de Pelayo 45, Chueca, Madrid

👨🏻‍💻 Viral Memes of the Week

🌧️ Honestly, someone's got to stop this weather

🤙 Thank you, Chris Hemsworth

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Here Are 5 Things to Do in Madrid This Weekend

It’s Friday again!

Madrid is in full cold-rainy-January mode, which means two things: 1) you think it will snow but it won’t, and 2) plans suddenly need heating, roofs, and ideally alcohol.

• For this weekend, we’ve rounded up solid indoor escapes that involve cocido madrileño and cozy cafés, cinema, and art, so you can dodge the drizzle, stay warm, and pretend winter in Madrid is actually charming (it’s not).

• Have you checked out your phone’s Weather app? For the love of all things sacred, don’t. It’s depressing. We have like ten more days of rain, so we may need to add one of these newsletters in the middle of the week, too.

Fortunately this city is fun, even when the weather is trying to murder you.

Happy weekend!

1.🧳 FITUR 2026: The entire tourism industry lands in Madrid

Madrid is hosting its annual mega-huddle of airlines, tour operators, tech platforms, tourism boards, ministers, influencers, and anyone else with a country, region, app, or idea to sell to people who probably can’t afford to travel to, I dunno, Benidorm. But hey, dreaming is nice, so what the hell.

• FITUR is the world’s largest tourism fair, and it returns to IFEMA this weekend with a heavyweight partner, Mexico, which arrives with an immersive pavilion showcasing everything from UNESCO sites and “Pueblos Mágicos” to Día de Muertos and emerging destinations you’ve never heard of. (This is why the Puerta del Sol looks so different this week.)

• Beyond the usual country stands and glossy brochures, FITUR 2026 leans hard into innovation and knowledge. There are 200+ sessions, and an entire zone dedicated to travel tech, experiential tourism, and a Communication & Tourism Summit (you can finally ask your favorite airline why they keep sending you these email ads promising to send you to the Mongolian desert for €7, which, you know… ALL LIES).

• Expect record participation again. As in 10,000 companies, 161 countries, 9 pavilions, and every tourism minister within a 10-hour flight radius.

If you work in travel, this is the week your LinkedIn becomes a FOMO festival. If you’re just poor curious, the weekend is open to the general public, making it the only place in Madrid where you can go from Abu Dhabi to Zanzibar to Oaxaca without having to dip into your emergency fund leaving Hall 10.

🖥️ What: FITUR (Feria Internacional de Turismo 2026)

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

📅 When: Through Jan. 25 (Professionals on Fri, and Peasants General Public, Sat–Sun)

🎟 Tickets: If you’re a peasant, it’s €14 (online) and €17 at the ticket booth.

2. 🤤 Last chance for the Garbanzo Route (yes, that’s a thing, and it’s f*cking delicious)

Are you new to Madrid? If so, have you tried the Cocido Madrileño yet? Because if not, you’re missing out (also, it’s a winter dish, so this is the perfect time to do it).

Anyway, Madrid (the region, not just the city) is in the middle of a full-blown chickpea pilgrimage, and this is your last weekend to join.

• More than 27 municipalities in the western Comunidad de Madrid have been celebrating the 7th Ruta del Garbanzo Madrileño, a foodie tour that honors the region’s most underrated superstar: the garbanzo used in cocido (by the way, garbanzo madrileño = Madrilenian chickpea).

• Why does this garbanzo matter? Because it’s not just any chickpea. The Garbanzo Madrileño doubles in size when cooked, keeps its delicate skin (no mushy gross stuff), and has a buttery interior perfect for soaking up broth (this last line is pure poetry, by the way. We are so good).

• The local chickpea is also smaller and more orange than the pedrosillano and deeply tied to Madrid’s culinary identity through cocido.

Here’s how the route works: every participating restaurant serves a weekend menu featuring at least one dish where garbanzos are the star, paired with Madrid wine.

• You can rate what you try through a mobile app and even enter a draw for prizes that range from rural stays to wine boxes… and yes, even your weight in chickpeas. (Bad time to be on Ozempic, but we can’t win them all).

The full route spans everywhere from Boadilla to San Lorenzo del Escorial, and it ends this Sunday, so if you’re staying in the city, you’ve got four options:

• Cava de la Casa María

• Cutxi-Bar

• 8Patas La Pulpería (Mercado de Antón Martín)

• Taberna Madrid Madriz

🖥️ What: VII Ruta del Garbanzo Madrileño (with Vinos de Madrid)

📍 Where: 27 municipalities across the Madrid region (4 restaurants in Madrid, the city)

📅 When: Final weekend: Through Jan. 25

🎟 Tickets: No tickets; restaurant reservations recommended

3.🎬 It’s your last chance to catch Carabanchel’s Spanish Film Week

Carabanchel (a neighborhood right outside the M-30 beltway, so you’ve never been) has been living and breathing cinema for the past 10 days, and now it’s down to the final stretch.

• The 44ª Semana de Cine Español de Carabanchel ends this Sunday, and if you haven’t gone yet, this is your last weekend to catch it. Now, let us warn you. This is not a flashy industry event.

• It’s a grassroots celebration of Spanish film organized by the district and local associations, and over the years, it has turned into one of Madrid’s most genuine cultural fixtures.

• The festival screens recent Spanish films that actually deserve a second look, while its Short Film Competition has become a minor institution: this year it received 147 submissions, added a brand new Animation category, and now hands out €22,000 in prizes (one of the biggest pots for short-form filmmaking in Spain).

For the closing weekend, the focus shifts to families, cinephiles, and anyone curious about what Spanish filmmakers are up to beyond Netflix:

📽 Sat & Sun (24–25 Jan 24/25, 12:00): Children’s screenings — curated to be kid-friendly without being boring (rare, we know).

🎞 Sun (Jan, 25, 18:00): Festival closing + final screening at Centro Cultural Fernando Lázaro Carreter, opened by one of the finalist shorts.

These sessions are free, local, and pretty intimate. There will be no glitz, no popcorn, no Vin Diesel in Fast & Furious 17: Even more Faster & Furiouser. In here, you sit with neighbors, filmmakers, and the kind of moviegoers who still clap at the end and learn Spanish the hard way.

🖥️ What: 44ª Semana de Cine Español de Carabanchel (Final Weekend)

📍 Where: Centro Cultural Fernando Lázaro Carreter, Calle de la Verdad 29, Carabanchel

📅 When: Jan. 24-25

🎟 Tickets: Free entry (subject to capacity)

4.🎨 José Miguel Palacio’s hyperreal cityscapes take over the Museo de Historia

See this photo above? Turns out it’s not a photo, it’s a painting.

Artist José Miguel Palacio’s new exhibition at the Museo de Historia de Madrid turns the city into a hyperreal stage: planes over Barajas, taxis slicing through traffic, Atocha at rush hour, Gran Vía reflected in a car windshield. It’s the Madrid we all live in, except it’s crisper and shinier.

• The show is big. Over 70 paintings, plus sculpture and drawings, all obsessively detailed. The highlight is a 30-panel piece called “Madrid al cielo”, which looks up at the city from Serrano, Callao, Princesa, Retiro, Chamartín, and more (kind of a love letter for anyone who’s ever walked around Centro looking up).

• Palacio is a Zaragoza-born artist who ditched surrealism for hyperrealism in the 2000s, and he works like a reporter: he walks, photographs, observes, and then recreates the city down to the reflections on chrome bumpers and airport terminal glass. The result feels like photography until you remember you’re looking at oil paint.

If you like Madrid, this one is worth visiting.

🖥️ What: José Miguel Palacio’s Naturaleza de Asafalto

📍 Where: Museo de Historia de Madrid, Fuencarral 78, Madrid

📅 When: Through May 24

🎟 Tickets: Free entry

5. 🎹 Flamenco meets jazz at Babylon Club Madrid

If you like your flamenco sweaty and your jazz improvisational, Babylon Club Madrid is currently hosting the best crossover since Alien vs. Predator (great movie, btw)

• The club has launched the first edition of its Flamenco Jazz—Piano Flamenco cycle, a mini-festival dedicated to musicians who love tradition but refuse to sit still inside it.

• The lineup is stacked. Chano Domínguez, Chico Pérez, Alex Conde and Pedro Ojesto, four pianists who treat the piano as a percussive flamenco instrument and a jazz machine.

This weekend is the heart of the program:

🎹 Saturday (Jan. 24): Double session with Chano Domínguez (Trío)

A legit legend of the genre teams up with Horacio Fumero and David Xirgu to present new compositions and that signature flamenco–jazz hybrid he basically pioneered.

🎹 Sunday (Jan. 25): Pedro Ojesto + Román Filiú + Nicolás Cañete + David Bao

Ojesto is one of the key figures in flamenco-jazz in Spain, and he’s bringing a killer ensemble with international credentials, festival resumes, and award-heavy CVs.

• For context: the cycle opened with Alex Conde, a Valencian virtuoso currently pushing flamenco-jazz into contemporary classical territory with his new album El Trío. And it will close on Jan. 29 with Chico Pérez, fresh off an international tour and currently one of the most talked-about flamenco-jazz composers in Spain.

If you enjoyed watching two alien creatures fighting each other to the death (and like flamenco), then we’re pretty sure you will enjoy this.

🖥️ What: Flamenco Jazz - Piano Flamenco (Cycle)

📍 Where: Babylon Club Madrid, Calle de Cedaceros, 7, Madrid

📅 When: Next shows: Jan. 24-25

🎟 Tickets: Check website

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

🖥️ What: Cristo y Rey (Untameable) | Miniseries | 2023

📍Where to watch: Netflix

❓What’s it about: As Ángel Cristo and Bárbara Rey come together, their marriage soon becomes a million-dollar business, but behind the spotlight hide drug addiction, gambling, and infidelity problems.

🤩 Why you should watch: Because it’s the shocking (fictionalized) story of one of the most scrutinized marriages in Spain’s recent history. Not only it was full of drama and tragedy, it was also political. Bárbara Rey became well known for getting romantically involved with the former King of Spain, which led to a series of earth-shattering scandals.

💬 English Subtitles: Yes

💃🏻 Something to try this weekend…

🐙 Das Meigas: Galician comfort food (heavy on the seafood) in the heart of Chueca

What’s it about: A cozy Galician restaurant in Chueca serving seafood-heavy classics, grilled meats, and homestyle stews at reasonable prices, with a focus on quality ingredients and traditional recipes.

Why you should go: For generous mariscadas, excellent pulpo a feira, empanadas gallegas, and other Galician staples that are comforting, flavorful, and hard to find well-executed in downtown Madrid. It’s also the typical, old-fashioned bodegón that survives the city’s gentrification.

Bottom line: Unpretentious Galician cooking done right: tasty, abundant, and great value for seafood lovers.

Address: Calle de Barbieri 6, Madrid

☕️ Toma Café: One of Malasaña’s best specialty coffee shops

What’s it about: One of Madrid’s original specialty coffee shops, serving carefully sourced and roasted beans, plus solid breakfast/brunch options, in a cozy Malasaña setting.

Why you should go: Top-tier espresso and filter brews, friendly baristas, and a relaxed vibe that helped define Madrid’s modern coffee culture.

Bottom line: A must-visit for coffee lovers — consistent, stylish, and genuinely good.

Address: Calle de la Palma 49 (Malasaña, Madrid) plus locations in Olavide & Chamberí

👨🏻‍💻 Viral Memes of the Week

🗣️ “¡Hijo de sacapuntas!”

🇪🇸 Spain and Portugal have already solved that Greenland thing

🐂 Never knew we needed to know that, but we do

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Here Are 5 Things to Do in Madrid This Weekend

It’s Friday again!

Madrid in mid-January feels like someone hit shuffle on the city: priests blessing poodles in Chueca, contemporary textile theory in El Retiro, and croqueta routes diplomacy in La Elipa.

• And that’s just the tip of the iceberg, because this city has so many things to see and do (and drink) that one weekend is never enough.

• It’s also the last call for Robert Capa at Círculo de Bellas Artes (you have 9 days), plus we have two solid places to eat and drink your way through the cold. You have no excuse to be bored for the next 48 hours.

So grab your friends and/or love interest and step outside. Yes, it’s cold, but it’s worth the sacrifice.

Happy weekend!

1.🐶 San Antón 2026: Bless your pets, buy the bread, do the vueltas

If your dog/cat/weasel has been speaking in tongues and vomiting projectile-style lately, it’s time to grab them and make your annual pilgrimage to Chueca!

This weekend, like every January, Madrid throws one of its most chaotic cute neighborhood fiestas: San Antón, the celebration of San Antonio Abad, patron saint of animals, which basically turns the Chueca area into a parade of dogs, cats, rabbits, parrots (and the occasional iguana wearing a puffer vest because it’s cold outside).

• This weekend’s edition includes all the greatest hits: blessings at the San Antón Church, the traditional vueltas (loops) around the church, dog-unit exhibitions, kids’ workshops, and open-house tours at the municipal animal center.

• In case you were wondering (you weren’t), yes, the famous panecillos (little bread cookies!) are being sold at the church (10 a.m. to 8 p.m.). Tons of people queue for them (don’t ask, just do it).

The official festivities kick off today around 5 p.m. at Palacio de Cibeles, where there will be live music, workshops, and games.

• Tomorrow (Saturday, Jan 17) is the main event, with pet blessings at 10 a.m. at San Antón, mass at 12 p.m., and the traditional loop around the church at 5 p.m. with hundreds of pets trying to murder each other happily walking with their owners.

• If crowds aren’t your thing, Cibeles runs parallel programming all day with canine exhibitions from the Municipal Police, Guardia Civil, National Police, Defense Military Canine Center, and others, plus workshops and a joint demo by DogCity + ASR Animal Soul Rescue.

All masses are streamed live on the official San Antón website (useful for cats who refuse to leave the house).

🖥️ What: San Antón 2026, Patron Saint of Animals Festivities

📍 Where: Iglesia de San Antón (Chueca), Palacio de Cibeles, and various locations

📅 When: January 16-17, check the official program for schedules

🎟 Tickets: Free admission

2.🧵 Andrea Canepa wraps the Palacio de Cristal at El Retiro

Those of you who like to go for a run at El Retiro Park have probably noticed that the Palacio de Cristal is currently closed for restoration, but instead of staring at a sad white construction tarp, visitors now get a full-scale artwork.

• Peruvian artist Andrea Canepa has been invited by the Reina Sofía Museum to design the second intervention on the temporary covering, and the result is, well, pretty awesome (and visually striking).

• Canepa’s piece grows out of a research project on Paracas funerary textiles (pre-Columbian fabric bundles used to wrap the dead) and the cultural idea of covering, protecting, and encoding memory through cloth. She connects that ancient ritual to the 19th-century modernity of the Palacio’s iron-and-glass architecture, which in turn is linked to early optical devices and proto-cinema.

• The building becomes a kind of contemporary praxinoscope, turning its façade into a sequence of “cover–uncover” moments that change as you walk around it. In other words, the artwork isn’t just printed on the tarp; it happens as you move.

Canepa’s approach translates an ancient Andean logic into a very Madrid context, and makes the restoration process itself part of the experience rather than an interruption.

If you needed an excuse to wander through El Retiro this week, this is a good one (also, the piece will remain up for almost a full year, which is rare for temporary urban interventions of this scale). If you hate the cold, maybe wait until the summer.

🖥️ What: Andrea Canepa: Intervention on the Palacio de Cristal façade

📍 Where: Palacio de Cristal, El Retiro Park, Madrid

📅 When: Jan.13, 2026 to Jan 1, 2027

🎟 Tickets: Free admission

3. 🤤 Croqueteando por La Elipa: the neighborhood croqueta route

If your New Year’s resolutions had anything to do with eating light, ignore them immediately because La Elipa is currently hosting a croqueta pilgrimage. (Also, another resolution should be that you walk across the M-30 beltway and leave your comfort zone because, let’s face it, you had to look up La Elipa on Google Maps).

• From now until January 18, bars and restaurants in La Elipa are serving two homemade, delicious croquetas plus a caña or soft drink for €3.50. Honestly, that’s civic service.

• This croqueta route is called “Croqueteando por La Elipa” and it’s exactly what it sounds like: a chance to hop between local spots and compare béchamel density, crumb texture, and whether seafood croquetas should be legal (La Elipa typically votes yes).

• Participating bars include classics like Las Gárgolas, Bar Felipe, Bar Lanchas, La Santa, La Lonja, Dos Hermanos, Bar Gladis, and a handful of others spread across Marqués de Corbera, Montejurra, San Emilio, and the surrounding streets.

Guys, La Elipa is literally across the street from Las Ventas. This route is a fun way to explore a neighborhood that often gets overlooked in favor of more, ahem, “Instagram-friendly” districts and a reminder that Madrid’s bar culture is still one of the city’s greatest democratic institutions: two croquetas, a drink, and a good excuse to argue about which ones were best.

🖥️ What: Croqueteando por La Elipa

📍 Where: Multiple bars in La Elipa (Marqués de Corbera, Montejurra & surrounding streets)

📅 When: Until January 18, 2026

🎟 Prices start at: €3.50 (2 croquetas + drink)

4.🌿 Huge plant sale in Madrid starting at €0.99: Turn your apartment into a jungle!

If all the plants in your apartment have died (as per ush), we have some good news: the biggest plant sale of the season lands in Madrid this weekend with thousands of plants starting at €0.99 and more than half under €10. That’s cheaper than most coffees in Chamberí.

• The format is simple: plants everywhere, staff that’s ready to help, and a steady stream of people trying to decide whether they can keep a fiddle-leaf fig alive (you can always try a cactus).

• There are more than 150 varieties, including pet-friendly, shade-tolerant, “indestructible”, and big statement plants from €19.90 for those who want instant décor gratification.

• There are also pots, planters, and soil, so you don’t end up repotting into an old yogurt container (and finally fulfilling the prophecy of becoming your mother).

Entry is free, but you need to reserve a ticket online so the organizers can estimate how many plants to bring and avoid waste. Also: card payments only, accessible, and dogs welcome, which means you will almost certainly see a bulldog evaluating a calathea (probably after being blessed at San Antón).

🖥️ What: Gran Venta de Plantas (Massive Indoor Plant Sale).

📍 Where: Espacio 23, Calle del General Oráa 23, Madrid

📅 When: January 16–18, 2026

🎟 Tickets: Free (reservation required, so check website)

5. 📸 Last chance to see Robert Capa: the war photographer who defined the 20th century

If you’ve been meaning to see the massive Robert Capa. ICONS exhibition at the Círculo de Bellas Artes, consider this your friendly nudge: it closes on January 25, which means you have 9 days left to catch the biggest Capa retrospective ever shown in Spain (and judging by the crowds, a lot of people left this for the last minute).

• The exhibit brings together more than 250 original pieces from the legendary war photographer: vintage prints developed by Capa himself, historical magazine spreads, contact sheets, and personal objects like cameras, notebooks, and his typewriter.

• It’s a chance to see not just the images (Normandy, the Spanish Civil War, Indochina) but the way they traveled through the media long before digital files existed, when photos went from front lines to darkrooms to newsrooms by train, jeep, or plane.

• And it’s not all trenches and helmets: one of the biggest surprises here is Capa’s color work, rarely shown and full of travel, cinema sets, fashion, and portraits that reveal a much more playful and modern side than the mythic war correspondent suggests.

• If you’re a photography nerd, there’s an extra layer of satisfaction in seeing the actual vintage prints; unretouched, imperfect, and much more alive than the cleaned-up versions in books.

Long story short, if you care about photography, journalism, or 20th-century history, this is one of those exhibitions that won’t come around again anytime soon, and you are officially running out of time.

🖥️ What: Robert Capa. ICONS

📍 Where: Círculo de Bellas Artes, Calle de Alcalá 42, Madrid

📅 When: Through January 25, 2026

🎟 Tickets: €12

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

🖥️ What: La Suerte (Fate) | Miniseries | 2025

📍Where to watch: Disney+

❓What’s it about: Taxi driver David becomes the chauffeur for a famous bullfighter known as El Maestro, who is attempting a comeback after years away from the ring. El Maestro's perspective changes, and he starts seeing David as a good luck charm.

🤩 Why you should watch: Because what starts as an unlikely friendship becomes a kind of accidental buddy story about masculinity, ego, working-class dignity, and the slow collapse of old Spanish myths.

💬 English Subtitles: No

💃🏻 Something to try this weekend…

🍷 Vinoteca Vides: the most interesting Spanish wine bar in Chueca

What’s it about: A modern, unpretentious wine bar in Chueca showcasing the full Spanish wine ecosystem (nearly 200 bottles across 72 DOs and 65 grape varieties) plus cheeses and tapas that actually match what you’re drinking.

Why you should go: Because it’s the rare place where Spanish wine isn’t dumbed down for tourists or overexplained for sommeliers, just poured with knowledge and humility. Foreigners and locals love it. Trust us, you’ll leave knowing Spain is way more than Rioja and Albariño.

Bottom line: A small, serious-but-fun “sacristy” of Spanish wine where the adventure is in the glass.

Address: Calle de la Libertad, 12, Madrid

🥐 Cuadra: the Buenos Aires bakery winning over Chamberí

What’s it about: A Buenos Aires–inspired bakery-café in Chamberí with its own glass-walled obrador, serving sourdough, medialunas, sandwiches, and pastries made fresh with masa madre and classical techniques.

Why you should go: Because the neighbors are obsessed (for good reason), the vibe is low-key and warm, and the food ranges from perfect milanesa sandwiches to genuinely elite cheesecake (the kind that makes people queue on weekends).

Bottom line: Café culture and bakery with Argentine soul and Madrid swagger. Come for breakfast, stay for the cheesecake.

Address: Calle de Cardenal Cisneros 40, Madrid

👨🏻‍💻 Viral Memes of the Week

🗣️ Well, there have been complaints

🥘 Jamie Oliver should watch this (plus, we wanted to use the paella emoji)

🏡 How to identify the social class of a Spanish kitchen

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Here Are 5 Things to Do in Madrid This Weekend

We’re back!

We know you missed us, but we were trying to enjoy the holidays with our friends and family, who repeatedly complain about how we’re always trapped in a basement working on The Bubble, and they never get to see us anymore. So, yeah. Seeing some daylight was nice, thanks for asking.

Anyway, January is settling in and Madrid has plenty to offer if you’re willing to bundle up and go out.

• You can dive into the smoky world of Cabaret, get hit with light and music at FLOW, or watch Oriol Pla unravel modern excess at the Valle-Inclán. Sala Berlanga also has a small run of buzzy Spanish films.

Happy weekend!

1.🪩 Cabaret, Hedonism and History at the Albéniz Theater Hotel

Yes, it’s cold outside. And many of you feel like staying home. But if you’re looking for something that isn’t another dinner-drinks-Uber-bed loop, go see the new immersive production of Cabaret that everyone in Madrid is talking about.

• More than just a revival of the 1966 Broadway classic, Cabaret is a full transformation of the Albéniz theater into the Kit Kat Klub, complete with dancers, smoky atmosphere, and a wink-wink decadence that somehow feels both very 1930s Berlin and very 2026 Madrid.

• This version is directed by Federico Bellone, who has done everything from Ghost to El Fantasma de la Ópera, and features a cast led by Abril Zamora, Amanda Digón and Pepe Nufrio.

• The story is still the same one that made Cabaret a global cultural staple. Sally Bowles chasing pleasure, an American writer chasing purpose, and a cabaret full of people trying to ignore the rise of Nazism just outside the doors.

• The show’s power lies in that collision between hedonism and history, and in how disturbingly easy it is to recognize our own era in a story set nearly a century ago.

What makes this staging worth seeing now is how immersive it feels. The Albéniz (a few steps away from the Puerta del Sol) doesn’t look like a traditional Madrid theater anymore; it’s dressed up as a functioning cabaret, with an environment that makes you forget the outside world in the same way Sally and company try to forget theirs.

• It’s good for dates, for friends, for people who miss going to the theater, and for anyone who wants to see a show that isn’t afraid to be fun and political at the same time.

🖥️ What: Cabaret at the Kit Kat Klub

📍 Where: UMusic Hotel Teatro Albéniz, Calle de la Paz 11, Madrid

📅 When: Tuesdays–Sundays, through March 1

🎟 Tickets start at €23,20

2.🎻 Classical music meets digital art inside the Castellana’s quietest church

Not into being reminded about how the Nazis could be making a comeback? That’s fine, we get it. How about an immersive, apolitical art experience instead? Yes? Then go see FLOW.

• This incredible performance turns Bedřich Smetana’s La Moldava into a live river of light, sound, and electronic texture inside one of Madrid’s most unexpected venues: the Friedenskirche. (That’s a church for the evangelical German-speaking community here.)

• Classical music meets electronic soundscapes in an audiovisual installation, all staged in a freaking church (yes, it’s as cool as it sounds)

• The show has already made waves in Lyon, Liverpool, and Marseille, but Madrid’s iteration has a particular charm because of the space. The church sits right on Paseo de la Castellana and has this warm, historic intimacy that makes the contrast with digital projection and modern sound design feel even sharper.

• There’s also a thoughtful artistic dialogue at play. The Prague Philharmonic provides the classical backbone, PROJEKTIL handles the audiovisual direction, and the result is an experience that reads like a conversation between old Europe and new Europe.

It’s a perfect plan if you want a break from screens, or need to impress someone who claims there’s “nothing interesting happening in Madrid in January.”

🖥️ What: FLOW (immersive audiovisual performance)

📍 Where: Friedenskirche, Paseo de la Castellana 6, Madrid

📅 When: This weekend

🎟 Tickets: Check website

3.🎬 Navidad de Cine brings the year’s most intimate Spanish stories to Sala Berlanga

The Fundación SGAE turns Sala Berlanga into a small seasonal ritual every year — a “Navidad de cine” marathon of some of the best Spanish films of the year, screened for the price of a coffee and a croissant.

• It’s a great antidote to the chaos of holiday Madrid. There are no IMAX lasers, no superheroes, no popcorn buckets bigger than your head. Just good cinema in a room full of people who still care about stories.

• This year’s selection focuses on intimate dramas, moral dilemmas, and a kind of generational melancholy that Spanish directors have mastered better than anyone.

This weekend’s lineup (its final one) includes four of the year’s most talked-about titles. Today’s screenings:

• Nosotros, from Helena Taberna, is a bare-knuckle marriage drama that nods to Bergman but filters the crisis through contemporary exhaustion: precarity, emotional interdependence, and the sense that love can dissolve just by force of speed.

• Maspalomas, where Jose Mari Goenaga and Aitor Arregi explore sexuality, aging, and identity with a tenderness that refuses to turn old age into a dignified cliché. It’s a film that understands the violence of going back into the closet for survival, and how memory and desire refuse to age on command.

Tomorrow’s screenings:

• Los domingos, one of the critical darlings of the season and already decorated on the festival circuit, is Alauda Ruiz de Azúa’s meditation on family intimacy and moral distance — the kind of film that feels small until it suddenly hits a universal nerve.

• Romería, Carla Simón’s deeply personal journey through Galicia’s 1980s AIDS crisis, reimagined through dreams, folklore, and biography. It’s a film that could have been purely tragic but instead becomes an act of love: a reconstruction of a family history that couldn’t be lived but can still be told.

The screenings are affordable, the crowd is respectful, and you walk out feeling like Madrid still has room for serious cinema.

🖥️ What: “Navidad de cine 2025” (Spanish film screenings)

📍 Where: Sala Berlanga, Andrés Mellado, 53, Madrid

📅 When: Jan. 9 & Jan. 10, 6:30 p.m. / 7:00 p.m. / 9:00 p.m.

🎟 Tickets: €3,50

4.🎭 Scroll, consume, repeat: Gula is a clown monologue for the doom era

There’s something immediately compelling about a show that takes one of the seven deadly sins and turns it into a diagnosis of modern life. That’s essentially what Pau Matas Nogué and Oriol Pla Solina are doing with their new piece at the Teatro Valle-Inclán: a clown allegory about gula, not just as gluttony, but as the endless hunger that defines the contemporary psyche.

• Forget the glamorous kind of consumption — this is about the impulse that devours meaning, attention, resources, intimacy, and, eventually, identity.

• The show is performed as a monologue by Oriol Pla, who takes on the role of a harlequin that never stops moving, jumping, trying, demanding to be seen. (You may remember him as the star of the fantastic Disney+ drama miniseries I, Addict, that earned him an International Emmy for best actor last year.)

• It’s frantic, funny, tragic, and uncomfortable in the way the best clown work is. The humor lands precisely because the critique is sharp; we recognize the frantic scrolling, the dopamine loops, the need to produce, to compare, to be witnessed.

• The piece also expands outward toward the climate crisis, institutional mistrust, inequality, and resource depletion.

It’s a show that refuses to hand out solutions. Instead, it makes the void visible, and then suggests that maybe accepting that void is the first step toward actually feeling something again.

It’s rare to find theater in Madrid that blends clowning, philosophy, and contemporary critique without sliding into TED Talk territory, but this one manages.

• There are also extras for the theater nerds: performances in Catalan on Jan. 28 and 29, plus a post-show talk with the creative team on Jan. 22. If your New Year’s resolution involved “reading more,” “touching grass,” or “fixing your screen time,” consider this research.

🖥️ What: Oriol Pla’s Gula

📍 Where: Teatro Valle-Inclán, Plaza de Ana Diosado s/n, Madrid

📅 When: Wednesdays to Sundays, 6 p.m. (Catalán version on Jan. 28, 29)

🎟 Tickets: €25

5.🖼️ Inquietud. Libertad y democracia: art, memory and the long road to democracy

Whoopsie! Sorry, we’re talking about democracy again, just in case you need a reminder that it didn’t magically appear out of nowhere: that it was fought for, negotiated, and painfully built in living memory.

• Inquietud. Libertad y democracia is a large-scale exhibition that brings together more than 50 artists to reflect on the parallel transitions that Portugal and Spain went through in the 1970s, after decades of dictatorship.

• It offers something much more interesting than nostalgia — discomfort, resistance, and the uneasy feeling that history never really ends, it just mutates. Great way to spend your weekend.

• The show places names like Miró, Tàpies, Maria Helena Vieira da Silva, Paula Rego, Cristina García Rodero, Equipo Crónica, Equipo Realidad, Santiago Sierra & Jorge Galindo, and many others in a shared visual dialogue about power, trauma, propaganda, and cultural reconstruction.

• What makes the exhibition compelling isn’t just the roster of artists; it’s the way the show is staged. The visitor becomes part of the historical tension, moving through film, photography, archival documents, posters, sound, and new commissions that refuse to let the past sit quietly behind glass.

It’s immersive without being gimmicky and political without being didactic. It also closes the gap between the Iberian stories we know (Franco, Salazar, censorship, transition, counterculture) and the European democratic anxieties we are living today.

🖥️ What: Inquietud. Libertad y democracia

📍 Where: La Casa Encendida, Ronda de Valencia 2, Madrid

📅 When: Through March 8

🎟 Tickets: Check website.

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

🖥️ What: Innato (Innate) | Miniseries | 2025

📍Where to watch: Netflix

❓What’s it about: Following the release from prison of the notorious diesel killer, a new string of identical crimes shakes everyone. Is it the same killer… or an even more dangerous copycat? Innato is a dark, psychological, and intense thriller where nothing is as it seems.

🤩 Why you should watch: Because it’s the new thriller that’s captivating all of Spain. If you enjoy suspense series, twisted crimes, and unexpected plot twists, this show is for you. Also, it stars legendary Spanish actor Imanol Arias. Chef’s kiss.

💬 English Subtitles: No

💃🏻 Something to try this weekend…

🍷 La Indigna: a neighborhood taberna without the nonsense

What’s it about: Taberna La Indigna is a casual Spanish tavern with two locations (Centro + Retiro) serving classic tapas, croquetas, vermut, and wine in a laid-back, neighborhood vibe.

Why you should go: Because it’s affordable, friendly, and feels like a real Madrid taberna — no gimmicks, just good food, good service, and a crowd that actually lives here.

Bottom line: A reliable go-to for tapas, vermut, and catching up with friends.

Address: Centro: Calle Santa Brígida 5 / Retiro: Calle Ibiza 26

☕️ Libis: A specialty coffee spot with heart on Zurbano

What’s it about: Libis Specialty Coffee is a small café and roaster with Colombian roots, founded by Carloman Castaño, whose family worked in coffee farming back home. After losing his job during the pandemic, he finally launched the project he’d dreamed of for years: roasting high-quality coffee with traceability and soul.

Why you should go: Because the coffee is excellent and the story behind it is real. Libis sources great beans (especially from Colombia), roasts thoughtfully, and serves espresso and filter brews that actually taste like something. It feels personal, unpretentious, and genuinely passionate — a nice break from the “flat white factory” cafés Madrid keeps producing.

Bottom line: A neighborhood café with specialty coffee and heart. Go for the beans, stay for the warmth.

Address: Calle de Zurbano 61, Madrid

👨🏻‍💻 Viral Memes of the Week

👑 It's Christmas and Kings wrap-up time! And, wow, that Sevilla cabalgata…

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📵 Also, we’re taking a much-needed holiday break, so we’ll be back on Jan. 8! In the meantime, happy holidays!

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Here Are 5 Things to Do in Madrid This Weekend

It’s Friday again!

December in Madrid always feels like the city is playing on multiple stages at once, lights switching on, doors opening, and cultural plans stacking up faster than your calendar can handle

• This weekend is all about that energy. New spaces are launching, major exhibitions are settling in for the winter, markets return with their festive chaos, and museums, theatres, and cafés offer perfect excuses to escape the cold.

If you’re looking for smart plans, low-effort discoveries, and reasons to leave the house (or stay out a little longer), consider this your curated roadmap for the days ahead.

Happy weekend and happy holidays!

1.🎭 Carmen returns to the Teatro Real (and it’s darker and sharper than ever)

Madrid closes the year with a new Carmen at the Teatro Real that feels far removed from postcard flamenco and operatic clichés. Director Damiano Michieletto’s production of Bizet’s masterpiece leans hard into the opera’s darker core: lust, violence, obsession, and the slow collapse of a man who confuses desire with possession.

• Set in Seville and stripped of romantic excess, this Carmen puts the spotlight firmly on power dynamics and masculinity. Carmen is not a femme fatale fantasy here, but a woman asserting autonomy in a world that punishes her for it.

• Don José’s descent (from disciplined soldier to jealous, violent outcast) feels less like melodrama and more like a psychological unraveling that lands disturbingly close to the present.

• Musically, the production is in excellent hands. Aigul Akhmethsina leads as Carmen, returning to the Real after her acclaimed Maria Stuarda, alongside Michael Fabiano and Charles Castronovo as Don José, and J’Nai Bridges in a standout role.

• On the podium, Eun Sun Kim (music director of the San Francisco Opera and the first woman ever to conduct an opera at the Teatro Real) brings precision and tension to Bizet’s familiar score.

This is Carmen without nostalgia. That is, urgent, unsettling, and very much of its time. Even if you think you know this opera by heart, this production makes a strong case for seeing it again.

🖥️ What: Carmen by Georges Bizet

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

📅 When: Dec. 19 & 20, 7:30 p.m.

🎟 Tickets start at €41

2.💼 Madrid’s new ‘third place’ just opened in Delicias, and it’s built for curious people

Madrid has a new cultural space worth paying attention to, and it’s not a museum, a gallery, or a foodie hub, but a bit of all three. Infinito Delicias, which officially opened its doors on Dec. 11, lands in the Delicias neighborhood with an ambitious promise: to be a true third space, somewhere between home and work, where culture, food, sustainability, and community naturally collide.

• Spread across 2,700 square meters, the project brings together experimental kitchens, cultural rooms, coworking areas, labs, and a shared outdoor patio.

• The idea isn’t specialization but cross-pollination. Imagine artists, neighbors, social projects, and entrepreneurs sharing the same ecosystem and letting unexpected collaborations happen. As its creators put it, this is a place designed to “let the unexpected in.”

The space launches its public life this weekend with an Open Day that doubles as a neighborhood celebration.

• There will be exhibitions, screenings, performances, communal food, and the first-ever Romería de las Delicias, a ritual-style procession conceived by artist Antoni Miralda that will spill into the streets to celebrate everyday neighborhood identity.

• Infinito Delicias feels like a quiet but meaningful shift in how Madrid thinks about urban culture: slower, more porous, and deeply rooted in local life.

If you’re curious about where the city’s cultural future is heading, this is a very good place to start.

🖥️ What: Infinito Delicias Open Day

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

📅 When: Dec. 20

🎟 Tickets: Free entry, open to all

3.🇪🇬 Before Debod came to Madrid: A forgotten chapter of displacement and rescue

Most of you know the Temple of Debod as a sunset spot to bring your potential love interests while drinking wine in the summer. Few of you know the story of what it cost to save it. Debod 1954–1964, on view since October, looks back at the decade-long effort to document, dismantle, and relocate the ancient Egyptian temple before the waters of the Aswan High Dam erased its original landscape forever.

• The exhibition draws from rare national and international archives to show Debod as it existed in Nubia: weathered, partially buried, surrounded by villages that would soon disappear beneath the rising lake.

• These images don’t just document a monument in danger — they capture a way of life on the brink of erasure, as local communities were forced to relocate alongside the temple itself.

• Structured in three chapters (The Alert, The Documentation, and The Transfer), the exhibition combines striking photographic material with Nubian ethnographic objects collected by the Spanish Mission working in the region between 1960 and 1965. Together, they tell a quieter, more human story of heritage preservation: one that involves loss, displacement, and international cooperation as much as archaeology.

Seen today, with Debod firmly embedded in Madrid’s urban landscape, this exhibition reframes the monument as a survivor of a global rescue operation and a reminder that saving history often comes at a human cost.

🖥️ What: Debod 1954–1964

📍 Where: Museo de San Isidro, Plaza de San Andrés, 2, Madrid

📅 When: Through March 29

🎟 Tickets: Free entry

4. 🏛️ Film director Oliver Laxe brings Cannes to the Reina Sofía

The Reina Sofía is turning cinema into a spatial experience this winter. The museum is hosting a new installation by Oliver Laxe, one of Spain’s most internationally respected filmmakers, centered on Sirat, his latest film, winner of the Jury Prize at Cannes 2025 and nominated for a Golden Globe for best non-English language motion picture.

• Set around a rave, Sirat uses the language of cinema to explore something larger than narrative: collective ritual, shared trance, and what theorist McKenzie Wark calls a “micro-ethnography.”

• Shot between Morocco and Aragón, the film blends mysticism, personal searching, and non-rational forms of knowledge, continuing Laxe’s long-standing interest in communities that live and think outside dominant frameworks.

• Presented at the Reina Sofía as an installation rather than a standard screening, the film pushes beyond the limits of the traditional movie theater and asks what cinema can become inside a museum.

• The exhibition also works as a deep dive into Laxe’s wider practice, bringing together a selection of his previous feature films and experimental shorts. Across these works, Laxe often appears on screen himself, underscoring how inseparable his life, beliefs, and creative process really are.

Fiction and reality blur constantly, producing a cinema that feels as lived-in as it is contemplative.

🖥️ What: Oliver Laxe, HU/هُوَ. Bailad como si nadie os viera

📍 Where: Museo Reina Sofía, Calle de Santa Isabel 52, Madrid

📅 When: Through April 20

🎟 Tickets: €12

5.🐈 El Mercadillo del Gato: Madrid’s most elegant pop-up market is back on Gran Vía

If your idea of holiday shopping involves style, craftsmanship, and the occasional “I didn’t know I needed this” moment, El Mercadillo del Gato is officially back. Madrid’s most refined pop-up market has returned to Gran Vía, turning number 13 on that avenue into a carefully curated playground of design, fashion, and small luxuries.

• This Christmas edition brings together more than 60 exhibitors from across Spain and beyond, offering everything from fashion and jewelry to gourmet treats, cosmetics, home décor, children’s items, and collectible pieces.

• The charm lies in the details: a real flower preserved inside a pendant, a silk scarf printed with 19th-century masterpieces, a vintage dress, a perfectly cut jacket, or a luxury handbag you won’t see on every corner.

• Part of what keeps El Mercadillo del Gato fresh is its constant rotation. The selection evolves across editions, meaning no two visits are quite the same, and there’s always a sense that the best piece might disappear if you don’t grab it.

This is one of those Madrid traditions that manages to capture people’s imaginations every year.

🖥️ What: El Mercadillo del Gato (Christmas Edition)

📍 Where: Gran Vía, 13, Madrid

📅 When: Through Jan. 6, 11 a.m. to 9 p.m.

🎟 Tickets: Free entry

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

🖥️ What: City of Shadows| Miniseries | 2025

📍Where to watch: Netflix

❓What’s it about: A burned body appears on Barcelona’s iconic Gaudí building, Casa Milá. Suspended police inspector Milo Malart returns to duty, partnering with deputy inspector Rebeca Garrido to solve the mysterious crime.

🤩 Why you should watch: It’s about mysterious murders taking place in iconic Gaudí locations throughout the city. Need we say more? City of Shadows is a slow-burn crime thriller that uses Barcelona not just as a backdrop but as a character in its own right.

💬 English Subtitles: Yes

💃🏻 Something to try this weekend…

🥩 Where fire meets flavor: Charrúa brings Uruguayan grill culture to the city

What’s it about: Charrúa is a Uruguayan-style steakhouse in the Justicia/Recoletos area of Madrid, where fire and meat are the stars of the show. Inspired by the indigenous Charrúa tribe’s ancestral relationship with fire and grilling, the restaurant centers on high-quality cuts cooked over an open flame, with a menu that ranges from charred starters to impressive steaks and even grilled vegetables.

Why you should go: If you love serious grilled meat, Charrúa delivers with international and Uruguayan cut alongside chargrilled veggies, empanadas, and special sides.

Bottom line: A carnivore’s favorite in Madrid with genuine Uruguayan flair and serious grill chops, rustic but refined, with plenty of personality and a lively, cozy vibe that makes meat lovers feel right at home.

📍 Address: Calle Conde de Xiquena, 4, Madrid

☕️ Café Moderno: old-school charm and slow coffee in one of Madrid’s prettiest plazas

What’s it about: Café Moderno is a charming, classic café tucked away in Plaza de las Comendadoras in Madrid’s Conde Duque/Malasaña area, offering a peaceful escape from the bustle of the city in a picturesque setting. 🍵🍊 It’s the kind of place where locals linger with coffee, pastries, or a glass of wine on the terrace and the vibe feels timeless and easygoing.

Why you should go: It offers a relaxed Spanish-style breakfast with fresh bread, warm croissants, orange juice and aromatic coffee, an iced peppermint tea that locals rave about and it’s great for a quiet afternoon chat with friends. Café Moderno delivers comforting and simple pleasures with friendly service (and also, it was featured in one of Almodovar’s movies).

Bottom line: A hidden gem in a lovely plaza, perfect for slow mornings, casual meetups, or a mellow break during a city stroll.

Address: Plaza de las Comendadoras, 1, Madrid

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Here Are 5 Things to Do in Madrid This Weekend

It’s Friday again!

Christmas is just around the corner, and the city feels like one big Christmas movie set (minus the fake snow and with much better food). The lights are on, the mulled wine is flowing, and the list of things to do this weekend is, frankly, ridiculous.

• From a solidarity market that actually makes holiday shopping meaningful, to a Formula 1 warm-up party, to immersive art, theatre, and more — the city is overflowing with plans.

If you’re staying in Madrid this weekend, congratulations: you’ve chosen the winning destination. And if you’re not, well, we won’t say you made a mistake but… you are.

Happy weekend!

1.🎅🏻 A Christmas market that actually makes the world better

Madrid loves a good Christmas market, but this weekend, there’s one with an actually meaningful twist. Teatro La Latina is hosting its first-ever Solidarity Market, a two-day event created in collaboration with the Fundación Vicente Ferrer, and it’s the kind of plan that makes you feel festive and morally superior (a rare combo in December).

• The theatre offers fair-trade, handcrafted gifts from India and Nepal: textiles, ornaments, jewellery, stationery, home décor, all made by the women of Aame, a cooperative in rural Anantapur, and by small-scale Nepali artisans.

• Every purchase goes directly to supporting families and women with disabilities in both countries. Think of it as the anti-Amazon Christmas.

• It’s also a chance to discover the work Pentación is doing through its Pentación en acción initiative, which supports social and cultural causes year-round.

But mostly, it’s a beautiful way to pick up unique gifts while helping create economic independence for women who rarely get visibility.

🖥️ What: Mercadillo Solidario

📍 Where: Teatro La Latina, Plaza de la Cebada 2, Madrid

📅 When: Dec. 13-14, 10 a.m. - 2 p.m.

🎟 Tickets: Free

2. 🪩 Madrid starts its engines with Mëstiza: a one-night F1 party at Las Ventas

Need an excuse to start the weekend early? Here’s one with the subtlety of a V6 turbo: Las Ventas is hosting the official Warm Up Party for the 2026 Formula 1 Spanish Grand Prix and it’s happening only tonight.

• With less than a year to go before the new MADRING circuit becomes Europe’s latest F1 obsession, Madrid is warming up the only way it knows how: with a massive, beautifully chaotic fiesta.

• At the center of it all is Mëstiza, the genre-blending duo turning flamenco soul into club-ready electronic madness. In their songs, techno drops collide with quejíos, and palmas are layered over melodic house. The natural acoustics of Las Ventas will turn into a full-body vibration.

• Before they take over the night, DJs ARGIA and Claudia León will set the tone with energy levels that would make a pit crew sweat.

This is a teaser for what will be one of Madrid’s biggest events next year. The Formula 1 Tag Heuer Spanish Grand Prix 2026 will hit the brand-new MADRING circuit from September 11–13, bringing a 5.4-km semi-urban track, 22 curves, and thousands of racing fans into the city. Tonight’s event is the unofficial prologue.

🖥️ What: Warm-up party with Mëstiza

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

📅 When: Friday, Dec. 12, 7 p.m.

🎟 Tickets: Check website

3.🎨 When the wind rewrites Don Quixote: Aeolia arrives at Instituto Cervantes

Madrid has a new artistic obsession, and it’s a wind-powered, AI-driven reimagining of Don Quijote that blurs the line between literature, technology, and human consciousness.

• Aeolia, the monumental interactive sculpture by Solimán López, has just opened the new exhibition cycle Paisajes Intangibles at Instituto Cervantes, and it’s a pretty original cultural experience.

• Installed inside Banca Cervantes, the institution’s newly created laboratory for experimental art and digital culture, Aeolia transforms air into words. Literally.

• This large-scale sculpture acts as a text-generating wind turbine: visitors activate it, and the movement is converted into language through an AI system trained on Cervantes’ works, contemporary thinkers, and ecological, gender-focused, and philosophical literature.

• The result? A living, breathing, evolving Quijote 2.0 that changes direction with every gust of wind and every participant.

Alongside the sculpture, the show features 10 additional works, including a breathtaking artist’s book where López has encoded his rewritten Quijote into synthetic DNA, a revolutionary archival technology capable of preserving information for millennia.

🖥️ What: Aeolia

📍 Where: Instituto Cervantes (Banca Cervantes), Calle de Alcalá 49, Madrid

📅 When: Through March 8

🎟 Tickets: Free entry

4.🎭 Napoleonic drama, absurdist humor: Los Duelistas takes the stage

If you’re in the mood for sharp satire wrapped in military uniforms, Los Duelistas is your perfect weekend pick. Emilio Gutiérrez Caba brings Joseph Conrad’s classic to the stage in a fresh, anti-war adaptation that exposes the sheer absurdity of conflict, and the even greater absurdity of human pride.

• Javier Sahuquillo’s version takes Conrad’s early-19th-century tale — a Europe trembling under the Napoleonic wars — and flips it into a deliberately anti-historic vision.

• Forget grand strategy or military glory: here, war is the backdrop to a 20-year personal feud between two Napoleonic hussars who, despite fighting for the same army, remain locked in an increasingly ridiculous duel that follows them all the way to Waterloo.

• What emerges is a darkly funny portrait of how stubbornness, ego, and masculine pride can escalate into decades-long destruction — a theme as relevant today as it was in the 1800s. Ridley Scott certainly thought so when he adapted the story for his 1977 film debut, turning it into a cult classic starring David Carradine and Harvey Keitel.

On stage, the story becomes both a comedy and a warning: wars may be vast and political, but sometimes it all starts with two men who refuse to back down.

🖥️ What: Los Duelistas

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

📅 When: Through Jan. 18

🎟 Tickets start at €20

5. 🌈 Step into a world of color, light, and play at IKONO Madrid

If you’re looking to escape the usual museum vibe and do something radically different this weekend, IKONO Madrid is one of the most playful cultural experiences in the city right now. It’s an immersive, interactive art experience where you look at art, walk into it, play with it, and become part of it.

• Located just a few steps from the Reina Sofía Museum in the heart of Madrid, IKONO is spread over roughly 600 m² across three floors, with about a dozen visually stunning spaces designed to spark your imagination and curiosity.

• There are neon-lit rooms and surreal landscapes, colorful installations that feel like a cross between an art gallery and a dreamlike playground. Each area invites you to touch, pose, interact, and capture unforgettable photos.

It’s perfect for families, friends, date nights, or anyone who wants to unplug from screens and reconnect with creativity in a multi-sensory space that rewards exploration and good vibes.

🖥️ What: IKONO Madrid Immersive Experience

📍 Where: IKONO Madrid, Calle de Sánchez Bustillo 7, Madrid

📅 When: Open daily

🎟 Tickets: €15

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

🖥️ What: Nina| Film | 2024

📍Where to watch: HBO (available tomorrow)

❓What’s it about: Nina was 16 years old when she left her small town without explaining herself to anyone, pursuing her dream of becoming an actress. 30 years later, Nina returns to the village for the first time with only one objective: to die killing.

🤩 Why you should watch: Because Andrea Jaurrieta’s Nina is a razor-sharp feminist revenge thriller that flips the genre on its head with unsettling elegance. Its atmosphere is hypnotic, its lead performance ferocious, and Jaurrieta turns trauma, desire, and power into something both cinematic and deeply human. It’s one of the most daring Spanish films of the year.

💬 English Subtitles: Yes.

💃🏻 Something to try this weekend…

🔩From nuts and bolts to wine and plates: Ferretería Restaurante