🌧️ What's on in Madrid: January 23
The world's largest tourism fair, a garbanzo route, flamenco/jazz fusion and more.
Madrid | Issue #129
🇪🇸 The Bubble is Spain's #1 English-language, bestselling newsletter. We offer paid subscriptions, and we’d be thrilled to have your support!
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:
8Patas La Pulpería (Mercado de Antón Martín)
🖥️ 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
🔔 Don’t forget to follow us on Instagram!
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.
🚨 Customize your subscription! You can personalize your Bubble experience so you only get the emails you want—and never the ones you don’t. Click here to learn how.
📺 Sponsorship opportunities. Want to get your brand in front of our engaged and influential audience of professionals, creatives, and government workers? We’re now offering a variety of ways to do so. Click here to book a spot.
Great roundup! The José Miguel Palacio exhibition caught my eye especially. Went to a similar show last year and its honestly trippy how hyperrealist painters can nail reflections in ways that look mroe real than actual photos sometimes. That "Madrid al cielo" piece sounds worth the trip alone. The garbanzo route info is super useful too btw.