📖 What's on in Madrid: May 30
Ft. the Madrid Book Fair, the Flamenco Bienal and tons of other options
Madrid | Issue #100
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Here Are 5 Things to Do in Madrid This Weekend
Happy Friday!
Remember when we were begging for summer to arrive? Yeah… we take it all back.
It turns out going from the surface of Pluto to the literal gates of hell in just a few days wasn’t exactly what we had in mind. And if this is late May, we’re genuinely terrified of what August has in store for us.
There’s a ton happening in Madrid this weekend, and while many of you will be flocking to see Ed Sheeran (hey, no judgment here), we hipster millennials — Gen Zers at heart — are leaning toward plans that are a little less… mainstream.
Head over to Retiro Park to buy an old book or Conde Duque for an authentic tablao flamenco. Into art? The Prado Museum has a new exhibit you may like. And if all that fails, there’s always that music festival in Madrid Río.
You’re welcome.
PS: We’ve made it to issue #100! And we want to thank you for your moral and/or financial support. Writing this guide for you every weekend is one of the highlights of our week.
1.📚 Feria del Libro de Madrid (The Madrid Book Fair)
📚 Bookworms, rejoice! Madrid’s beloved book fair is back for its 84th edition and now that it’s sunny outside, you have no excuse.
The legendary Feria del Libro de Madrid, one of the city’s biggest and most iconic annual events, is turning the city’s green heart into a paradise for readers, writers and publishers alike.
This is one of the most important literary events in the Spanish-speaking world (over 2 million people visit), so expect packed bookstalls, author signings, poetry readings, panel talks, and thousands of visitors strolling through El Retiro with their tote bags in hand (obvi).
This year’s guest of honor? New York City, spotlighted as a literary lighthouse with a special focus on the Spanish language and the voices that speak it from across the Atlantic.
The event has announced collaborations with top U.S. institutions such as Columbia, NYU, Brown, Fordham, Cornell, and Yale, sending authors, scholars, and Latin American studies experts to bridge both cities’ literary scenes.
There are also partnerships with the Brooklyn Book Festival and PEN Club to highlight bilingual voices and Spanish-speaking writers living in the U.S.
Oh, and you may run into the Queen of Spain, who every year loves to casually walk around the stalls to shop for books while us peasants smile and stare.
Never been? Don’t miss it this year. You can stroll under the trees, discover a few unexpected gems from independent publishers and meet your favorite author. Just make sure you bring a bottle of water because, well, it’s hot.
🖥️ What: Feria del Libro de Madrid 2025
📍 Where: Plaza de la Independencia 7, Parque del Retiro, Madrid.
📅 When: May 30 to June 15. Check website for opening hours.
🎟 Tickets: Free admission.
2.💃🏻 Bienal Flamenco Madrid 2025
If books are not your thing, that’s OK. Everyone is just pretending to read these days anyway (we buy books because they are pretty!)
We have a different option for you: the Bienal Flamenco Madrid 2025, an event in which every two years, Madrid becomes the epicenter of flamenco.
The Bienal Flamenco is a two-week celebration that transforms the city into a living, breathing stage for this centuries-old art form. With performances, workshops, and events across multiple venues and public spaces, the Bienal creates a vibrant dialogue between flamenco’s past, present, and future, showing the full spectrum of cante (singing), toque (guitar), and baile (dance).
Madrid is cementing itself as a flamenco capital, honoring tradition while giving space to experimentation, gender perspectives, and cultural fusion. Even if you’re not acquainted with the genre, this Bienal is your chance to experience flamenco in all its awesome power.
This weekend’s lineup features some of flamenco’s most acclaimed and daring performers, including Chico Pérez, Sergio de Lope, Eduardo Guerrero, Naike Ponce, Carlos de Jacoba, Víctor Franco, Paula Comitre, Florencia Oz, Carmen Angulo, Juan Villar, Vicente Soto Sordera, José de la Tomasa, and La Macanita. (You don’t know who any of those people are and that’s OK).
The heart of the Bienal is the Centro de Cultura Contemporánea Conde Duque, but other venues like Matadero, CentroCentro, and the Museo de San Isidro, as well as local tablaos and cultural centers throughout the city, offer many shows and activities.
🖥️ What: Bienal Flamenco Madrid 2025
📍 Where: Multiple locations around Madrid
📅 When: Through June 6. Check official website.
🎟 Tickets: Check official website.
3.🎨 Paolo Veronese lands at the Prado
Ah, paintings. What people used to stare at before television.
Starting this week, the Prado Museum opens its doors to one of the most anticipated exhibits of the year: a monographic show dedicated to Paolo Veronese, the Venetian master of color, drama and grandeur.
The exhibit highlights Veronese’s influence on Spanish art (particularly the Golden Age) when his lavish compositions captivated monarchs, collectors, and artists.
But Veronese isn’t just a Renaissance painter. In fact, he was kind of a spectacle. His use of color, theatricality, and opulence defined the taste of European courts, and his influence on Spanish painters like Velázquez and Murillo is pretty undeniable.
The show is curated by Miguel Falomir, director of the Prado, and Enrico Maria Dal Pozzolo from the University of Verona. It’s also the culmination of the museum’s years-long deep dive into its unmatched collection of Venetian Renaissance painting.
Don’t miss Veronese’s creative process, from first sketches to oil masterpieces or his unmatched skills as a capobottega (studio director), even outshining contemporaries like Titian and Tintoretto.
🖥️ What: Paolo Veronese Exhibit at the Prado Museum
📍 Where: Padro Museum, Madrid.
📅 When: Through Sept. 21. Check website for opening hours.
🎟 Tickets: €15
4.🚧 Abierto x Obras: A soft invasion at Matadero Madrid
There’s always a good excuse to visit Matadero Madrid, especially as it brings back one of its coolest and experimental programs, Abierto x Obras, with a site-specific installation by Catalan artist Eva Fàbregas.
This exhibit kicks off a new chapter for this edgy series, known for turning the raw industrial space of Nave 0 into a playground for contemporary art.
Fàbregas has filled the gallery with giant inflatable sculptures that look like living organisms that emerge from the cracks and wounds of the building itself. Made from latex and synthetic fabrics, these wrinkled, air-filled membranes ooze a strange kind of life (or decay, depending who you ask).
The artist draws inspiration from the bodily fluids we release when we’re injured, creating a soft, fleshy landscape that blurs the line between the organic and the artificial.
Now, this is not your typical sculpture show. The installation plays with themes of life, death, healing, and transformation, and invites visitors to reflect on space, matter, and perception. It’s immersive and low-key unsettling.
🖥️ What: Abierto x Obras: Eva Fábregas
📍 Where: Matadero, Plaza de Legazpi 8, Madrid.
📅 When: Through July 20. Check website for opening hours.
🎟 Tickets: Free admission.
5.🪩 Festival Tomavistas 2025: The return of the indie heartbeat
One of the city’s best indie music festivals returns for its ninth edition, and this year looks bigger than ever. Tomavistas is a vibrant, three-day celebration of indie, pop, electronica, flamenco, and hip hop, all curated with the festival’s signature flair for the unexpected.
Unlike formulaic mega-festivals, Tomavistas has carved out its own niche: it’s eclectic and intimate but cohesive, and punchy. The lineup includes experimental electronica next to flamenco-pop and legendary bands alongside fresh faces.
The festival started yesterday, and today there are some major acts like Caribou, Bombay Bicycle Club, Love of Lesbian, and Maika Makovski.
Saturday closes with a bang: Romy, Mogwai (Mogwai!!), Kiasmos, Kelly Lee Owens, and more.
This is a “music-lover’s haven” with chill atmosphere, great sound and focus on artistry over hype.
It’s Madrid at full volume: authentic, experimental, and unforgettable.
🖥️ What: Festival Tomavistas 2025
📍 Where: Caja Mágica, Camino de Perales 23, Madrid
📅 When: Through May 31. Check website for schedule.
🎟 Tickets: €55 (per day)
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