5 Reasons To Visit Madrid

Happy Monday guys! I totally planned to tell you all about Spain last week, but since it was my birthday week, the time got away from me (as usual). I had a wonderful birthday and I am very excited for my 26^th year of life! Part of my celebration was of course the trip to Spain- a little (and expensive) spoil from me to me. We visited Barcelona and Madrid, and today I wanted to share with you my Madrid photo diary as well as my Top 5 reasons to visit Madrid!

Madrid is located right in the heart of Spain, and has been its capital since 1606.It’s the third largest city in Europe (after London and Berlin) and while Madrid possesses modern infrastructure, it has preserved the look and feel of many of its historic neighbourhoods and streets. My interest in Madrid mainly lay in its architecture and history- I am just fascinated with anything Spanish, and for that matter European. We took a speed train from Barcelona to Madrid (it’s about 3 hours) and took a day to explore this beautiful city.

When we arrived in Madrid, the sun was shining nice and bright and it was hot and humid as hell! The temperature in Madrid in mid-September was still reaching highs of 43 degrees Celsius, so I can’t even image how hot it must get there during the summer months. When I only have a short amount of time to explore a city, I love taking a bus tour- it usually covers all of the good bits and saves you from walking(and silently dying inside) in the heat. While there are many more reasons to visit Madrid (especially if you are a soccer fan), these are my 5 main recommendations.

1 . Its beautiful architecture 

The architecture between Barcelona and Madrid is vastly different, and I really loved both the different styles. Madrid’s architecture is absolutely stunning with buildings like The Royal Palace of Madrid, Cybele Palace and Monument to Alfonso XII being absolute stunners.

Madrid is very easy on the eyes so if you enjoy beautiful cities that are rich with history and grand architecture, Madrid should definitely be on your must-see list.

2. Buen Retiro Park

This stunning park is located in the centre of Madrid is an absolute must- see! We especially wanted to see The Crystal Palace and you can see more in my outfit post over here.

An absolute stunner!

3. Churros at Chocolatería San Ginés

 

I am all about the food when I travel, so churros were my main priority as soon as I landed in Spain. When we did our research prior to the trip, one place kept coming up when it came to good churros- Chocolatería San Ginés. Its open 24 hours, so we headed there around 10 o’clock at night after we were finished from walking all over the city. The churros are served with hot chocolate for you to dip in, and they were AMAZING. Its reason enough for me to come back to Madrid! 3 churros and a hot chocolate will cost you around 3 euros, and are so worth the price (and the trip! ;))

4. Gran Via

Of course I am obsessed with shopping also, and the moment I saw Gran Via unfold in front of me as we were in a taxi, the little child in me squealed with delight! Gran Via is an ornate and upscale shopping street located in central Madrid and today the street is known as the Spanish Broadway, and is one of the streets with the most nightlife in Europe. It is known as the street that never sleeps and as far as I saw, it really didn’t! It’s lined with every shop you can think of, different restaurants and its buzzing 24/7!

5. It is after all the capital of Spain!

I never underestimate the capital of a country, because in my mind it’s always the capital for a good reason. Madrid was grand, fresh and very “vibey”- people were out and about at 11 o’clock on a Tuesday night! I loved everything from the architecture to the food and down to the beautiful parks.

The only thing which bugged me was the hot weather- maybe take that into account if you plan on visiting Madrid.

I hope you found this post helpful, and make sure to put Madrid on your must-do list!