From traditional tapas to cutting-edge tasting menus, Madrid’s
thriving culinary scene is an epicurean’s paradise. First on your
list when you arrive should be a guided food excursion: hunt down
one of the city’s many food tour operators to take you to the best
family-run eateries in the city and teach you the basics on how to
order tapas. For fine dining, you have 21 Michelin-starred
restaurants to choose from, but you might as well shoot straight
for the top and make a pilgrimage to DiverXO – the only one with three of them to
its name. Well worth a visit, too, is Casa Botín, which,
founded in 1725, is the oldest restaurant in the world. Ask for a
table in the vaulted cellars.

Be sure to venture off the beaten track, too. Neighbourhoods
like Chueca, Conde Duque and Malasaña are all full of contemporary,
locally beloved terrazas. If we had to pick one street? That would
have to be Calle de Ponzano, in the chic neighbourhood of Chamberí,
arguably Madrid’s trendiest restaurant drag.

More than half of Madrid’s elegant streets are already lined
with trees, and it’s getting greener every year – one of the many
reasons this is such a liveable city. The glorious Madrid Río Park, now a pedestrianised promenade on the
banks of the Manzanares, is a good place to join the locals for a
spot of cycling; or head to the grand Retiro Park, which was once part of the king’s
estate, where you can drift around its lake in a rowboat. Better
still, you will very likely be blessed with rays no matter when you
visit – Madrid boasts more than 300 days of sunshine a year.

You may have heard Madrileños referred to as “los gatos” (cats),
in part for their reputation for staying out late; with one of the
world’s highest number of bars per capita, this is a city that
takes its nightlife seriously. Harking back to the 1930s, Museo
Chicote is arguably Madrid’s most iconic cocktail bar, with
past regulars including Ernest Hemingway, Frank Sinatra and Sophia
Loren. Looking to rub shoulders with modern stars? Try your luck at
the gothic-chic Santos y Desamparados, in Madrid’s alluring Barrio de
las Letras (Literary Quarter). And don’t forget flamenco, the
city’s historic and much-loved art form.

Almost nowhere else in the world will you find such a high
concentration of priceless fine art than on Madrid’s Paseo del Arte
(Art Walk). Part of the city’s gorgeous Landscape of Light area, a
newly anointed Unesco site, it’s home to the Prado,
Reina
Sofía and Thyssen-Bornemisza. But don’t overlook contemporary
cultural hives like the colourful La Casa
Encendida or the red-brick Matadero,
both home to a steady stream of trendy exhibitions. Also
fascinating, and lesser-trodden, are Madrid’s beautifully preserved
house museums. Among them are the Museum of Romanticism, the Cerralbo and the Sorolla, all of which offer a (very photogenic)
glimpse into homes of yesteryear.

Madrid has shot even further up in the glamour stakes in recent
years, with a string of new luxury hotels setting up shop here.
There are big names like Mandarin Oriental and Four
Seasons, but also the likes of URSO Hotel &
Spa, the city’s first five-star boutique – a neoclassical
delight in a non-touristy enclave between the hip neighbourhoods of
Chamberí and Chueca. Traditionalists, though, should rest their
heads at Gran Hotel Inglés, the very first hotel to be built in
Madrid in 1886, or the lavish Palacio de los Duques Gran Meliá, formally a
19th-century palace located close to the Teatro Real opera
house.

Start at Mercado de San Miguel, Madrid’s historic
wrought-iron-and-glass covered market, where you can spend hours
sampling gourmet food and beverages from around Spain. As well as
small local suppliers, you’ll find pop-ups from heavyweight
Michelin-starred chefs (Rodrigo de la Calle has a paella station) –
go during the week when it’s less crowded. Sundays are for browsing
knick-knacks and bar-hopping at the lively El Rastro flea market
and its atmospheric side streets. Madrid’s newest gastronomic jewel
is the Canalejas Food Hall, a stone’s throw from
Puerta del Sol (the centrepoint of Spain, with a plaque to mark
it), which celebrates food from 13 countries around the world.