Madrid Like A Madrileño: How To Live, Eat And Explore Like A Local In The Spanish Capital

Madrid isn’t a city you breeze through in a day. It’s a city to linger in, and one whose real pulse is found in the corners most visitors miss: streets where only locals shop, vermouth spots you’d walk past without noticing if you didn’t know better, and time-worn cafés made for meandering conversations. To experience the city properly, you need to step away from the obvious and explore its lesser-known neighbourhoods, where you’ll rub shoulders with the people who actually call this home. Follow our suggestions to do exactly that – and get to know Madrid like a Madrileño.

Mercado San Antón | Credit: Madrid City Tourism

Secret markets; real flavours

The best way to get a feel for Madrid? At its markets, where shopping – and snacking – is part of everyday life. With more than 15 food markets across the city, offering everything piled-high fresh produce (for whipping up, say, tortillas and gambas al ajillo at home) to low-key tapas joints beloved by a sociable local clientele, you’ll find that these foodie hotspots are the cornerstones to Madrid life.

Head to the Mercado de Vallehermoso in Chamberí if you’re looking for ingredients to cook with. This colourful 1930s building has been reinvented as a farmers’ market, with stalls offering fresh produce, small-batch cheeses and cured meats, alongside tasting areas where you can sample Spanish liqueurs, croquetas and pastries. Just a five-minute walk away, the Mercado de Chamberí is great for browsing seasonal fruit, seafood and gourmet gifts – with optional pauses at tapas counters to watch the day unfold, a drink in hand. Mercado de la Paz in Salamanca marries its classical architecture with modern sensibilities. Known for supplying some of the city’s best restaurants, the market is where locals head to pick up speciality items. If it’s a more leisurely afternoon you’re after, Mercado San Antón in Chueca is where Madrileños go to sip vermouth and share small plates, from traditional Spanish tapas to Japanese and Italian offerings, all under one roof – three whole floors of foodie heaven.

The church at Salesas Reales Convent | Credit: m.e.s.t.o.c.k/Shutterstock

To glimpse the layers of Madrid that most visitors miss, the city’s places of worship are a masterclass in history, art and devotion. San Antonio de los Alemanes Church will blow you away – think ceilings and walls dripping in 17th-century frescoes – while over in San Millán y San Cayetano Church, sunlight cuts through stained glass onto golden altars inside a church built by Churriguera and finished by Francisco Moradillo. Visit in August to join in the feast of San Cayetano, when locals take flowers from the saint’s chariot and parade through the streets – a centuries-old tradition still loved today.

In the Barrio de las Letras, the Convent of Las Trinitarias hides the remains of Spanish literary legend Miguel de Cervantes, author of Don Quixote. Its modest Baroque church and cloisters are surprisingly tucked away, yet packed with history for those in the know. Add Descalzas Reales Monastery and Salesas Reales Convent to your itinerary for paintings, sculptures and stories of some of the powerful women who helped shape Madrid. Linger a little, and suddenly you’re seeing a side of the city most visitors completely miss.

Practicing the art of tardeo | Credit: Madrid City Tourism

The Madrileño way

To move through Madrid like a local, you have to learn its rhythms – and trust us, they’re contagious. Start your education with the art of the aperitivo: a chilled glass of vermouth, garnished with an orange slice and paired with tiny bites of olives, croquetas and anchovies, all there to ease you into the evening. Sit at a terrace and let the surrounding chatter wash over you for a mellow sense of the city. Then, as the afternoon stretches into evening, join the locals for “tardeo” – a ritual that involves drifting from bar to bar and terrace to terrace as dusk dwindles, letting the city’s energy carry you along. This is when Madrid really comes alive, with the last of the sunlight warming the streets and laughter spilling into the plazas. After dark, follow the trail of churro crumbs to the centuries-old Chocolatería de San Ginés, where thick, velvety chocolate and crisp, golden churros make the perfect bedfellows, and everyone shares the same late-night snacking obsession.

Autumn in Retiro, left, and aperitivo offerings in the city | Credit: Madrid City Tourism

Walking, too, is a Madrileño art form. Forget rushing from A to B: wander the streets, let hidden plazas surprise you, duck into buzzy cafés, and watch the city unfold at your own pace. Even a short stroll can turn into an adventure if you let yourself dawdle, as you discover tiny bookshops, sun-dappled squares and neighbourhood bars that have been serving sangria to the same recipe for decades. By the time you’re done, you won’t just have seen Madrid – you’ll have felt it, tasted it and danced with it, exactly the way the people who call it home do.

The Chamberí neighbourhood | Credit: Madrid City Tourism

Experiences only locals know

Madrid’s cultural calendar is bursting with experiences that most visitors never stumble across. Try a flamenco class at Thompson Madrid and feel the music of the city in the stamp of heels and clap of palms. At the Calcografía Nacional of the Royal Academy of Fine Arts, painting and engraving workshops invite you to create artworks that tell your own Madrid story. Over at Rosewood Villa Magna, vermouth tasting gets a serious upgrade – paired with small plates chosen to complement the pours perfectly. And, for art and wine lovers, the Thyssen-Bornemisza Museum pairs masterpieces with local vintages, so you can savour each brushstroke while swirling a glass in your hand.