While my blog is mainly about finance, my other love is to travel, and I like to sprinkle in highlights from the trips we take. This year we spent four nights in Madrid before heading to Portugal for a river cruise. Here’s what I learned about Madrid.
A Big City That Feels Manageable
Madrid is a very large city, about 4.5 million people in the city proper, and another 4 million-plus in the outskirts. Even so, it impressed me. It’s clean, relatively safe, and beautiful. The people are friendly, though many speak only Spanish, which meant a fair amount of translating on my part. I never took Spanish in school, so this was a genuine struggle, but for me, the language barrier is part of the adventure. Working to communicate with another culture halfway around the world is exciting rather than stressful, and I’d encourage any traveler not to let it hold you back.
Getting There: TAP Air
We flew to Madrid on TAP Air, a Portuguese airline, and booked business class for about the same price as premium economy on American Airlines, a trade I’ll make every time. The food was good, the Portuguese wine was good, the seats were comfortable, and I even got to watch the Michael Jackson movie.
The one weak link was our layover in Lisbon. Lisbon’s airport isn’t very efficient you deplane via stairs and get bussed to the terminal though the terminal and lounge themselves were very nice. From there, the last leg to Madrid was an easy one-hour puddle jumper.
Where We Stayed: Hyatt Grand Central, Madrid
We chose a well-known hotel, the Hyatt Grand Central, and it did not disappoint. From the doorman who rushed to grab our luggage as we pulled up, to the attendant who greeted us with water at check-in, the whole experience felt genuinely cared for. The hotel sits right on the Gran Vía Madrid’s main drag, and something like Paris’s Champs-Élysées. It’s a bustling area, and a great home base for exploring on foot.
A Lesson in Hop-On, Hop-Off Buses
We like to buy tickets for the hop-on, hop-off bus whenever we land in a new city — it’s a great way to see the highlights and get a feel for the layout before deciding where to spend more time. This trip, we picked up Turibus tickets from a stand right across the street from our hotel, rather than one of the bigger names like Big Bus or City Tours that also operate in Madrid.
There’s a reason some of these franchise tour companies outperform others: service. Day one was fine — we rode the Blue Route, got off near the markets, and walked around to get our bearings. Day two was the problem. The buses ran very late to start, and then, thanks to issues with the speaker system and GPS, the company combined the Red and Green routes into one — with no narration at all. When we asked to get off early, the driver wouldn’t stop, saying he’d been told to skip the later stops entirely. Lesson learned: ask the concierge which tour service they’d actually recommend, and stick with that instead of grabbing the most convenient ticket stand.
Food in Madrid
Madrid is known for its tapas — small plates meant for sharing — and much of the cuisine revolves around Iberian ham and seafood. The restaurant and bar scene here is lively, and we had fun exploring it.
Our concierge pointed us to a bar called The Library, and it did not disappoint — upscale, beautiful, and fun. We only had one drink, but we could have easily stayed for dinner; the menu looked wonderful. From there we headed to Ezequiel’s, which turned out to be true Madrid tapas and absolutely delicious.
Our first night, we ate at Vinitus Gran Vía, right near our hotel. It was fine, but nowhere near as good as Ezequiel’s, another reminder that it pays to venture a little further from the main drag.
On day three, we ventured outside the city for a day trip to Toledo, but that little walled city deserves a post all its own, so stay tuned for that soon.
Four nights in Madrid was just enough to fall for the city its energy, its food, and yes, even the challenge of muddling through in my very rusty non-Spanish. Next stop: Portugal, and a river cruise I can’t wait to tell you about.
