"Madrid never sleeps" a Madrid Travel Page by elPierro

Madrid is the captical of Spain with about 3 million inhabitants.

Situated in the hearth of spain, it benefits from very nice temperatures though summers can get really hot and winters sometimes a bit cold.

The Spanish vibe can be felt everywhere in Madrid, the relaxed way of living, getting-up early, kicking-back in the afternoon for a siesta and going crazy at night is wonderfull, and whether you come here for architecture, history or good night out, it all can be found here.

Madrid and Barcelona are the 2 mayor cities of Spain and both have always been in competition between each other of being the better, bigger and nicer than the other.

Compared to Barcelona, Madrid has a much more compact citycenter, with smaller streets which are even more congested than the broad streets in Barcelona.
Madrid has no beach, Hills with nice vantage points or a large pedestrian shopping strip. On the other hand, Barcelona has more athmosphere, is busier and has a lot more Spanish charm than Barcelona has.
Madrid is also less touristy, though that also means that even less people speak English here.

A big difference between both cities is the layout, Barcelona has a grid of broad streets, where Madrid has a maze of more narrow streets.

Madrid is also more into the Siesta (though everyone is still on the move in the city), so in the afternoon everyone kicks back, but this also means the Madrilenes are much more active in the night, nightclubs only start at 2AM and at 5AM there are still plenty of people awake to see a crowd on the street.

If you should visit Barcelona or Madrid remains a hot topic and difficult choice, personally I preffer Madrid above Barcelona.

Though even the people from Barcelona agree, if you want to visit the best city in Spain, you''d better go to Madrid instead of Barcelona. Why??? Barcelona is a Catalan city!

- The Retiro park is not always free of entrance. Sundays are usually free!

- Bullfighting is popular, a pre-season match attracts media and TV is present. Las Ventas is the main venue in Madrid where the bullfights take place. I still don't really understand the sport of killing animals, still it's a educational part of culture that you will learn in a bullfight.

- Football, Don't wear any FC Barcelona T-Shirts. Real Madrid is the main footballteam of Madrid playing in the giant Bernabeu stadium.

- Nightlive, get ready for a long night. Things usually start after midnight and nightclubs only get really busy around 2/3AM. Still the nightlife is crazy, though somewhat expensive.

- Habla Inglese?? No, they don't. And well, while you are a guest in their country so it's not less than appropriate to address them in their own language which is Spanish. People are usually helpfull enough to help you out!

- If traffic gets too congested, the police will be helping out traffic. With help of whistles. So at busy crossings and crowded streets you will often hear a lot of whistles from people in a yellow vest, trying to keep everything moving.

- That brings me to driving in Spain, They are not as bad as Italians, but still, they try to use every inch of the road. So be aware for some "interesting" traffic situations. Still Spanish drivers tend to stop for you when crossing the street!