Madrid The Place
Bold, stylish and packed with life, Madrid is one of Europe's most exhilarating capitals.Having a good time here is seen not as a treat but as a right.
Madrid does not sit astride a great river like Budapest. It does not loom over a harbour like Sydney. Nor does it have canals like Amsterdam or islands like Stockholm. But it does have a natural blessing as glorious for those who can see it as that of any of those great cities - thin, dry Castilian air of such clarity that the changing aspect of the city skies has been the obsession and despair of its painters.
Perched 650 metres (2,150 ft) above sea level, Madrid is higher than any other European capital. Madrileños are born sky-worshippers. Aticos - top-floor dwellings - are as highly valued by them as riverside flats in London and apartments fronting Central Park in New York.
If Madrid is a mountain city - and on a clear winter's day you can see the snowy peaks of the Sierra de Guadarrama from near the Palacio Real - it is also a desert city. Beyond its suburban sprawl, the capital gives way to the immense tableland of central Spain. Its distance from the sea gives it a continental climate of relentlessly torrid summers, periodically harsh winters and abrupt changes from one extreme to the other. But it is as much an oasis as an eyrie. It boasts more trees lining its elegant streets and more green space than any other capital in Europe.
"Madrid entrar y salir" is a popular saying. Loosely translated, it means "Madrid, all coming and going". Spaniards from all over Spain come here to work hard, play hard and then return to their native provinces. Hence the city's frenetic pace. Madrid may not have the most impressive monuments in Europe, although it is underrated on that score as on many others, but what it does offer is easily accessible - and still not too costly - enjoyment. If they ever existed, the days are gone when the only reason for coming to Madrid was the Prado.
See also our online city guide to Spain.