MADRID, Spain

February 28, 2026

General Info

Country: Spain | Language: Spanish | Currency: EURO (EUR) | Flag: 🇪🇸 | When visited: February 2026

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🚗 How to commute

The cheapest way to reach the city center from the Airport is the public transport. Public transport from the airport includes a subway (line #8), buses (a regular ones like #200 or #203 or an express bus which) and trains. Depending on the terminal of your arrival (T1 to T4), you may also need to transfer between terminals with special buses arranged between terminals. With a bus 1 way ticket may cost as less as 1,50 EUR per person and could be bought directly in the bus. The other alternative is taxi. For example, with Bolt one could pay as less as 10 EUR, but of course it depends on your destination. If you'll commute with subway, you will need to buy a transportation card and charge it with needed amount of trips. You can do it in any subway station, they have machines with various languages incl. English there. The card costs 2,50 EUR, so if you are more than 1 person traveling together, you can buy just 1 card, and load it with needed amount of trips for the whole group. If you can, do ask for a help of the service staff there, because it's not that obvious, which exact trips and how to buy in the machine.

🏨 Where to stay

Hotels are pretty expensive in Madrid, especially closer to the city center. We've been staying like a halfway between the city center and the airport at Ibis Budget Madrid Calle Alcalá and was really happy: we got a relatively budget stay (in comparison to other options) with a comfortable room and s good breakfast, in a really nice district with metro station (line #5) in like 3 minutes walk. So, we can surely recommend the place.

🍽️ What and where to eat

Of course, multiple food options are available to choose from: from affordable snacks in small bakeries or supermarkets to traditional dishes in fancy restaurants. To be honest, this time we haven't been eating in various places that much, for multiple reasons: a. we had a good breakfast in the hotel, b. 1 day we've been at Mammutmarsch and were eating there, c. as soon as we saw they have our favorite Taco Bells in Madrid, and it's just in 5 minutes from our hotel, we've been eating there at least 1 time a day :)

But we still can share some highlights:

Try empanadas, pies or some tasty freshly-backed sweets and cookies – we've been really surprised how good the bakeries and confectioneries are there and enjoyed, for example, the Pasteleria Ipanema de Quique Sunzes a looot.
Various fast food chains like Taco Bell, McDonalds, KFS, Burger King etc. – we haven't taken any pictures, but can say that chicken tacos as well as BigMac were delicious :)
Tuk Tuk Asian Street Food – the place with a great atmosphere, where you can enjoy tasty dishes from various Asian countries like Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand etc.
If you are up to cooking or having a quick snack, try local food in supermarkets or Asian supermarkets – beyond the well known Jamon Ibérico they have various interesting things and a great variety of Asian products.

👀 What to do and what to see

Marcha del mamut (Mammutmarsch) if you happen to be in Madrid during this hiking event, which usually take place in February, it's definitely worth to take part in the march and explore the city at the same time. This way we've seen many beautiful things during the walk, such as huge and beautiful Casa de Campo park including lake, the Campamento district with its deserted hills, as well as Parque Forestal Adolfo Suárez with amazing view over the city.
Madrid City Centre will all the beautiful old buildings from Royal Palace of Madrid and Cathedral de Santa Maria la Real de la Almudena to various beautiful building along the huge shopping street Gran Via leading to the Parque de El Retiro and Puerta de Alcalá.
Other activities:
Send yourself a beautiful postcard at La Postalera
Visit Bandai Namco Shop or SUGOI space to buy some cool merchandise, collectibles or figures from gachapon machines :)

💡 Some highlights

As usually in Spain they are barely speaking English, so either you have to speak Spanish or to be ready to explain yourself and your needs by gestures :)
The weather in Madrid in Spring is very special: it could be as low as -1 or 0 degrees in the morning (like till 10-11am), and then up to +18-+20 degrees during the 2nd half of the day. So, you need to wear multiple layers.