A centrally located neighbourhood in Madrid with shops that set the trends for urban fashion, restaurants with surprising Spanish, ethnic, and fusion cuisine, and unsuspected places to get haircuts or get a tattoo. Don't miss out on discovering it.

The Cí­rculo de Bellas Artes occupies a superb building, designed by Antonio Palacios and completed in 1926. It is a key player in every aspect of the Madrid arts scene: as well as a beautifully airy main floor café, with a gracious pavement terrace, the Cí­Â­rculo offers a plethora of classes, exhibitions, lectures and concerts in its theatre and concert hall, as well as an annual masked ball for carnival.

The Cí­rculo de Bellas Artes (built 1919-1926) is where the calle Alcalá meets the Gran Ví­a in the center of Madrid, Spain. It is the work of architect Antonio Palacios. He considered the big cultural center a small town. The fancy top of the tower is a kind of an open temple structure.

The Atocha Station was the first railway station in Spain. It was inaugurated in 1951 when Spain's second railroad connected Madrid with Aranjuez, a town some 47km from Madrid.

Visitors to this site get not only a great look at this marvelous building, but the gardens, dining pleasure, a museum, and bar experience as too. Interestingly, there's a permanent display of sculpture in the hall that leads to the new station. In the Summer the popular terrace bar is a great place to relax and people watch as well.

Owned by Real Madrid Club de Futebol, is one of the most famous and prestigious football venues. If you have a chance to watch a football game it will be hilarious! As a definite MUST SEE, this big stadium with capacity for more than 80.000 spectators and the intensity amount of supporters' voices make you fell one of them. You'll not be disappointed!

Founded in 1953 and miraculously surviving philistine attempts in the '80s to turn it into a block of offices (thanks largely to a mass protest by journalists and artists), the Doré, or Filmoteca, is a movie buff's delight and a marvelous example of Art Deco architecture. Madrid's richest and most eclectic variety of original-version movies -- from '20s classics to offbeat or commercial international productions -- can be found here. It also offers bargain ticket prices, a cozy cafe, and a small but well-stocked movie bookshop.

The Royal Palace of Madrid (Palacio Real de Madrid) is the official residence of the King of Spain, located in Madrid. King Juan Carlos and the royal family do not reside in this palace, instead choosing the smaller Palacio de la Zarzuela, on the outskirts of Madrid. However, the Palacio Real de Madrid is still used for state occasions.

The palace is located on Bailén street, in the western part of downtown Madrid, east of the Manzanares River, and is accessible from the Ópera metro station. The palace is partially open to public, except when in official use.

The Parque del Retiro is near the Puerta de Alcalá and not far from the Prado Museum. It can get crowded during weekends when many Madrilenian families go for a stroll in the park and street musicians, sidewalk painters, fortune tellers, jugglers and street performers animate the crowd.

A magnificent park, filled with beautiful sculpture and monuments, galleries, a peaceful lake and host to a variety of events, it is one of Madrid's premier attractions.

The Retiro Park was created as a royal park; it belonged to the Real Sitio del Buen Retiro palace. The palace was built by King Philips IV in 1632 as a retreat for the Royal family.

One of the most notable places in Madrid. An open market of stamps and coins is held on Sundays, and during Christmas time it is a fair with Christmas items. Also, it usually supports a gathering of artists and street musicians.

The Plaza Mayor was built during the Habsburg period and is a central plaza in the city of Madrid, Spain. It is located only a few Spanish blocks away from another famous plaza, the Puerta del Sol. The Plaza Mayor is rectangular in shape, measuring 129 by 94 metres, and is surrounded by three-story residential buildings having 237 breathtaking balconies facing the Plaza. It has a total of nine entranceways.

Neuralgic centre of the capital city that has an infinite variety of shops, restaurants, bars, and cafés within reach.

The "zero kilometre" is located in its plaza, which is from where the different radial roads are measured that connect Madrid to the rest of Spain.

The convent of the Descalzas Reales ('Royal Barefoot Nuns') is the most complete 16th-century building in Madrid and still houses a cloistered community. It was originally built as a palace for Alonso Gutiérrez, treasurer of Charles V, but was converted into a convent in 1556-64 by Antonio Sillero and Juan Bautista de Toledo after Philip II's widowed sister Joanna of Austria decided to become a nun.

Founded with royal patronage, the Descalzas became the preferred destination of the many widows, younger daughters and other women of the royal family and high aristocracy of Spain who entered religious orders. Hence it also acquired an extraordinary collection of works of art - paintings, sculptures, tapestries and objets d'art - given as bequests by the novices' families.

Equally lavish is the baroque decoration of the building itself, belying its sternly austere façade, with a grand painted staircase, frescoed ceilings and 32 chapels, only some of which can be visited.

The Teatro Real (literally Royal Theater) or simply The Real (as it is known colloquialy), is an opera house in Madrid. It was inaugurated on 19 November 1850, with Donizetti's La Favorite.

During its annual opera season, Madrid's Teatro Real stages productions with Madrid's Symphony Orchestra and Choir, visiting soloists and conductors, as well as co-productions with opera companies from around Europe.

The Teatro Real, is located in front of the Royal Palace, between the two plazas, or squares, of Plaza de Isabel II and Plaza de Oriente, and right next to the famous Café de Oriente.