Things to Do

• The Rastro (La Latina) 
• Go early on Sundays, as it gets busy and it’s not great with too many people. Congregation of vendors of all types of goods. Good for little souvenirs for friends and family. Really fun to walk around.

• The Mercado de la Cebada (La Latina - just steps from the metro on c/Toledo)

  • Awesome fresh fruits, veggies, meat, etc.

• Puerto del Sol
• Great shopping (Zara, H&M, Bershka, etc.)
• Goya
• Great commercial shops and classy department stores
• El Corte Ingles
• There are two big stores: one in Sol and one up by campus, in the other direction from the school from the Santiago Bernabeu metro stop
• Huge Department Store, the only place you can walk into to buy bread, milk, and cereal and walk out with the new limited edition Louis Vuitton bag.
• You can buy everything from deck furniture to perfume.
• Corte Ingles supermarkets are separate.

• Prado (between metro Banco de Espana and Atocha)
• Largest museum on Western Europe
• Don’t Miss: Velazquez (Las Meninas), Goya, Greco • The hour before closing is free but there is usually a long line
• Reina Sofia (metro Atocha)
• Houses contemporary Spanish art
• Picasso’s Guernica is a must see, also contains works of Miro and Dali 
• The hour before closing is free 
• Walk down Paseo del Prado to get from the Prado to the Reina Sofia. It’s a really fun and artsy street.
• Thyssen (metro Banco de Espana and Sevilla)
• Used to be a private collection
• A lot smaller than the Reina Sofia and the Prado
• Don't miss Tiziano, Tintoretto, and Van der Heyden

• Flamenco
• Lots of bars have daily shows
• Look out for discounts in papers and magazines
• Sometimes you can catch flamenco dancers doing performances on the street outside the Palacio Real.

• Sporting Events

Futbol, or soccer in Madrid, is huge. Take advantage of our campus’ vicinity to Santiago Bernabeu and go see Real Madrid play! After all, Spain won the 2008 Euro Cup.

• Palacio Real (metro Opera)

The Royal Palace, former home to the royal family, is gorgeous. The rooms are mostly kept intact so you can get an actual feeling of what it would have been like to live there.

• Catedral de la Almudena (metro Opera)

This is the biggest cathedral in Madrid and is located right across from the Palacio Real. The design of the cathedral is very different from other cathedrals that you will see while you are in Europe.

• Templo De Debold
• Ancient Egyptian temple rebuilt in Madrid
• Located in the Parque de Rosales, with a great view of Casa de Campo
• Ask you intercambio to take you here, its especially pretty at sunset
• Plaza de Espana
• Usually filled with street vendors and tourists
• Located at the end of Gran Via
• In the middle of the plaza there is a statue of Cervantes and his characters, Don Quijote and Sancho Panza
• Plaza Mayor
• Main plaza of Madrid
• Usually filled with street performers, tourists and locals and lines with restaurants, tourist shops and bars
• Very close to Sol
• A lot of festivities take place here (i.e. dos de mayo) and it's a great place to people-watch on a sunny day.
• Goya's Tomb (Panteon de Goy)
• Beautiful fresco paintings, done by Goya himself
• A lesser known site, but a beautiful church, well worth seeing
• Teleferico (metro Arguelles)
• A cable car that traverses the Casa delCampo
• Great views of Madrid
• When you get off in Casa de Campo, explore for a bit before you get back on.