The Cafe de Chinitas has a long tradition in Spain's capital. It is one of the most famous tablaos (flamenco restaurants) in the world. The Cafe occupies an 18th Century mansion close to the central Gran Vía area. It offers Mediterranean cuisine and an excellent flamenco show every evening.
Located right in the heart of Madrid just a short distance from the Senate and the lively Gran Via, Cafe de Chinitas mixes international cuisine with wonderful flamenco. The restaurant is popular with both visitors and locals and the restaurant dance troupe performs everyday with an invited guest star.
Famous for its pudding-thick hot chocolate and its fresh from the deep fryer churros (twisted pieces of fried batter designed to sprinkle with sugar or dip into chocolate), this cafe also offers the usual assortment of coffees and teas. But you may be surprised by the gang of young and those young at heart flocking to this cafe towards night. The cafe is best appreciated very late at night (which, in Madrid, basically coincides with sunrise) after a night of dancing or partying. The cafe is located at the metro stop.
A famous bar for stag parties, imbibe your favourite cocktail with a stuffed grouse. The most popular of the 100+ cocktails here include the Balmoral, Bullet Shot and Bloody Mary. Grab an armchair by the fireplace and relax in one of the "best bars in the world,".
This super smooth bar, restaurant and club (previously known as Jazzanova) is one of the slickest places to listen to some mellow jazz sounds. With uplit black walls, burnt-umber velvet cushions to lounge on and excellent cocktails, it's an elegant hangout on a city break. For a breath of fresh air, there's an outside terrace.
Opening Hours: Mon-Sat Noon-2:30am; Sun 1:30pm-1:30am
Chicote is a favourite bar with Madrid's people and the huge local gay scene. One of the city's finest cocktail bars, it sports a 1940s and '50s Spanish decor, and attracts great DJs playing anything from electro-soul to funk and to hip hop.
It is a stylish renovated art cinema, just a few steps up the road from the Circulo de Bellas Artes cultural center. It is noted for its varied alternative movie program. Pleasantly free of the crush that plagues some of the other movie houses, it's a relaxing backwater of comfort and taste. Programs start at 5:30pm. Last performance 10pm.
It is one of several beautiful, old cinemas from the early 20th century. There are great hand-painted billboards advertising its programme but films are almost always dubbed.
The home of the National Film Institute, this endearing art deco cinema puts on a varied programme of classics, foreign language films and film festivals. Outdoor screenings on the roof terrace is available in summer.
Ticket office is open 16.00-22.45, bookshop open 17.00-22.30, bar-restaurant 16.00-24.00 (T 91 369 49 23).
Tucked away in an offbeat corner of Chaberi, Pequeno is a delightful little art house cinema which mainly shows the classics from Hollywood’s Golden Age. Three or four different films are shown every day from 4pm to mid-day.