What makes Madrid’s nightlife legendary? Its lasting until morning, the impressive amount of clubs or the liveliness of the Madrileños? Come and find out!
Madrid is a city that, like London and New York, never sleeps. Madrileños like to stay out late and this natural inclination to have fun has led to a myriad of clubs in all parts of the city. Wherever you are, on any day of the week, you will find bars and discos where you can have fun until the morning.
Experiencing Madrid by night is therefore a must, even for those who may not normally feel like nocturnal animals, because the heart of the Spanish capital beats at a more frenetic pace when the sun goes down.
You cannot, at least once in your life, not get swept up in the whirlwind of nightlife, penetrate the secrets of the city when it gets dark, go from bar to bar until the sun comes up again: do this in Madrid, the city for being young at all ages, and you will feel like a local too.
What is a typical Madrid night out like? There is no answer to this question because Madrid’s movida is extremely varied.
Madrileños love to be out drinking and chatting with friends, even in unpretentious bars; however, Madrid is a city of intense cultural ferment and therefore offers a huge amount of venues with live music and DJ sets of all kinds. It is also a city that picks up on and creates new trends, so expect to find many trendy bars and hipster hangouts.
Bars with outdoor tables and their chicest version, i.e. terrace bars on the top floors of hotels and skyscrapers, are popular meeting places.
Evenings generally start very late and night bars close between 2 a.m. and 4 a.m., while discos and clubs close even later.
Madrid is a huge metropolis and it is inevitable that the different neighbourhoods differ markedly from each other. The offer of nightlife venues and entertainment, as well as the prices and the average age of the public, reflect the peculiarities that characterise each area and therefore vary considerably from neighbourhood to neighbourhood.
There are inexpensive areas suitable for students and expensive areas reserved for VIPs, traditional areas teeming with small bars, alternative areas full of underground venues, trendy areas with lounge terraces and clubs, areas with theatres, cabaret halls and cinemas…
So that you don’t get lost in the varied world of Madrid’s movida, here is a guide to the best districts in Madrid for nightlife.
In Chueca, you can be yourself and have fun without being judged. Having emerged from a period of decline thanks to the gay community, which revitalised the neighbourhood in the 1990s, it is now a trendy, open and tolerant area and one of Madrid’s most cosmopolitan neighbourhoods.
The nights in Chueca are long, sunny and never the same: one night you might be dining in a modern New York-style restaurant, another watching a drag queen show, another staying up late in a trendy cocktail bar, another dancing until morning in a crowded dance club… or do all these in one evening.
Chueca’s clubs attract a diverse audience, ranging from the very young to those in their fifties. Don’t be surprised: in Madrid, fun has no age!
If Chueca has a variety of clubs of all sizes, prices and musical genres, Malasaña, Madrid’s Camden Town, is strongly characterised by rock, punk, indie and metal beats.
Malasaña ‘s nightlife reflects the alternative and underground atmosphere for which this area is famous: disco-pubs and live music bars predominate, many of them still furnished in the style of the 1980s, the period when Madrid developed Movida, with a capital M, the countercultural movement of the years of democratic transition.
The elegant areas of Gran Via and Austrias, characterised by wide avenues and historical palaces, are the epicentre of tourist Madrid: if after a day of visiting museums and monuments you don’t want to move, you will find plenty of bars, restaurants, pubs and discos to spend your evening.
They are not the best areas for the latest music trends or for transgression, but their architectural grandeur is certainly an element of great charm; moreover, they are the most popular tourist areas so their clubs are always packed.
Very lively is the part of Gran Via known as the Broadway of Madrid due to the very high concentration of theatres and cinemas: for one night why not leave the disco alone and choose a musical, a cabaret show, an independent film or the latest Hollywood blockbuster?
If your tastes lean more towards classical music, treat yourself to an unforgettable evening at the sumptuous Royal Theatre in the Austrias area.
For an authentic Madrid night out, immerse yourself in the winding medieval streets of La Latina, a popular neighbourhood where the traditional soul of Madrid is preserved.
It’s not the best area to look for megaclubs or trendy lounge bars, but it’s definitely the place to be for late-night tapas and cervezas. You will probably have to scramble to find a seat in the neighbourhood’s crowded traditional bars and taverns: you have to be prepared for that too if you want to have an ‘authentic’ experience!
La Latina is also a recommended area if you want to spend an evening watching a flamenco or cabaret show.
The atmosphere is different in Lavapiés, another picturesque working-class neighbourhood of Madrid that is certainly not the top of Madrid’s nightlife scene but with its multi-ethnic character is an interesting alternative for those who want to spend an evening with ethnic cuisine and Arab, African or Latin American rhythms.
With its high concentration of university residences, it is inevitable that Princesa has become a hotspot for nightlife for the young and young-at-heart.
Bars and taverns abound where you can start the evening with an affordable dinner; you can then continue the evening with drinks and dancing until morning in one of the many bars and discos in the area. The musical genres played in Princesa’s clubs are varied, but house, pop and commercial prevail.
Another area with a high concentration of young people and students is Argüelles-Moncloa.
If Princesa and Argüelles – Moncloa are the best areas for those who want to spend little, Salamanca and Castellana are reserved for those who when they go out at night don’t need to look at how much they have in their wallets.
Salamanca is famous for being Madrid’s luxury shopping area and even its nightclubs are avowedly designed for a chic and wealthy clientele. Outside the elegant disco-clubs of Salamanca it is not uncommon to find private parking and valet parking, which makes us realise immediately that we are in an exclusive area, suitable for those who want to be noticed. Expect a selection at the entrance and a strict dress code.
The most popular music genres played in the glamorous clubs of Salamanca are dance and house; the clientele is generally in their thirties and up.
More varied is the range of clubs in Castellana, Madrid’s financial district. This is the area of modern skyscrapers, offices, embassies and public buildings: people come here during the day to work and then forget the stress of hectic work activities in the bars and clubs of the area.
Very lively is the after-work aperitif hour, which can be enjoyed in unpretentious bars or in trendy clubs; there is no shortage of beer gardens and Irish pubs.
When the sun sets, the night in Castellana continues at various heights. From the terraces of the skyscrapers you can sip signature cocktails while admiring spectacular views of Madrid, while the younger crowd dances in the disco-pubs, alternative clubs and megadiscos scattered around the streets. More hidden are the Latin American clubs, to be found on the ground floor or in the basements of large buildings.
Given the wide range of clubs and discos in Madrid, we have selected a few that we recommend below:
Eight floors of fun (yes you read that right, eight floors) await you in Madrid’s biggest disco and one of the biggest in Europe, housed in a former theatre.
Another wonderful nightclub housed in a former theatre, Joy Eslava is one of Madrid’s most famous nightclubs and a popular concert venue.
Museum-bar in Malasaña, whose name recalls a popular 1980s magazine that was a landmark for the Movida cultural movement. The museum part is dedicated to the 1980s, while the bar is a living legend.
Another disco-pub in Malasaña that was a reference point for underground culture for many years. Looking at its walls and décor, it seems as if time has stopped in the 1980s, whereas this legendary bar de copas is still one of the most popular hangouts for young people in Madrid.
One of Madrid’s historical discos, it is the symbol of the exclusive nights in the Salamanca district. Divided into three areas, this chic club with a sober design is frequented by VIPs, celebrities, sportspeople and all those who are looking to get noticed.
It is a reference point for the young people of Princesa, where they can enjoy evenings of fun in simplicity. Relaxed atmosphere, good prices, Spanish pop music. Very crowded at weekends.
A three-storey venue housed in a historic 19th-century building in the La Latina district: the ground floor houses the restaurant, the first floor the cocktail bar and the terrace on the third floor a magnificent tapas bar with an extraordinary view.
An alternative venue in Madrid’s business district, it organises numerous concerts of pop, rock and indie music and boasts excellent acoustics. The terrace is also beautiful.
The restaurant offers the most extravagant dinner show in Madrid, with drag queens and cabaret shows that inevitably get the audience excited. It is located in the elegant Gran Via area.
One of the pioneers of Chueca’s renaissance, this historic lounge bar and disco club beloved by Madrid’s gay community is still the top nightlife venue.
In the following map you can see the location of the main places of interest mentioned in this article.
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