For visitors that want to enjoy some spare time and look for tranquillity, perhaps the advisable thing to do is have a go at one of the very many traditional cafés typical of Madrid.
Since the end of the 18th century, chatting and discussing in a café has been a deeply rooted custom in Madrid. Personalities such as the author Nicolás Fernández de Moratín - founder of one of the first café discussion groups known -, Larra, Bretón de los Herreros and Espronceda were frequent participants, and, already in the 20th century, Ramón Gómez de la Serna, Valle Inclán, Ortega y Gasset, Lorca or Alberti.
Many of those cafés have survived, keeping their original decoration, "belle époque" style, and their visitors feel taken back to those times when the discussions among the literati kept the tables busy.
One of them is "Café Gijón", located on beautiful Paseo de Recoletos. It goes back over one hundred years and its atmosphere invites you to reflection, creativity and inspiration, so the traditional spirit of literary discussions is maintained. The same thing applies for "Café Comercial", with very large windows over Glorieta de Bilbao, or "Café de Barbieri", unquestionably bohemian and where you can enjoy audio visual shows and story telling. Other sites worth mentioning are "El Café del Espejo", with elegant modernistic decoration, "Café del Círculo de Bellas Artes", with big columns, frescoes on the ceiling and large windows overlooking Alcalá Street, where it is situated, or "Café Figueroa", with modern and varied music.
Other very traditional and elegant cafés have diversified their offer to meet their customers’ demands. Among them, "La Fontana de Oro", whose name was used by the writer Benito Pérez Galdós for the title of one of his novels. It was refurbished in 1993 and then became an Irish pub; "Café de Oriente", which offers a good restaurant service. Also, within the wide range of cafés, there is "El Café Central", which offers magnificent "live" jazz or "Café de Chinitas", with a flamenco "tablao", situated in an 18th century palace in the centre of Madrid.
DIRECTORY OF CAFES Glorieta de Bilbao, 7. 28004 - Madrid. Phone: +34 91 521 56 55.
Address:
C/ Ave María, 45. 28012 - Madrid. Phone: +34 91 527 36 58.
Café de Chinitas
Address:
C/ Torija, 7. 28013 - Madrid. Phone: +34 91 547 15 01.
Café de la Iberia
Address:
Plaza Mayor, 17. 28370 - Chinchón (Madrid). Phone: +34 91 894 09 98.
Café de Oriente
Address:
Plaza de Oriente, 2. 28013 - Madrid. Phone: +34 91 547 15 64.
Café del Círculo de Bellas Artes
Address:
C/ Marqués de Casa Riera, 2. 28014 - Madrid. Phone: +34 91 360 54 00.
Café del Espejo
Address:
Paseo de Recoletos, 31. 28004 - Madrid. Phone: +34 91 319 11 88.
Café del Príncipe
Address:
Plaza de Canalejas, 5. 28012 - Madrid. Phone: +34 91 531 81 83.
Café del Real
Address:
Plaza Isabel II, 2. 28013 - Madrid. Phone: +34 91 547 21 24.
Café Figueroa
Address:
C/ Augusto Figueroa, 17. 28004 - Madrid. Phone: +34 91 521 16 73.
Café Gijón
Address:
Paseo Recoletos, 21. 28004 - Madrid. Phone: +34 91 521 54 25.
Café de Barbieri
