The real Madrid

30 November -0001

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Madrid became Spain's capital simply through its geographical position at the centre of Iberia. When Felipe II moved the seat of government here in 1561 his aim was to create a symbol of the unification and centralization of the country, and a capital from which he could receive the fastest post and communications from each corner of the nation.

The site itself had few natural advantages - it is 300km from the sea on a 650-metre-high plateau, freezing in winter, burning in summer - and it was only the determination of successive rulers to promote a strong central capital that ensured Madrid's survival and development.

Nonetheless, it was a success, and today Madrid is a vast, predominantly modern city, with a population of some three million and growing. The journey in - through a stream of concrete-block suburbs - isn't pretty, but the streets at the heart of the city are a pleasant surprise, with pockets of medieval buildings and narrow, atmospheric alleys, dotted with the oddest of shops and bars, and interspersed with eighteenth-century Bourbon squares. By comparison with the historic cities of Spain - Toledo, Salamanca, Sevilla, Granada - there may be few sights of great architectural interest, but the monarchs did acquire outstanding picture collections, which formed the basis of the Prado museum. This has long ensured Madrid a place on the European art tour, and the more so since the 1990s arrival - literally down the street - of the Reina Sofía and Thyssen-Bornemisza galleries, state-of-the-art homes to fabulous arrays of modern Spanish painting (including Picasso's Guernica ) and European and American masters.

As you get to grips with the place you soon realize that it's the inhabitants - the madrileños - that are the capital's key attraction: hanging out in the traditional cafés or the summer terrazas, packing the lanes of the Sunday Rastro flea market, or playing hard and very, very late in a thousand bars , clubs, discos and tascas . Whatever Barcelona or San Sebastián might claim, the Madrid scene, immortalized in the movies of Pedro Almodóvar, remains the most vibrant and fun in the country. The city is also in better shape than for many years past, after a £500-million refurbishment for its role as 1992 European Capital of Culture and the ongoing impact of a series of urban rehabilitation schemes - funded jointly by the European Union and local government - in the older barrios (districts) of the city. Improvements are also being made to the transport network, with extensions to the metro, the construction of new ring roads and the excavation of a series of road tunnels designed to bring relief to the city's overcrowded streets. The authorities are even preparing a bid for the 2012 Olympics.

Madrid nightlife is a pretty serious phenomenon. This is one of the few cities in Europe where you can get caught in traffic jams at 4am, when the clubbers are either going home or moving on to the dance-past-dawn discos.

As with everything madrileño , there is a bewildering variety of nightlife venues - all of which are covered, to some degree, in the area reviews following. Most common are the discobares - bars of all musical and sexual persuasion, whose unifying feature is background (occasionally live) rock, dance or salsa music. These get going from around 11pm and will stay open routinely to 2am or 3am, as will the few quieter cocktail bars and pubs .

Look out for fiestas whenever you're in Madrid: there are dozens, some of which involve the whole city, others just an individual barrio . The more important dates are listed below.

Also well worth checking out are cultural festivals organized by the city council, in particular the Veranos de la Villa (July-Sept) and Festival de Otoño (Sept-Nov) concerts (classical, rock, flamenco), theatre and cinema. Many events are free and, in the summer, often open air, taking place in the city's parks and squares. One of the nicest venues is the courtyard of the Antiguo Cuartel del Conde Duque (Métro: Ventura Rodríguez), where weekly flamenco recitals are held. Annual festivals for alternative theatre (Feb), flamenco (Feb), dance (mid-May to mid-June), photography (mid-June to mid-July) and jazz (Nov) are also firmly established on the cultural agenda. Full programmes are published in the monthly En Madrid tourist hand-out.

As far as safety goes, there's little cause for concern. Central Madrid is so populated - and so busy at just about every hour of the day and night - that it never seems to carry any "big city" threat. Which is not to say that crime is not a problem, nor that there aren't sleazy pockets to be avoided. Madrid has a big drug problem, all too evident around the Plaza de España and some of the streets just north of Gran Vía. Drugs, it is reckoned, account for ninety percent of crimes in Madrid, and if you are unlucky enough to be threatened for money, it's unwise to resist.

Madrid virtually shuts down in the summer ; from around July 20 you'll suddenly find that many of the bars, restaurants and offices are closed, and their inhabitants gone to the coast and countryside. Only in September does the city open properly for business again.

Luckily for visitors, and those madrileños who choose to remain, most sights and museums stay open, and a summer nightlife takes on a momentum of its own in outdoor terrace bars, or terrazas. In addition, the city council has in recent years initiated a major programme of summer entertainment, Los Veranos de la Villa . It's not a bad time to be in town at all, so long as you're not trying to get anything done.

Note that, throughout the year, most museums (and many bars and restaurants) close on Monday . Major attractions that stay open on Mondays include the Reina Sofía and the Palacio Real.

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