I’d always heard that Madrid was a beautiful city with incredible food, so I knew I had to go!
In November of 2022, my friend and I met in Madrid for a 12 day trip in Spain. We stayed in Madrid for 6 nights, and had such an incredible time! In this post, I’ll share must see spots, bucketlist day trips outside of the city, and food & coffee recommendations that I can’t wait to go back to. Let’s dive in – plus, at the end I’ll share a 5 day Madrid itinerary for you!
Day 1: Madrid, Spain
Initially we wanted to do this trip cheaper since we knew we would be eating out a lot, but our first night at the hostel was not the best experience. I ended up using Hyatt points to book us 5 nights at the new Thompson hotel, and it was an absolutely amazing experience. I will for sure stay here again! (Hotel review coming soon.😉) Check out this post to learn more about points travel.
Our flights got in earlier in the afternoon, so we headed to drop our bags and then went straight to find food and coffee. There are dozens of markets all around the city – pick one and get as many tapas and pinxos as your heart desires! We also walked around the city to familiarize ourselves with the layout, found churros, and watched the sunset before making our way to bed.
Day 2: Madrid, Spain
As I mentioned earlier, we didn’t have the best nights sleep, so this morning we headed out early to find coffee and plan our day. We made our way towards Parque de El Retiro and walked all around the grounds before grabbing a delicious Spanish omelette at Casa Dani in the Mercado de la Paz. I heard about this place from the Madrid episode of Somebody Feed Phil, and it did not disappoint! This afternoon we ended up moving from the hostel to The Thompson Hotel, feeling extremely bougie and soaking up all of the amazing views from the rooftop. For dinner, we walked to the San Miguel Market – our favorite food spot in the city. You can expect a lot of fresh seafood, olives, empanadas, and beverages to complement the amazing food – leave time for lines and to eat a little bit of everything!
Day 3: Madrid, Spain
A good night of sleep can truly change a person, am I right? Feeling well rested, we grabbed pastries from the hotel restaurant and walked for coffee at Bianchi Kiosko Caffe before walking towards the Prado. At this point I was starving, so we stopped at Plenti for delicious shakshouka and a slice of carrot cake before spending the next few hours in the Museo Nacional del Prado. My friend and I are big museum people, and Madrid is full of them! With all of the walking that we had been doing, we were pretty much always down for a snack. Thankfully our hotel was a very short walk away from Takos Al Pastor, which is an absolute must when in Madrid! My friend and I were working EST hours, so we went back to the hotel to work for a little while before finishing the night at the hotel bar with tapas, mocktails, and great conversation with our local bartender.
Day 4: Toledo Day Trip
Toledo was actually once the original capital of the country, and with it being so close, we decided to take the train out for a mini day trip. Getting there was simple, and definitely walkable, though it was pretty rainy the entire time. We stopped for sandwiches and coffee once in the old town, and then we created our own walking tour based on the different places we wanted to see. I would highly recommend spending an hour or two at Santa Iglesia Catedral Primada de Toledo – it’s a breathtaking cathedral so detailed and ornate. Also be sure to check out Museo del Greco, and save time to wander about the grounds. Toldeo is relatively small, so it was easy to spend an afternoon there and see a lot! The main bridge near the train station is Alcantara, and it has some really gorgeous views of the Tagus. Before leaving, be sure to grab a local treat of marzipan for the train back to Madrid! After finishing up some work, we ventured out to another food market concept on top of a department store, and then got fun mocktails at Salmon Guru.
Day 5: Madrid, Spain
For us, today was Thanksgiving, so we devised our own food tour of Madrid! Let me start this off by saying our eyes were far bigger than our stomachs.😅 The first stop on our tour was to HanSo Cafe – such a fun concept, but the servings were so much larger than we thought they would be! The caramel macchiatos and the egg sandwich were crowd pleasers, especially with Madrid not being big on eggs in the morning (but I am!). After that, we walked around the Malasaña neighborhood before settling into Toma Cafe for more caffeine and a cookie. Since we knew we’d be eating a lot today, we added in more walking than the past days, and ventured over to Temple of Debod followed by the Royal Palace. Obviously at this point we needed more coffee, so we found a place just as it started to rain and stayed there until the rain turned into a light mist. The last neighborhood we went to was La Latina, where we stopped for tapas before heading back to the hotel to get ready for dinner. On our way to Bresca, we ended up watching a tree lighting in one of the city squares and it was so magical seeing everyone come together so excited – a lot of heartwarming energy!
Day 6: Segovia Day Trip
On our last full day in Madrid, we took a day trip to Segovia by bus – the easiest and most direct way is to take the train from Estacion de Moncloa to Plaza la Estacion de Autobuses. This way avoids additional stops and bus changes, and drops you off pretty close to the center of Segovia. Today was the first day of full sunshine and we were SO happy to see it! Segovia is a stunning city, very walkable, and lots of great views. We met up with a local friend and had him guide us around, which was a nice change of pace. Our top recommendations would be walking around the Aqueduct, visiting Alcazar de Segovia and the Jewish Quarter, and eating everything you can at Restaurante Jose Maria. When we got back to our hotel, we went out to get one last churro from the infamous Chocolateria San Gines, and then walked around a Christmas market before heading back to pack our bags for Barcelona!
Working Remotely While Traveling Abroad
As I mentioned earlier, my friend and I worked east coast hours while in Spain. Thankfully our jobs are remote, and our boss is extremely cool with us working from anywhere, as long as we get our work done. Unfortunately not all remote jobs are as understanding. During the time we were in Spain, I had 2 zoom meetings on my calendar, but closed off my calendar for any others. This is mainly because my working hours were from around 3 or 4pm Madrid time to about 9 or 10pm Madrid time. Truthfully it made for an extremely long day, and by the time 8 or 9pm rolled around, the last thing I wanted to do was be on my computer.
Madrid, Spain: Final Thoughts and What I Would Do Differently
Since this was our first time visiting Madrid, we had no idea what to expect. I had been to Barcelona a few times, but Madrid is a lot different – much more city, fast pace feeling. Overall I had an amazing time, and absolutely see myself going back! There are only a few things I would do differently now that I can look back at the trip. First, I would have packed a heavier jacket because it was a lot cooler than I initially anticipated. Second, I would have had more euros on me – I read a lot of places weren’t accepting cash, but that wasn’t the case for our experience. Lastly, I would have booked the hotel to begin with rather than booking a hostel first and then switching to a hotel. I have stayed in hostels in the past and everything was great, so I was expecting it would be the same, but it was not. Live and learn! Overall, Madrid is an awesome city full of great food, friendly people, and tons of beautiful sites – I can’t wait to go back and explore even more. Download my 5 day Madrid, Spain itinerary here!