SPANISHCITYPERFECTSPOTFORFOODLOVERS
Spanish chalk-scrawls on blackboards, and getting an order in requires deft elbow manoeuvres to secure a space at the bar.
You can let someone else do all the hard work by booking a food tour. Yorkshire lass Jo Wivell moved to Spain many years ago to follow her passion for flamenco, and now runs the excellent Insider’s Madrid (insidersmadrid.com).
Book a bespoke tour with Jo and she’ll show you all the best spots, including La Venencia, where grumpy staff serve sherry in a magical space stacked with wooden casks, and Emma Cocina (opposite the San Miguel market), a rare place to find salads in the city.
A three-hour tour with all you can eat and drink in four stops costs from £144 per person (minimum 2 people). Discounts apply for bigger groups.
Accommodation wise, we stayed at Only YOU Atocha, a cool, charming and breezily stylish hotel. This young, energetic hotel perfectly sums up the spirit of Madrid. The 205 rooms are compact but filled with everything the millennial traveller might need: multiple USB points, glossy magazines, large rain showers and, in suites, even high-tech pro hairdryers. Find a Dreams & Fears notebook next to the bed and alphabet biscuits on pillows at turn down.
Dark corridors in exposed brick are decked with baseball hoops – making the place look a bit like a giant gym – although the social spaces are much more inviting.
But the real star is the SEP7IMA rooftop bar, with views of the neighbouring Atocha railway station. A breakfast buffet is served daily at tables decorated with vases of lettuce leaves, and at night cocktails and champagne flow. The classy concoctions cost 14 euros.