The Habits That Are Purely Madrid
Madrid is, at its heart, both cosmopolitan and castizo: international and deeply Spanish, and somehow entirely its own thing. Much of what feels simply Spanish to a newcomer is in fact pure madrileño, and doesn't travel even as far as Barcelona or Seville.
Learn these and the city stops treating you like a visitor.
This is the true Madrid, written by madrileños.
What to Know
Bragging about the tap water
Madrileños will tell you, unprompted, that their tap water is the best in Spain, and they are not wrong: it runs straight off the Sierra de Guadarrama and tastes of nothing at all. Order agua del grifo and skip the bottle.
The best terraceo in the world
No one really stops to watch the Madrid sunset, but they don't have to: it's the backdrop to the best terraceo on earth. As the light turns pink and gold, the kind of sky Velázquez painted, the whole city drifts onto the terraces for a drink that stretches long into the evening. De Madrid al cielo, they say, and on a good terrace you'll believe it.
Asking which barrio you live in
Where you live in Madrid says how you spend your time: Malasaña or Lavapiés, Salamanca or Chamberí each come with a whole way of life. So it's the natural first question here, less about the postcode than about what you're into.
Learning to say 'flipar'
Forget the textbook. When something amazes, shocks or delights you, flipas. Estoy flipando covers a great meal, a jaw-dropping price and everything in between, and using it right is the fastest way to sound like you live here.
Meeting out, almost never at home
Madrid life happens on the street, at the bar, on the terraza, and hardly ever in the living room. Dinner parties exist but are rare, and when they happen they tend to be picoteo, a spread to pick at, rather than a sit-down dinner. Don't wait to be invited over; the invitation is to a bar.
Reading the Madrid and Atleti line
The city splits between Real Madrid and Atlético, and the divide carries a quiet class undertone: Real the establishment, Atleti the working-class heart worn with pride. Nobody spells it out, but which badge someone wears tells a small story about where they're from.
Always, always having plans
In Madrid, plans are currency. Say you have nothing on this weekend and no one hears I'm free; they hear I haven't decided yet, because there's always something going on. Keeping your options open until the last minute is, in itself, deeply madrileño.
The fastest way in: pick a barrio, learn to say flipar, drink the tap water, and always have a plan. The rest of Madrid follows from there.
Want to live it, not just visit? Find your home among our fully serviced apartments, or email contact@akora.com and our team will help you settle in like a local.