La Latina
Madrid, Spain
The city's oldest quarter, a tangle of medieval lanes that fills on Sundays for the El Rastro flea market and the slow crawl of Cava Baja's tapas bars. Th…
Places in La Latina
- Sobrino de Botín The world's oldest restaurant, open since 1725, where the wood-fired oven has roasted suckling pig and lamb for three centuries. A living piece of Madrid, best taken seriously.
- Casa Lucio The temple of huevos rotos — eggs broken over fried potatoes — on Cava Baja, where politicians and pilgrims have eaten side by side for decades. Simple food, done with total conviction.
- Taberna La Concha A cheerful vermouth-and-tapas bar just off the Cava Baja, where the house vermouth and grilled plates draw a happy Sunday crowd. Unpretentious and reliably good.
- Casa Revuelta A standing-room bar famous for one thing: featherlight fried cod, deboned by hand each morning. Order it with a caña and join the crush.
Practical notes for Madrid
- Best time to visit
- May, June and September for warm, open-terrace weather; autumn for the cultural season. July and August are hot and quieter as Madrileños leave for the coast.
- Getting around
- The Metro is fast, cheap and reaches almost everything; the centre itself is best walked. Taxis and ride-hailing are plentiful and reasonable. Avoid driving — the low-emission zone and one-way maze punish it.
- Currency
- Euro (€)
- Language
- Spanish. English is common in the centre.
- Timezone
- CET (UTC+1, UTC+2 in summer)
- Current trends
- A wave of chef-driven neighbourhood dining beyond the centre; natural wine and vermouth culture; the slow revival of the classic taberna; and a growing weekend-brunch scene once alien to the city.
Other neighborhoods in Madrid
- Malasaña — Birthplace of the 1980s Movida counterculture, now the city's creative heart: vintage shops, third-wave coffee, and bars behind unmarked doors. Loud, young and endlessly walkable.
- Chueca — The centre of Madrid's LGBTQ+ life and one of its most spirited quarters, with terraces, small restaurants and boutiques packed into narrow streets.
- Salamanca — Madrid's most exclusive address, north of the Retiro, where the Golden Mile on Calle Serrano lines up designer houses, five-star hotels and starred kitchens.
- Lavapiés — The multicultural heart of the city, layered with Indian, Senegalese and Moroccan kitchens and a strong current of street art. Come hungry and curious.
Read the full Madrid guide