About Hotel Ritz
Hotel Ritz has long provided the capital's most elegant entertainment. To stay at the Hotel Ritz is to step inside a baroque palace, an experience you won't forget.

Madrid: a city steeped in culture
Madrid, the capital city of Spain, is a wonderful city with an unlimited number of things to do, making any visit an unforgettable experience, and the Hotel Ritz is ideally located to let you enjoy the very best of Madrid.

Just a few short paces from the hotel are the three most important museums in Madrid: the Prado, the Thyssen Bornemisza and the Centro de arte Moderno Reina Sofia.

Take a stroll through Buen Retiro, Madrid's most famous park, located just behind the Prado museum. Originally built as the gardens for the Palacio del Buen Retiro of Philip IV in the 15th century, the gardens house a working observatory and the Palacio de Cristal, built entirely of glass.Or spend an evening enjoying the delights of the Teatro de la Zarzuela just moments from the lobby of the Hotel Ritz.

Sightseeing
Madrid proudly displays her glorious avenues and spacious squares, embellished with majestic fountains and sculpture, but swap the grandeur for colour by turning into a side street. This rich tapestry provides endless wonder as your eyes go from the old and quaint to the new and bold, and from the awe-inspiring to the homely.

Madrid's unmissable landmarks are for the most part architectural. The greatest exception, besides the astounding art galleries that the city offers, is the Parque del Buen Retiro. This immense park, originally designed as a royal retreat, when this area was still outside the city walls, covers 350 acres of the centre of the modern city. Composed of seventeenth century formal gardens, it is dotted with monuments, fountains, ponds and the delicate beauty of the Palacio de Cristal, inspired by the many glass structures popular in England at the time, such as Kew Gardens' Palm House or London's Crystal Palace.

If you feel inspired by the Retiro then you could also try the Jardín Botánico, a large, well-structured botanical garden, where all plants and trees are marked as to species. The Casa de Campo is another spacious park with a boating lake, a zoo and an amusement park. Though accessible from the Lago metro stop, you can also take a more scenic approach and arrive in the cable car from the Parque La Rosaleda.

There are walking and bus tours of the city as well as combined cultural tours which take in a museum or art gallery en route. Look out, too, for the evening tapas tours where Madrid in all its blazing night-time glory is the backdrop to a low key wine and gastronomy lesson. Don't forget to go native and take an early evening stroll - known as el paseo - and take in the sculpture of Basque abstract sculptor, Eduardo Chillida, along the Paseo de La Castellana.

Interesting Features
Bullfighting
The epitome of Spain for many, this artistic performance is deeply rooted in Madrid's cultural identity. As the city's capital, Madrid boasts the best bullring, attracts the best bullfighters and has the most sophisticated audience. Not for the squeamish but certainly an experience you will remember. The pomp and circumstance which surround the corridas and the dazzling outfits make for a fascinating afternoon's entertainment.

Nightlife
Plaza Santa Ana, in the theatre district, comes alive at night. Like many capital cities around the world it can be a bit pricey and tourist-oriented, but head towards Chueca for a younger more upbeat area or the La Latina district, between the Tribunal and Bilbao metro stops, where the locals choose to spend the warm dry evenings of the long Madrid summer sitting on the many terraces.

Theatre
The most famous theatres in Madrid are the Teatro de la Zarzuela, home to the traditional Spanish operetta, and the Teatro Real, while the Círculo de Bellas Artes ensures that a rich variety of theatre, music, art and dance is available all year round. Choose from classic, contemporary and finge theatre as well as ballet, modern dance and more. A truly extensive offering.

Fiestas
Fiestas take all shapes and forms but as a general rule they celebrate an annual event (like Easter or harvest time) and the patron saints of the town of city. During the day the aim is to have fun and everyone can join in. There are lots of competitions and events to watch or participate in. If it's a religious celebration, processions carrying an icon of the patron saint will herald the start of the fiesta, otherwise there will be some kind of ritual, and the whole town or barrio will be there to witness it. The celebrations get noisier as the day wears on with chiringuitos (open air stalls and tents selling food and drink) around the parks and all the local bars and restaurants will have terraces ready. There'll be live music, fairgrounds, exhibitions of all sorts. Everyone gets into the spirit of the thing and you'll see many people dressed up in traditional costume. Don't be surprised to see the evenings festivities last well into the next day, with the traditional breakfast of chocolate con churros (thick hot chocolate drink with doughnuts) serving to get everyone back into a fit state to deal with the day ahead.

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There are fiestas all year round in Madrid but the most important are the Fiesta de San Isidro which takes up the best part of the month of May and La Almudena in November, both celebrating the Patron Saints of the city.

Shopping
Madrid is fast catching up with other European cities as a shopper's paradise. Giving particularly good value for the English pound, the city also lays on a feast of designer clothing, antiques, leather goods and ceramics.

The main shopping areas are divided over three districts. Large department stores such as El Corte Inglés can be found around the Puerta del Sol. Northwest of here, following the Paseo de la Castellana, is the Salamanca district. An elegant, well-heeled district, it is home to the very best of designer shops, such as Prada and Armani, plus homegrown talent like Sybilla and Josep Font. The quirkier, independent labels have found their home in the vicinity of the Chueca metro stop, a few minutes Northeast of the Plaza de Cibeles.

If you're lucky enough to be in Madrid on a Sunday morning then head over to the Calle de Ribera de Curtidores and surrounding streets for one of the most colourful flea markets in Europe, El Rastro. Selling everything you can think of it is probably not the best place to go with a precise object - and price - in mind, but you will discover a multitude of marvels, both old and new. Antique furniture and collectibles nestle alongside bootleg cassettes and random junk. Stick around after 2pm when the stalls make way for the weekly street party.