If you want to see a Madrid different from the historic lanes, head north beyond the Plaza de Colón. Here are two districts born in the second half of the 19th century with the Ensanche, the expansion of the city beyond the old walls: Salamanca, east of the Castellana, elegant and wealthy, and Chamberí, to the west, residential and authentic. It is part of the Madrid guide.
Salamanca
The district is named after José de Salamanca, marquis, banker and speculator, who in the 1860s built a modern district for the bourgeoisie here, with wide, straight streets laid out in a grid and buildings with porters, lifts and running water. The marquis went bankrupt, but the district became home to the aristocracy and the wealthy middle class, and is still Madrid's most expensive.
Shopping
The Milla de Oro, the golden mile, consists of calle Serrano, calle de José Ortega y Gasset, calle de Velázquez and calle de Claudio Coello: here are the boutiques of the great international and Spanish brands, from Loewe to Balenciaga, design shops, jewellers and department stores like El Corte Inglés on Serrano. For more affordable shopping there is nearby calle de Goya. See markets and shopping.
What to see
- The National Archaeological Museum and the National Library, in the same great building on the Paseo de Recoletos.
- The Lázaro Galdiano Museum, one of the city's finest house museums.
- The Plaza de Colón, with the Columbus monument, the Colón Towers and the Teatro Fernán Gómez.
- The Mercado de la Paz, the district market, famous for the quality of its produce and for the tortilla at Casa Dani.
- The Palacio de Linares and the Casa de América, towards Cibeles.
Salamanca is also the district of top restaurants, refined tapas and fashionable venues frequented by Madrid's well-to-do.
Chamberí
Chamberí is the district many Madrileños consider the most "castizo", authentically Madrilenian, outside the historic centre. It is residential, full of families, with tree-lined squares, markets, neighbourhood bars with free tapas and very few tourists.
- The Sorolla Museum, the painter's house and garden, not to be missed.
- The Chamberí ghost station, an old 1919 metro station closed in 1966 and preserved as it was, with period tiles and advertising posters, now a free museum (Andén 0).
- Plaza de Olavide, ringed by terraces, the heart of local social life.
- The Trafalgar area and calle de Ponzano, the liveliest street for tapas and vermouth, full of fashionable venues.
- Vallehermoso market, renovated with food stalls.
- The Canal de Isabel II, the old water reservoir turned exhibition hall, and the park above the reservoir.
Tips
- Salamanca and Chamberí are excellent bases for those wanting calm, safety and a resident's feel, a few minutes by metro from the centre.
- For neighbourhood tapas, calle de Ponzano in Chamberí is one of the streets most popular with locals.
- The January and July sales are the best time for shopping on Serrano.
See also all neighbourhoods and Madrid museums.