One of the most complicated parts is already done: you’ve met someone you’re interested enough in to go on a first date. The first meeting means investing time, emotions, and, yes, money in a stranger who could become someone very special, or you may never see them again, in the worst case scenario. So it has to be a place you know, but not your usual bar or restaurant —so you don’t have bad memories of the place afterwards—you have to be able to talk enough to get to know each other, but also the atmosphere has to help you when you don’t know what to say or need to ease the tension.
Temple of Debod
Editorial credit: Photo by Paula Carrasco on Unsplash
A classic spot where you can enjoy watching the sun go down, as the light gradually disappears over the Madrid skyline, giving way to the moon and darkness (which is never complete in Madrid). You can play at identifying those distant buildings: which neighborhood is that? Can you see the roller coaster at the amusement park?
And when you turn around, you’ll see Madrid’s Egyptian temple in all its splendor, minimally lit to make it look like pure gold. How lucky we are to have places like this in the city.
📍Calle de Ferraz, 1 (Argüelles)
Savas Bar
Rumor has it that anyone who has a first date at Savas Bar is blessed forever with a relationship that will work out. We may have made this up a little (although perhaps it’s not just poetic license), but it makes perfect sense when you enter the place.
It’s intimate without being dark; it’s charming without being cheesy; and it serves what are possibly the best cocktails in all of Madrid. The waiting list will tell you so. But trust us, booking ahead and losing a little spontaneity and improvisation is worth it when it comes to Savas Bar.
Among Savas’ most popular cocktails are the Tom Collins (gin, lime, sparkling water) and the Masala Gin Fizz (gin, lime, sparkling water, egg white, and chai masala syrup).
📍Calle de la Sombrerería, 3 (Lavapiés)
WAH Madrid
How to explain it. WAH is pure impact. It ensures that your date will have the time of their life because the “WOW effect” is the leitmotif of this musical and gastronomic show.
Located in IFEMA, this space is pure music: from the gastronomic start, where you can try dishes from all over the world, to the music and acrobatic and dance performances. In the second part, you’ll enter a large theater where you’ll hear the greatest hits in the history of music. Will you find your special song in this experience?
📍Avenida del Partenón, 5 (Barajas district)
The rose garden in Parque del Oeste
Shutterstock / Fernando Astasio Avila
Is the one in Retiro Park better known and more charming? Perhaps. But if there’s one thing about the rose garden in Parque del Oeste, it’s that it’s wilder, further away from the crowds and, due to its size and accessibility, has more nooks and crannies for a furtive kiss.
Opened in 1955 by Don Ramón Ortiz Ferré (the director of Parks and Gardens in Madrid at the time), the Rose Garden contains 20,000 rose bushes of 650 varieties in an area of 32,000 m2. Not surprisingly, this place won the “Garden Excellence” award from the World Federation of Rose Societies in 2006.
📍 Calle de la Rosaleda, 1 (Argüelles)
Lake in the Casa de Campo
Editorial credit: AlbertoWmoreno | Shutterstock.com
With views of the city, tranquility, space, bars, and lots of ducks, the Lake at Casa de Campo meets many of the requirements for a first date. With 1,700 hectares to choose from, it’s easy to be indecisive about where to sit and enjoy the sun, food, and flowers, but the area around the lake is ideal for picnics, and you can also see the iconic Edificio España building from some spots. If it’s too crowded, there’s an area behind the tennis courts with tables and a viewpoint that’s sure to be less crowded and much greener.
📍Casa de Campo
Go to the Museum of Happiness
What better way to manifest a happy future relationship than by going to the Museum of Happiness on your first date? And even if it doesn’t end in a relationship, you’ll still have that good time.
It is the world’s first experiential museum of happiness, consisting of various immersive experiences that allow you to experience the things that bring humans the most happiness. You will laugh, learn, and have your happiness hormone running wild throughout the visit (and afterwards). An original and different way to ensure something that comes in handy on a first date: getting off on the right foot.
📍 Ronda de Valencia, 8 (Lavapiés)
💸Tickets: General admission €16 and reduced admission €14. You can check all prices here.
Once Upon a Crime
We don’t know if your date will have a happy ending or not (we hope so), but at Once Upon a Crime, you can choose for yourselves. An original immersive theater experience full of tension and dark humor in which Little Red Riding Hood is interrogated by a detective, unraveling details of the story that we may have overlooked. And at the end: a vote, where you decide how the story ends. If you don’t live happily ever after, at least the date will have been fun (and different).
📍Círculo de Bellas Artes
💸Tickets: from €17
Alchemy
Image courtesy of Alquimia
A wine bar is a pretty safe and very trendy option for a first date in Madrid. Alquimia is one of the latest openings of 2022 and, as Julieta Pasella (co-owner with Antonio Tapia and Nicolas Marchand) explains to Madrid Secreto, they started “in a totally unexpected and clandestine way (…) with wine, beer, and some cheese left over from my wedding.”
Although they are still getting the kitchen up and running, the wine list is taking shape with the collaboration of Bendito, Vinos y Vinilos. It has all the ingredients for a good first encounter: a bench with a small table at the entrance, the feel of a small Parisian bistro with a traditional touch, natural wines from small producers, dogs are welcome, and they serve good cheese and olives.
📍Calle Amador de los Ríos, 1 (Almagro)
Terraza del Campo del Moro
Editorial credit: La Terraza del Campo del Moro
For those of you who have already seen the Temple of Debod but want something more central and (even) prettier, the Campo del Moro Gardens are well worth a stroll. With spectacular views of the Royal Palace, if you feel like having a drink and a quiet chat as well as a walk, the Terraza del Campo del Moro is an ideal option.
📍Paseo de la Virgen del Puerto, s/n (Center)
The Jury Experience
Are you one of those people who loves moral dilemmas but feels that it’s difficult to ask about them on a first date without coming across as weird? The Jury Experience is the antidote for those looking to have an interesting conversation on a first date, and in a different way.
An immersive trial where the audience is the jury in a complicated case, from love triangles to million-dollar robberies or AI accidents with fatal consequences. Whichever one you choose, you’ll have to listen to the testimonies, analyze the evidence, and decide on the final verdict. A plan that, in addition to being fun, is perfect for getting to know the other person well from the first date (we don’t have time for nonsense).
📍 Ilustre Colegio Oficial de Médicos de Madrid (Calle de Santa Isabel, 51) and Palacio de la Prensa (Plaza del Callao, 4)
💸 Tickets: from €25
Casa González
Casa González is a family-run bar and shop that has been serving customers since 1931 in Madrid’s Las Letras neighborhood. Its menu is simple: good cheeses and cold cuts and a huge variety of wines. The high quality of the products and the establishment’s long history make it an authentic and extremely romantic spot. The table by the window overlooking Calle de León is the most sought-after for dates, so we recommend arriving as early as possible to get it.
The tradition of this establishment blends with contemporary Madrid, as both the waiters and the customers are very diverse in terms of age and style. What unites the customers of this bar is a love of simple products of exceptional quality.
📍Calle de León, 12 (Las Letras)
Cafeína
Editorial credit: Javi Bisbal
This bar is one of those places that serves coffee from early afternoon until nightfall, when it becomes a cocktail bar. Cafeína is decorated in a classic, elegant style that transports you to 1920s New York. Its large windows, Corinthian columns, and Art Deco pendant lamps stand out in the center of Malasaña.
The best thing about this place for a date is that the lighting is dim and pleasant and the armchairs and sofas are quite comfortable, which makes for relaxed conversation. What’s more, the bar’s transformation from a simple café to a lively cocktail bar will help the chemistry flow naturally.
📍Calle Pez, 18 (Malasaña)
The Jazz Room
Nothing says “I’m an interesting person” louder and clearer than someone who suggests a live jazz concert as a first date. And we want you to be that person. Madrid has many jazz clubs, but if you prefer to reserve tickets to ensure you have a seat, The Jazz Room is a very good option: performances dedicated to soul, blues, or pure jazz, in legendary venues throughout the capital. Like a scene from La La Land, but (hopefully) with a better ending.
📍 Nuevo Café Berlín (Calle Costanilla de los Ángeles, 20) and Sala Galileo Galilei (Calle Galileo, 100)
💸 Tickets: from €25
Bocanada
Editorial credit: Bocanada
A first date is a double-edged sword. And if the company turns out to be disappointing, it’s always good to have alternatives, which is what Bocanada offers. At Bocanada, you walk in without knowing anyone and leave inviting all the regulars who fill the place to your wedding. A few square meters are to blame for the conversations mixing.
Bocanada also has another unique feature: its wines are chosen little by little. Amanda Leite, the owner, buys wines in batches of three, and when they run out, they run out. When you come back, you’ll try another one.
📍 Calle del León, 5 (Barrio de las Letras)
💸 Glasses of wine from €4.50
Ballet of Lights
Seeing a play or a show before going for a drink on a first date is very helpful, but not just anything will do: it has to be something good that you can talk about afterwards. A great example of this is Ballet of Lights, a dance show that reinterprets classic stories such as Cinderella and Sleeping Beauty (you could talk about these for hours) and in which the dancers’ costumes are illuminated. Beautiful, elegant, and luminous—what more could you ask for on a first date?
📍 Círculo de Bellas Artes.
💸 Tickets: from €24
Pretil de los consejos
Editorial credit: Wikimedia Commons
Madrid, a city where commerce seems to swallow everything up, also reserves some free spaces with a clear aura of a first date. The Pretil de los Consejos area and the route through the small side streets give you two certainties: one, that you are walking through a place that does not seem like Madrid; two, that you feel like a character in a Jonás Trueba film or a Nacho Vegas song.
Going down the Pretil de los Consejos, the street empties of people, narrows, and then widens again on Calle Segovia, where you come face to face with a concrete monstrosity under which you can shelter from the rain and chat about anecdotes from a past life.
Candlelight Concerts
Some may think that a candlelight concert is not the best plan for a first date, but let’s be honest, booking a table at a chain restaurant is even less so. If music soothes the savage beast, Candlelight music makes them fall in love (and you’ll have something to talk about when you leave). It will surprise you, that’s for sure, and regardless of how things turn out, you’re sure to have a beautiful memory that will last forever. Because take our word for it, it’s a beautiful experience.
📍 Different locations throughout Madrid.
💸 Tickets: Different types of tickets ranging from €11 to €59, depending on visibility.
Yokaloka
Image courtesy of Yokaloka.
This small, picturesque stall in the Antón Martín market inspired Isabel Coixet for one of the dates attended by the protagonists of her series Foodie Love. The characters choose the gyozas from this restaurant on their third date, although we don’t feel like waiting that long and think it’s the perfect place for a first date. And, why not, if it goes well, repeat on the third.
According to the director, Yokaloka is the place where they serve the best ramen in the world. And she’s not entirely wrong. However, we encourage you to try some of the other dishes on the menu. Perhaps a soup with very long noodles is not the best choice to show your best side when you first meet your Tinder date. Instead, try the sushi or dumplings with a glass of sake. Or any of the many vegan options they have! They are sure to surprise you and, as in the HBO series, things will end up going further.
📍Inside the Antón Martín Market, Calle de Sta. Isabel, 5
💸 Sushi set from €13.20
Olavide Bar de Libros
With a name like that, it couldn’t be anywhere else but Plaza de Olavide itself. And indeed, it lives up to expectations. If it’s called “Bar de Libros”(Book Bar), it must serve coffee and beer as well as books. And here, once again, it doesn’t disappoint.
Olavide Bar de Libros is a wonderful nonsense where literature, drinks, and food come together to prove that there is no better trio. There is so much to browse and so much to try that the topics of conversation will be practically endless. Something that, believe us, is important to keep in mind on a first date.
📍Plaza de Olavide, 14
💸 Average price: €7 (without a book, of course)
Mirador de la Calle del Factor
Much less well known than the viewpoint on the cornice of the Royal Palace, but much prettier and less crowded. Calle Factor runs parallel to Calle Bailén, only at a higher elevation, which makes its incredible views of La Almudena and the Royal Palace worth experiencing with someone by your side or celebrating with a silly kiss. We especially recommend sunset (we know, very cliché, but trust us, it’s worth it). A free, different, and romantic option that sets the bar high.
📍Calle del Factor (Downtown)
Bucólico Café
Image courtesy of: Bucólico Café
The name says it all: this cozy café is a quiet place where you can chat and get to know your companion over breakfast, brunch, or afternoon tea. It’s open from 9 a.m. to 7 p.m., and the menu includes hot and cold drinks, a variety of sweet and savory toast, sandwiches, bowls, and pastries, all homemade.
The café’s aesthetic, reminiscent of cottagecore (that romanticized approach to country life), makes it not only one of the prettiest cafés in Madrid, but also an idyllic setting for a first date (reservations are recommended).
📍 Calle Barbieri, 4 (ground floor, left)
💸 Average price: €15
Royal Botanical Garden
Editorial credit: Lucian Milasan / Shutterstock.com
Madrid has many parks and gardens that could be considered a good (and inexpensive) choice for a first date. And although it is not free, the Royal Botanical Garden is undoubtedly also on that list.
Walking and romance have always gone hand in hand, especially when the setting is a large garden with ponds, impressive greenhouses, and a multitude of tree and plant species. In addition, the Villanueva Pavilion hosts exhibitions that you can also take advantage of visiting.
📍Plaza de Murillo, 2
💸 Tickets: general admission €4 and €8 with exhibition. Rates and discounts can be found on the website.
This article was written by Alberto del Castillo, María F. Carballo, Isabel Nieto, Javi Bisbal, Miguel Sánchez, Elena Francés, and Marina Carrasco.