In Madrid, asking “Do you feel like doing something today?” is synonymous with “Something cheap, please”. You don’t want to do the usual, but you don’t want to suffer for the bank account later for having preferred to do an original plan. A cheap but different plan in Madrid: something that may seem utopian in the capital (although not impossible).
Many times, it does not depend so much on spending a lot of money as on knowing the cultural proposal and the history of the city in question. And with a city like Madrid, where there is a new plan on every corner and the bill is going up without you noticing, keep up without making accounts with the piggy bank later can be complicated.
Therefore, here we present you cheap plans to do in Madrid, and that do not include the usual proposals. Those in which, for a small price, you can do something different and original and end up saying: “Hey, we have to do this more times”.
Table Of Contents
- Climbing to some of the best rooftops in Madrid
- Tasting a Michelin-starred menu for about 30 €.
- Enjoy a Candlelight concert
- Try a signature cocktail at a secret location.
- Strolling through the luxurious rooms of a 19th century palace-house.
- Drink a specialty coffee with a special touch.
- Experience a live organ concert at the Auditorio Nacional
- Visit a gourmet chocolate factory
- Do a wine and cheese tasting.
- Go to the Doré for a film series
Climbing to some of the best rooftops in Madrid
The rooftops, those rooftops with bars that fill the rooftops of Madrid, especially around Gran Via, came to be a good cheap plan, but with luxury views, every time the temperature rises in the capital. Sunsets with the best views of Madrid and the Casa de Campo in the background, accompanied by a drink and good conversation, rarely fail on a first date.
In case you don’t want to wait in line to go up to the RIU terrace, Irreverente, Ella Sky Bar or the green garden of Oroya are worthy alternatives.
📍 Various locations
Tasting a Michelin-starred menu for about 30 €.
The cheapest Michelin-starred restaurantin Madrid is located in Valdemoro and, although you have to make a transfer to get there from the center, it is worth it. This is Chirón, an establishment founded in 2013 by the Muñoz brothers (and no, we don’t mean Estopa but chef Iván and sommelier Raúl) that doesn’t need to inflate its prices to increase its worth.
On Tuesdays, Wednesdays, Thursdays and Fridays it offers an executive menu for only 34 euros that includes snacks, oil from Madrid, artisan bread, appetizer, starter, fish, meat, dessert and two glasses of wine. A luxury menu at a very affordable price.
💸 Executive menu from 35 €.
📍Calle Alarcón, 27 (Valdemoro)
Enjoy a Candlelight concert
Candlelight is the series of candlelight concerts that pays tribute to great artists in the history of music in classical format. From great composers such as Mozart or Vivaldi to groups of the stature of Queen, ABBA or Coldplay through tributes to movie soundtracks, the best musicals or flamenco artists.
An approach to classical music in an intimate atmosphere and in places as magical as the Círculo de Bellas Artes or the Ateneo de Madrid suitable for all budgets. There are tickets for less than 15 euros!
💸 Tickets from 14 €. You can find the purchase links at the end of this article.
📍Different locations all over Madrid
Try a signature cocktail at a secret location.
Sometimes what we need is a stimulating experience that takes us out of the routine, but also does not need much advance notice, perhaps that’s why the speakeasy cocktail bars continue to flourish. In some like Bad Company 1920 you need a password to enter, but the mystery is solved by paying attention to their Instagram. The fun, in addition to the signature cocktails, is the setting.
At Jack’s Library they recreate a dimly lit bookstore for reading and Medium Club go beyond inspiration in a bygone era, and there are hypnosis and tarot sessions. The cocktails are not the cheapest, but if you count on everything that surrounds the spirit, it certainly falls within one of the cheap plans in Madrid, which do not feel like one.
📍 Several locations
Strolling through the luxurious rooms of a 19th century palace-house.
There is nothing that makes you feel more luxurious than walking around a late 19th century palace like Pedro in your own home. And that is exactly what you can do when you visit the Cerralbo Museum, a small palace in the heart of the Argüelles neighborhood that belonged to the 17th Marquis of Cerralbo, after whom it is named.
Among its various rooms we can find more than 50,000 works of art including sculptures, paintings, tapestries and furniture, all of them of different styles such as classicism, neo-baroque and rococo. A journey through the taste and aesthetics of the Spanish upper class of the time whose entrance costs only 3 euritos.
💸 Admission at 3 €.
📍 Ventura Rodriguez Street, 17
Drink a specialty coffee with a special touch.
Specialty coffee is usually expensive, but in Madrid, luckily, there are still places where you can enjoy a coffee with a different touch at an affordable price.
For example, at Plántate Café, one of the best coffee shops in the capital, you will find their beloved Spanish latte, with condensed milk and mocha, for 3.50 €; at Naji Specialty Coffee, you can try their already mythical Pistachio latte with a delicious touch of pistachio for 4.50 €; or at Bucólico Café you will have the opportunity to refresh yourself with their magnificent cold brew with orange and ginger(4.50 €).
💸 F rom 3,50 €.
📍 Plántate Café (Calle Mesón de Paredes, 28), Naji Specialty Coffee (Calle Cardenal Cisneros, 39) and Bucólico Café (Calle Barbieri, 4).
Experience a live organ concert at the Auditorio Nacional
This is probably one of the most amazing cheap plans you can do in Madrid. Bach Vermut is an initiative of the Auditorio Nacional that was born a few years ago with the intention of bringing symphonic music to the general public.
It usually takes place on the third Saturday of each month and on this date the organist appears in front of the impressive symphonic hall of the auditorium to play some of Bach’s best known works but also other classical and contemporary compositions. An incomparable musical experience. Have you ever seen an organ concert? Surely not for 6 euros, as in this case!
💸 Tickets at 6 €.
📍 Auditorio Nacional de Música, calle Príncipe de Vergara, 146
Visit a gourmet chocolate factory
Kaicao is a small chocolate shop located in the heart of Lavapiés that offers a unique tour of chocolate making while you try some of its star products, all of which have no added sugars, as they are sweetened only with dates. The one-hour visit costs 13 euros, prior reservation on the Kaicao website, and the prices of their sustainable, healthy and delicious chocolates, quite affordable.
💸 13 euros per person for one-hour visits, prior reservation.
📍 Calle de la Encomienda, 15
Do a wine and cheese tasting.
The next step after knowing about tannins and aftertaste is knowing how to pair them. Probably, one of the culinary epitomes of European and Mediterranean culture is to alternate food and drink, and to dedicate specific times to it, as in the aperitif. Knowing how to combine that aperitif well is an art, a degree of exquisiteness, which does not have to be expensive. There are spaces -caquerias and wine bars, in particular- like La Carbonera where to learn from both fields.
💸 Pairing tasting at La Carbonera: 40€ per person.
📍 Calle Bernardo López García, 11 (Conde Duque)
Go to the Doré for a film series
The Filmoteca Española and the Doré cinema coexist in the same modernist style building, so common in the 20s, but difficult to find in today’s Madrid. The truth is that this institution is one of the most interesting cultural proposals and at the same time one of the cheapest plans in Madrid. Becoming a regular at the Filmoteca, with its film cycles, carefully selected billboard and colloquiums, is a way to ensure the necessary dose of cinematographic intellectuality, without having to make a great expense.
💸 1 0-session pass: 20€.
📍 Calle de Sta. Isabel, 3 (Lavapiés)
This article has been written by Miguel Sánchez and Elena Francés.