Complaining about the temperature is useless: Madrid in July is the way it is. Warm, torrid, spelling. We know it’s hot but, in response, the city responds by getting splendid and giving us unique experiences. As a sample, here are some of the best plans for this July.
Veranos de la Villa (July 7 to August 24)
Madrid doesn’t know how to do it any other way: in the heat, great cultural plans. Veranos de la Villa is the wide cultural agenda (both in terms of offer and the venues where it is programmed) that includes music, cinema, dance, theater, circus… in different venues of the Community of Madrid (such as the Central Patio and Theater of the Conde Duque Cultural Center, Claustro del Pozo del Instituto de Educación Secundaria San Isidro, Espacio Cultural Serrería Belga and Centro de Danza Matadero, as well as 15 other venues in different districts of the city).
This summer, the summer festival will celebrate its 41st edition. Veranos la Villa will kick off on July 7 with La Fura dels Baus and the show Carmen: 150 years at the Puente del Rey. Discover the complete program here.
📍 Where? Several locations
The Euro Cup at Citynizer Plaza (July 11)
In Lavapiés soccer can also be seen in community and with vermouth. The Citynizer Plaza (Calle Juanelo, 17) will host the broadcasts of the upcoming matches of the Spanish women’s national team in the European Championship, in an initiative promoted by Dragones de Lavapiés and Futbolamedia, which already gathered a good number of neighbors in its first date. The next matches will be on Monday, July 7 (Spain vs. Belgium, at 6:00 pm) and Friday, July 11 (Italy vs. Spain, at 9:00 pm). Admission is free, the atmosphere is local – in the best sense of the word.
📍 Where is the venue? Citynizer Plaza, at 17 Juanelo Street (La Latina).
Jurassic World: The Experience (all month)
We are no longer in Madrid: we are on the dinosaur island we dreamed of so many times… The dinosaurs of the Jurassic World saga inhabit the city these months, in an experience that takes the viewer through the scenes of the films and those magnificent beings that we have even named (like the velociraptor Blue). Jurassic World: The Experience is designed for all ages with life-size animatronic dinosaurs.
📍 Location: Paseo de las Delicias, 61 (Delicias, Arganzuela).
Tickets: from 22€.
Fabrik’s summer parties (July 12, 13 and 18)
This July, secret plans out loud. What’s that like? To begin with, the CODE Summer Festival (July 12) will be 18 hours with more than 60 DJs including Helena Hauff, Oguz, Oscar Mulero and Cristian Varela. This will be topped off in style with a matinee (with separate entrance from 7.00am on Sunday, July 13) with a line up to be unveiled at the same time.
To continue, because on July 18 will be held the Rave 404 and “the organization flatly refuses to offer any information about the event”. That is to say: we will go, blindly, without looking back and trusting in the power of hard.
📍Where:Avenida de la Industria, 82, (Humanes).
Tickets: starting at 10€.
Summer cinemas (all month)
Outdoors, between buildings, trees or in impressive courtyards: Madrid’s summer cinemas are a summer must. An excuse like any other to see again the titles of our childhood, the most awaited premieres or those films that always pull nostalgia with popcorn in the moonlight.
Autocine Madrid is the definitive plan, with its 350 parking spaces, to remember great movie hits. But you can’t miss the neighborhood cinemas, the Cine Caliente de los Veranos de la Villa ( the program is about to be published), Fescinal (starting on June 26 until September included; also, this year, if you go by Bicimad, they will give you the first popcorn) or Cibeles de Cine ( from June 26 to September 11) ….
On the other hand, Matadero and Cineteca present the eighth edition of its summer cinema CinePlaza. This year, the cycle comes with the title ‘Superstars 2’, with the intention of hybridizing musical creation with cinema. This summer’s program includes two cinema-concerts, two films with live commentary and 12 films. Among the protagonists of this interactive cycle, Hidrogenesse, Joe Crepúsculo, the journalist Paloma Rando and the popularizer Lidia García.
📍Where? Several locations
La Terraza Magnética (from July 4 to August 2)
La Casa Encendida’s summer music and cinema circuit is back. Its summer cinema (every Friday from July 4) will screen great classics of alternative cinema such as Lost Highway, by David Lynch; Heart of a Dog, by Laurie Anderson: The Dreams of Akira Kurosawa, by Kurosawa; The Savage Planet, by René Raloux; Orlando, by Sally Potter.
In addition, this year a second location has been added for this cinema, Casa San Cristobal, with two sessions (July 10 and 11, with Spirited Away, by Hayao Miyazaki; and Flow, by Gints Zilbalodis, respectively). On the musical side, every Saturday there will be a performance on this rooftop in the center of Madrid with Ancient Pleasure, Lauren Duffus, Otay:onii, Concepción Huerta & Gibrana Cervantes.
📍Where? Ronda de Valencia, 2 (Embajadores)
Tickets: cinema, from 4€; concerts, from 5€
An indoor amusement park with air conditioning: Babylon Park
Did you know that Madrid has an indoor amusement park? It is called Babylon Park and it has a hundred arcade machines, a shuttle, a virtual reality area, spinning chairs that fly… and the star: a roller coaster inside the park itself.
📍 Location: Westfiel Parquesur. Avenida Gran Bretaña, s/n (Leganés).
Tickets: 1.5h of unlimited play for 15€.
Antonio Muñoz Degrain Exhibition (all month)
The Villanueva building of the Prado Museum hosts ten works by Antonio Muñoz Degrain that review the career of the Valencian painter, one of the most original figures of 19th-century Spanish art. The exhibition also includes the speech Muñoz Degrain gave on his admission to the San Fernando Academy, dedicated to “sincerity in art”.
📍 Location: Paseo del Prado, s/n, 28014
Terrafilia. Beyond the Human in the Thyssen-Bornemisza Collections (all month)
Terrafilia is love for the Earth. It is also a commitment to the living, to animals, plants… but also to the inert, such as geological formations. In the face of the climate crisis and the constant threats to ecosystems, the exhibition (which brings together works by artists such as Joachim Patinir, Wassily Kandinsky and Olafur Eliasson), aims to make visitors connect with the different worlds portrayed by each one, “embracing an emerging planetary policy”.
📍Where: Thyssen-Bornemisza Museum, Paseo del Prado, 8 (downtown).
A living room for the city (throughout the month).
Matadero opens, during all July, its own climatic shelter. La Nave Una will extend its hours (Tuesday to Sunday from 12.00 to 21.00h) under the perspective of “shelter” and as a popular and community solution to the effects of high temperatures, putting “culture as a physical, creative and intellectual shelter against the weather“, in the words of the organization. Thus, the living room is extended to this ship in which a full cultural program is organized by creators of the city (from dj sets to live podcasts, talks or screenings).
📍 Location: Plaza de Legazpi, 8 (Arganzuela)
Café Flamenco & Goya Live Art (all month)
Atypical, unique, a little bit spelling. It is difficult to define an experience that holds so many surprises and moments at every step. Café Flamenco & Goya Live Art is not an exhibition, nor is it an artistic tour. It is, rather, the conjunction of different arts (poetry, theater, dance, flamenco, even gastronomy), in a plan that pays homage to the imaginary of Goya’sLos Disparates. It is located in the center of Madrid and, for those who wish, every day at 20.30h is complemented (separate entrance) with a flamenco show with dinner (a typical Andalusian tasting menu).
📍 Location: Paseo del Pintor Rosales, 30 (Argüelles)
💸 Tickets: sensory experience, 15€; ticket for the flamenco show with tasting menu, every day at 8.30pm (75€).
Candlelight Summer (all month)
Ed Sheeran, Mozart, Bach, Coldplay vs. Imagine Dragons, Queens vs. ABBA, The best of the Beatles… Candlelight in its Summer edition is a series of classical music concerts that reinterprets the greatest hits of different genres in a magical setting of hundreds of candles. Everything has a place in these unique evenings in special locations in Madrid (such as the Four Seasons Hotel, Teatro Ateneo…).
📍Where? Several locations
💸 Tickets: from 15 €.
Círculo de Bellas Artes’ climatic shelter (from July 10th)
What a fantasy this is. Last year Círculo de Bellas Artes became the salvation, opening the doors of its common areas for reading, conversation … the dolce far niente between a good temperature and with the aim not only not to spend heat, but to make community. Given the very good reception of the proposal, this 2025 returns the Climate shelter and its plant-sitting service, taking care of plants while you go on vacation. Simply, thank you.
📍Where to find us? Calle de Alcalá, 42 (Downtown)
Anna Weyant (from July 15)
This is the first monographic exhibition of Anna Weyant (Calgary, 1995). An artist who reflects, in each work, a wide range of influences, from Baroque to the art of the first half of the 20th century. Her works, starring young women, border on surrealism, move between the dreamlike and the everyday.
📍Where: Thyssen-Bornemisza Museum, Paseo del Prado, 8 (downtown).
Eternal moment in the garden ( from July 9)
Cristina Almodóvar, Chus García-Fraile and Daniel Verbis reflect on the concept of the garden, a “space of deep connection that connects us with the most essential part of the human experience: the search for beauty, serenity and meaning”. This artistic garden that CentroCentro will become from July 9 will compile works by these three artists calling for introspection and reflection on what surrounds us and how it surrounds us.
📍Where? CentroCentro in Plaza de la Cibeles, 1 (Center)
A summer of cinema (July 2 to 30)
The Sala Berlanga returns, as every summer season, with a film season (and good air conditioning) for 3.50 euros per session. Ten current auteur films will be screened in different evening sessions (18.30 and 21.00h), such as La buena letra, by Celia Rico; Los tortuga, by Belén Funes; or La buena suerte, by Gracia Querejeta. Consult the complete program here.
📍Where to go? Andrés Mellado, 53 (Chamberí)
Summers in the Park (all month long)
The Community of Madrid starts a new free summer initiative (until full capacity). Under the name Veranos en el Parque (not in vain, it will be held from June 27 and throughout the month of July and August in the park of Santander) will include theater, circus, puppet shows for families, cinema for all audiences, outdoor yoga and the performance of the Spanish Ballet of the Community of Madrid. You can consult the complete program here.
📍Where to go? Santander Park (Paseo de San Francisco de Sales, 39)
Festival Escenas de Verano (from July 4 to September 7)
More than 250 cultural activities (most of them free of charge) are programmed in 158 municipalities of the Community of Madrid. Among the essential events of this great cultural umbrella are Performing Arts in Municipalities, Classical Concerts in Summer, the San Lorenzo Festival or Live Art in the Square. Dance, theater, music, cinema, with a sustainable, diverse photo that advocates the decentralization of the cultural core.
📍Where? Different locations.
Arte Vivo en la Plaza (from July 18)
Eleven squares in the region will become stages for creative talent and artistic actions. Squares are those places where neighbors gather, converse, around which neighborhood life is born. This summer, once again, there will be eleven meetings in which five artists will present their artistic proposals, taking art out of the galleries, museums and exhibition halls. Check here the program.
📍Where will they take place? Alcalá de Henares, El Escorial, Chinchón, Bustarviejo, Buitrago de Lozoya, Manzanares El Real, Navalcarnero, Rascafría-El Paular, Valdemorillo, Villalbilla, Villaviciosa de Odón.
A scenic experience in an abandoned monastery: Towards echoes of the sacred (July 10-13)
The abandoned monastery of Santa María la Real de Valdeiglesias will become the stage for a theatrical intervention. Towards echoes of the sacred is an experience based on the sounds that this monastery contained (from the voice in the refectory to the chanting in the church through the ringing of bells…) transferred to the current public, to the present.
📍Where is it? Avenida del Arquitecto Mariano García Benito, s/n (Pelayos de la Presa)
💸 Tickets: from 15€.
Summer cinema on the rooftop of the Doré (from July 1st)
From July 1, the rooftop of the Filmoteca opens its doors to summer cinema sessions (with bar service). These sessions, which come with headphones, start with Francis Ford Coppola’s The Conversation and will run until August 31 with titles such as Blues in the Night, Souls of Metal, Synechdoque, New York… see the complete program here.
📍Where to find us? Cuesta de Sta. Isabel, 3 (Downtown)
Autocine Madrid’s summer parties
Summer cinema
Autocine Madrid not only opens the doors to the best film sessions of its summer cinema, but it does so by generating a whole United States Style experience , withfoodtrucks, its American diner to get the most delicious American cuisine… And a little bit of Spanish Style, with a hammock area to enjoy the movie as it deserves a very enjoyable summer.
📍 Location: Calle de la Isla de Java, 2 (Fuencarral)
💸 Tickets: from 7€.
Rita’s Summer Edition
This place is also refreshed every summer in its iconic Rita’s Summer Edition, with DJ sets, live shows, cocktails, foodtrucks, activities, water guns, foam cannon, solarium area, ping-pong, giant water slide, musical bingo with prizes, fun flamingo showers… That is, Autocine Madrid in its most refreshing and hilarious version. The parties start at 13.00 and end at 19.30h. Make a note of the days and themes:
- July 5 – American Water Party: mechanical bull, barbecue and lots of water, USA style.
- July 26th – White Party
- August 2 – Flow 2000
- August 9 – Hawaiian Party
- August 16 – Summer Camp
📍 Location: Calle de la Isla de Java, 2 (Fuencarral)
💸 Tickets: starting at 7€.
Rita’s Paradays
From terrace to terrace and I shoot because it’s my turn: Autocine Madrid jumps to the sky of La Vaguada this summer in their parties Rita’s Paradays. They are held every weekend of the summer (day and night) with cocktails, Balinese beds, gastronomy, live DJ sets… and also pet friendly!
📍 Location: La Vaguada Shopping Center
💸 Tickets: from €8
Antigone Camp (from July 7 to 12)
The tragedy of Sophocles becomes, during this summer, a camp. Around the figure of Antigone (symbol of resistance to absolute power, family loyalty and the defense of moral values above human laws) workshops, talks and colloquiums are articulated at the Center for Contemporary Culture Condeduque. “Nothing more stimulating, to start the summer heat wave, than this refuge for the performing arts, thought and public discussion“, in the words of the space’s director, Jorge Volpi.
📍 Location: Calle del Conde Duque, 9 y 11 (Conde Duque)
Classical music concerts among olive trees (all month).
From June 19 to August 28, from Wednesday to Saturday and opening its doors at 19.00h, the Olivar de Castillejo becomes a natural (and olive) auditorium where greats of classical music resound on summer nights. An orchard near the financial heart of Madrid, AZCA, where you can enjoy a snack, a drink… and an unforgettable evening.
📍Calle de Menéndez Pidal, 3 bis (Chamartín)
The First Round: meet new people every week (every Thursday)
No catch, no catch: this plan is all about meeting up on an informal date with different strangers. A way to meet new people, to rediscover Madrid in original experiences and following a simple dynamic: the algorithm will unite you according to interests and a series of questions will be planted on the table to find those links and that conversation that turns a stranger into a possible friend.
📍Where? Secret location to be revealed 24 hours before
💸 Tickets: from 11 €
Summer cinema in the garden of the Casa Museo de Lope de Vega (2, 9, 16 and 23 July)
The Lope de Vega House Museum proposes, in its garden, cinema sessions in the fresh air every Wednesday from 22.00h (21.50, time of the opening of doors). The selection of films has one objective: to connect with the exhibition that we will be able to enjoy in its interior from October, Echoes of the art of the Viceroyalty of Peru, which will show, through art, the links between Spain and the Peruvian Viceroyalty. Thus, the films in this cycle have been chosen for their geographical or temporal relationship with that environment.
📍Where? Calle de Cervantes, 11 (barrio de las Letras)
💸 Tickets: free access until full capacity is reached.
Verbenas populares (all month)
Colorful banners, chicken, snails, carnations in the hair and whatever it takes: Madrid in summer is a big party. And we don’t want to miss any of them.
It all starts in Tetuán which, from July 4 to 6, celebrates its festivities of Nuestra Señora de las Victorias (in the park Agustín Rodríguez Sahagún), to continue with the celebrations of Carmen de Chamberí (from July 11 to 16) that will fill the square of the same name and the Olavide square with lights, performances and children’s activities.
📍Where? Several locations
Where will the bird go that doesn’t fly? Where will I go that doesn’t take you? (until July 27th)
This group exhibition brings together artists working around the idea of generosity. In addition, the show expands to three more locations (Conciencia Afro, La Parcería and Araña). Among the artists exhibiting are Javi Álvarez, Salvador Cidrás, Marta de Gonzalo, Patricia Gómez…
Where? Ronda de Valencia, 2 (Embajadores)
Las Noches del Botánico (all month)
What a location, what a poster. What a thrill, Madrid. In July, the Botanical grows even more with a string of national and international artists that will keep us hooked to this location. Like The Roots, Max Ritcher, Beth Gibbons, Morcheeba, Viagra Boys, Santana, Ana Belen, Quique Gonzalez, G-5 Kiko Veneno, El Canijo de Jerez, Muchachito, Tomasito and Diego Raton / Saint Levant… And many, many more.
📍Where? Complutense Avenue, s/n (Complutense University)
The month of Vallekas: the festivities of the Karmela and the Batalla Naval (July 20)
Finally, one of the backbone activities of the Vallecas spirit is back: the Batalla Naval. This is about getting wet, getting wet, enjoying the streets of the neighborhood between wetting and wetting. Vallecas beach is like that. It will be on July 20 from 16.00h, putting an end to the self-managed festivities of the Karmela (which will start soon with their usual popular paellas, charangas, ginkanas …).
📍 Where to go? Vallecas Bridge
The swimming pools of Madrid (all month long)
How lucky we are that Madrid has the largest swimming pools in Spain. They are those of Riosequillo, in Buitrago de Lozoya, which will open its doors on June 24. The rest of the municipal swimming pools of Madrid have already opened their doors, due to the increase of temperatures in the city, since last May 15. They do it in two shifts: from 10.00 to 15.00h and from 16.00 to 21.00h.
On indoor pools, the Marqués de Samaranch, Centro Integrado Arganzuela, Francisco Fernández Ochoa, La Masó, Hortaleza, Luis Aragonés, Wilfred Agbonavbare and Raúl González will open from July 1.
Tickets will be sold online through the City Council’s Sports Web Portal or the Madrid Móvil application, but you can also buy them at the door (only 5% of the box office, so be proactive). Choose yours and take to the water!
📍Where? Several locations
MadCool (from July 10th to 12th)
Olivia Rodrigo, Kings of Leon, Alanis Morissette, Gracie Abrams, Nine Inch Nails… are some of the names that populate a star-studded lineup. In this new edition, MadCool moves once again to the Iberdrola Music venue, in Villaverde.
📍Where? Calle Laguna Dalga with Avenida Real de Pinto (Villaverde) Tickets: three-day pass, from 200€.
The getaway and the dip (all summer)
One summer day you wake up and think: I need to get out of here. Sometimes this happens in Madrid. As much as we love it, we are urged to say goodbye to it for a few hours, days or even weeks, to miss it and rush back. We can think of no better place to disconnect from the asphalt than the Embalse de Bolarque, an inland beach about 100 kilometers from the capital.
With an access price of 6 € from Monday to Friday and 10 € on weekends and holidays, this corner of Guadalajara offers hiking trails, kayaking … and the dip you need.
📍Almonacid de Zorita (Guadalajara)
Like a lizard on the terraces of Madrid (all summer)
Whether on rooftops, patios or at street level, terraces are the Madrid sport par excellence. Any time of the year is good to celebrate Madrid outdoors, but in July, the best thing to do is to stand under a good umbrella and the warmth of a cocktail. We prefer the sky over Madrid seen from the top of Casa Suecia, for example, or the coquettish terrace of Frida, in the heart of Chueca. Which one will you choose?
📍Various locations
Brihuega (mid-July)
The lavender fields of Brihuega will reach their maximum splendor in mid-July. A spectacle of nature of intense purples and unparalleled perfume just 100 kilometers from Madrid.
In addition, on July 11, 12, 18 and 19 the Lavender Festival will be held with Los Secretos (sold out), Iván Ferreiro, El Arrebato and Beret, who will perform their hits surrounded by these endless lavender fields.
📍Where? Brihuega (Guadalajara)