There is always something to do in Arganzuela. It is one of the districts of Madrid that attracts the most youthful population partly because it has undergone several transformations that have turned this Zone into one of the centers of alternative leisure in the city. Slaughterhouse, the Railway Museum and the Madrid Río are some of the clear examples of the renovation of the southern Zone of the capital.
Where to eat in Arganzuela
Tokio Ball
Balón Tokio’s bet is so specific that if it were not tested, one would think that it is a business doomed to failure. This small place near Atocha sells takoyakis, which can be defined as a kind of octopus croquettes. They vary the sauces that accompany them on top and something else on the menu such as onigiris or gyozas. But the bet is on takoyakis. A marvel.
Tortosa Street, 6
Casa Kike
In the name Casa Kike the word “house” is not a coincidence. Casa Kike demonstrates that a possible key to success is to do well what you have been doing all your life. No more pretensions and no more grandiloquence. Cachopos, bacalaos al pil pil, croquettes and a huge terrace. Its jungle sauce and the secret that hides it is yet another reason to visit Casa Kike.
Paseo de los Melancólicos, 43.
Los Caracoles
Los Caracoles is a traditional bar in Toledo Street, next to Puerta de Toledo, where you can of course taste its specialty: snails. This very Mediterráneo dish that, like the ins and outs, is losing popularity, continues to live on as a another typical tapa in the bars of Madrid. This bar preserves the original red doors from the end of the 19th century, typical of the period.
📍 Calle de Toledo, 106
Lola Puñales
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Located in the vicinity of Doña Concha Piquer’s Garden, it is not surprising that this restaurant has couplet name. And although it does not do so among “the bronze people”, just like in that piece of folklore, the Lola Puñales restaurant also shines, but among its diners: those who sing, those who drink and in front of everyone who comes to know it.
The restaurant, under the watchful eye of Doña Concha, is a large space dominated by vegetation, as if the garden in which their terrace is located had crept inside. Its menu, Mediterranean and quality, offers from “coplitas” (chicken strips) or cheeks to scallops and hamburgers.
📍 Paseo Imperial, 89
La Pequeña Graná
If there are two words that should always go together, they are tapas and free. This is precisely the idea behind this iconic bar on Embajadores Street, which has managed to import the purest essence of Granaíno tapas to Madrid. Although the Mecca of the tapa will always be Granada, this Tribute from Madrid is close enough.
📍 Calle de Embajadores, 124
Mama Rosa
You have to go to Mama Rosa for its milanesas ( in plural, yes, because when you try one you will want to come back until you taste all the ones on the menu). We recommend the classic Neapolitan, with tomato sauce, York ham, mozzarella, arugula, basil and oregano. If you like strong emotions, go for the Buenos Aires (with smoked bacon, red cheddar and oregano) and you can continue with the Caprese (with fresh tomato), the Pampa (with Argentinean Creole), the forest (with garlic mushrooms)… the menu of delicacies is endless.
Gluten intolerant people have a good ally in Mama Rosa, since it offers two options suitable for celiacs; as well as vegetarians, who can enjoy a soy-based milanesa and the complements of their choice. Don’t miss the opportunity to try their eggplant parmiggiana or Argentine empanadas (the vegetable, spinach and béchamel empanadas are hard to forget). In summer, Mama Rosa brings out its full potential by opening a coquettish pet friendlyterrace. And that, readers, is how happiness is written.
📍 Alexandre Saint Aubin Street, 1
What to see in Arganzuela
Pico del Pañuelo Colony
The pale yellow of the facades, the structural monotheme, the absence of wrought iron on its balconies (the absence of balconies) or the scarce proliferation of cars make the walk through the streets of the Pico del Pañuelo neighborhood a certainty: that there is almost nothing like it in the whole city. The houses in this colony were designed specifically for the workers of the slaughterhouse itself.
📍 In front of Matadero
Greenhouse of the Crystal Palace of Arganzuela
No, you don’t see double: the Retiro is not the only glass palace in Madrid. In Arganzuela, moreover, the vegetation does not surround the building, but lives inside it. This large greenhouse is home to 9,000 species of plants from all over the world. Its transparent walls contain up to four different microclimates where plants grow amidst waterfalls, fountains and an African fish pond.
The history of the “other” glass palace in Madrid is as fascinating as the greenhouse itself: some people still call it a potato shed and some people look at the heads of cattle that crown the roofs in amazement.
📍 Paseo de la Chopera, 10
Railroad Museum
Madrid has the nice habit of freezing in time its abandoned stations, as happened to the ghost station of Chamberí. When the trains stopped passing through what is now Ferrocarril Street, now lined with terraces and stores, the old Delicias station fell into disuse and was transformed into a large railway museum.
On the tracks lie carriages from all eras: in few places is it possible to peek into 1923, the post-war period and the 1960s through a window. The back side hides an unexpected garden around the old tracks.
The now famous Engine Market is held on the platforms, a must-see flea market where handicrafts are bought and sold among the locomotives.
📍 Paseo de las Delicias, 61
Madrid Río
This work has been crucial to return the Manzanares River, which for 40 years was dominated by the M-30 freeway, to the people of Madrid. It has also changed the landscape and value of the houses on both banks of the river, becoming one of the most attractive walks in the city. Now white herons, coots, ducks and Nile geese coexist with other species that inhabit the natural flow of the Manzanares.
📍 Madrid Río
Coffee in Arganzuela
Martín Tostador
Ours is a city with a healthy obsession for specialty products. Arganzuela was incomplete without its specialty coffee until Camilo came up with the idea of opening Martín Tostador on Moratines Street. The locals celebrated their arrival by savoring the sublime coffee that is roasted within these four walls. For a coffee shop to close for a few hours to brew its own coffee can only be a divine sign.
In addition to one of those amazing specialty coffees that you have to try in Madrid at Martín Tostador, caffeine sybarites will find good pastries, the relaxed atmosphere of the central table and the never-ending kindness of Camilo, always ready to chat while operating the Marzocco.
📍 Calle de Moratines, 23
Dot coffee
The coffee and pastries are good, but their mixed sandwich is another level. This coffee shop neighboring Madrid Río and Matadero has carved a niche for itself among those who have something to do in the neighborhood and those who don’t. “Go down” to Dot Café Bar, devour a bikini that’s hard to beat, and stare at the wall with a cup in your hands. The decoration of the premises is of the most careful: terrazzo, earth colors and tapestries that wrap the walls and accompany the philosophy that has also been transferred to its Super adjacent to the cafeteria.
📍 Calle de Eugenio Sellés, 6
Coco Mocca
There must be very few people in Madrid who don’t know about the existence of one of the coffee shops that has caused the biggest sensation in the capital since its opening in November 2020. It is spoken of as one of those coffee shops full of flowers and plants, and as one of the must-stops if you live almost as much (or more) time on Instagram than offline.
In addition to its decoration, the pilgrimage is also understood for its coffees and sweets. Especially if you visit on a weekend, you should go early because there are usually queues to get in.
📍 Paseo de las Acacias, 49
What to do in Arganzuela
Slaughterhouse
Matadero is possibly the most important agent of change in Arganzuela in the last 20 years. All the cultural activity of this vibrant neighborhood passes through here. Nothing is missing: from literature festivals with the most powerful names on the international scene, up to sessions of open-air cinema. There are also immersive exhibits, people skating, coffee shops, movie theaters and much more.
📍 Plaza de Legazpi, 8
Railway Green Corridor
A train can take you to see the world or completely isolate you from it, if instead of inside the carriage you are trapped on the wrong side of the tracks, as the protagonist of Lady Birdsaid. Until the early 90’s, the south of the capital was enclosed by the railway line connecting the stations of Mediodía (Atocha) and Norte (Príncipe Pío). After an ambitious railway reorganization and the burying of the tracks, where the train used to pass, today we have seven kilometers of Verde corridor with benches, a bike path, squares and parks that, at last, invite more to stroll than to pass by on the street.
📍 Walk by Juan Antonio Vallejo Nájera-Botas
Embajadores Cinemas
In a Madrid of the past that almost nobody remembers, the fish market, the kiosk and the corner bar were as much a part of the neighborhood as the movie theater. Unfortunately, the large supermarkets have taken the place of the traditional movie theaters and these have become history.
But one fine day the Embajadores Cinemas became the first neighborhood cinema to open in decades, giving back to the neighbors of Arganzuela their role as spectators and giving them the pleasure of seeing a movie on a big screen near their homes. In these three theaters coexist commercial releases and independent films, as well as cycles, colloquiums and events that nourish the life of the neighborhood.
📍 Glorieta de Santa María de la Cabeza, 5
Altamarea
Altamarea arrived in Arganzuela in October 2021 as a space for reflection and the search for knowledge that the neighbors had been asking for a long time. They wanted a bookstore and found, also, a publishing house (operating not far from the retail space) specializing in Italian literature.
The bookstore offers a large section dedicated to children in a children’s literary corner, an agenda full of presentations, lectures and events… It also organizes its own book club. Altamarea makes neighborhood between pages and conversations: they have succeeded.
📍 Calle Eugenio Sellés, 3
The Ready Box
One of the most original plans that can be made in the district of Arganzuela is the one offered by La Caja Lista. Through its interactive theater proposal, the spectator can live the stories from closer than ever, participating in them also as an actor. It currently has six different shows on its billboard with performances from Tuesday to Sunday that can be viewed and purchased at its website.
📍 Paseo de la Esperanza, 16
Madrid Planetarium
The phrase ‘From Madrid to Heaven’ takes on its most literal meaning in this enclave located in Tierno Galván Park. This center, owned by the City Council, offers a variety of astronomy-related activities, including exhibitions and workshops. The most outstanding are the projections on its dome, true immersive audiovisual shows that are renewed periodically.
📍 Avenida del Planetario, 16
Former El Águila brewery
That buildings have more than one life is more than proven by the history of this complex neomudejar in the district of Arganzuela, a former brewery that now houses the headquarters of the Regional Archive of the Community of Madrid, an exhibition hall and the Joaquín Leguina Regional Library. Among the space’s initiatives, the following stand out the festival El Águila Suena a series of free concerts that take place in its courtyard during the summer season.
📍 Calle Ramírez de Prado, 3
Circo Price Theater
Its history dates back to the nineteenth century by the hand of Thomas Price, at a time when the circus arts were fashionable in the capital. Given his success, in 1879 his son-in-law and equestrian trainer William Parish founded a new Price Circus to “host the most spectacular acts”, according to its website. As a curiosity, Parish is buried in the madrid British Cemetery.
The space, as we know it today, opened to the public in March 2007 and hosts various types of shows: circus, magic, music… And if you are still young in the eyes of the Madrid City Council, through JOBO you can attend some of their shows for free.
📍 Ronda de Atocha, 35
Enrique Tierno Galván Park
This park is one of the largest green spaces of the city with an extension of 45 hectares. In addition to a great variety of fauna and flora, it also has three ponds, children’s zones, sports facilities and viewpoints.
Its interior also houses the Madrid Planetarium, the former IMAX cinema (closed in 2014) and what is probably one of its best-known enclaves: a large open-air auditorium that is striking for its amphitheater shape with concrete and grass Stalls/Stands, which seats approximately 10,000 people.
📍 Meneses St., 4
From the Planetarium to La Riviera, Arganzuela and some of its neighborhoods such as Imperial, Acacias, Chopera and Legazpi attract and maintain the younger generations, thanks to the commitment to recover streets and spaces for citizens.
This article has been written by Alberto del Castillo, María F. Carballo, Selene Garcia, Isabel Nieto, Lucía Mos y Elena French.