To the question of what to do in Chamberí, the answer needs to be developed enough to understand that this is one of the neighborhoods of Madrid that is most transformed without losing its traditional essence. Away from the hustle and bustle of the tourist bustle and with the terraces on the verge of collapse, at streets such as Ponzano chamberí, but without the constant partying of Malasaña, nor the stoicism of Salamanca, Chamberí lives a balance that makes it one of the most attractive and therefore also the most expensive neighborhoods in the capital. It is one of those areas of Madrid where you have to walk from time to time to take the pulse of the city again.
What to see in Chamberí
Sorolla Museum
Anyone who comes to the Paseo del General Martínez Campos on a weekend will probably find a long queue of people. They wait patiently to cross the threshold of the ivy-covered doorway hidden in number 37. A magical ticket for a magical place: here Sorolla lived with his family, in a small palace guarded by three gardens. This ticket alone is worth the visit: a garden inspired by the Alcazar of Seville, another in homage to the Alhambra in Granada and a third, more Italian, which culminates with a pergola and the “fountain of confidences“.
Inside, the show goes on. His private home is just that: the legacy of his home. That is why the visit is so special, because we find ourselves behind the scenes of the artist’s inspiration, his workshop, kitchens, rooms… And, of course, great works such as ‘Self-portrait’ (which is dedicated to his wife, Clotilde, and in which he appears dressed in street clothes) or ‘Under the awning’ (portrait of the entire Sorolla family in Zarauz, with a very different light to the Mediterranean to which we are accustomed).
📍 Paseo del General Martínez Campos, 37
The ‘ghost’ station
Under the cobblestones, a ghost station. The network of museums of the Madrid Metro (Platform 0) has a jewel in this neighborhood: here was born the Madrid subway, a first line inaugurated by Alfonso XIII in 1919 (insert here the anecdote of that photograph in which the eyes of the monarch were retouched, in a rudimentary and diabolical way, since for the only snapshot of the event the king was given to go out with them closed). On May 22, 1966, Chamberí station closed its doors to no longer admit passengers. Visitors only in what is now set up as a subway museum. To go down these stairs is to go down into the depths of a Madrid that no longer exists, with the Sevillian tiles, the advertising posters from the 1920s, the signage and the antique turnstiles…
📍 Plaza de Chamberí, s/n,
Beti Jai Fronton
One of those places in Madrid that do not seem to be in Madrid is located in the Chamberí district. What was the first fronton in Spain was inaugurated in 1894 under the name of Beti Jai, which from the Basque language translates as “Always cheerful”. In addition to the purpose for which it was conceived, it was also used for many other purposes, functioning as a prison or as an aeronautics test center, among other things. Municipally owned since 2015, it can be visited on the occasion of various initiatives such as Stroll through Madrid.
📍 Calle del Marqués de Riscal, 7
Maudes Hospital
The Maudes Hospital is, without a doubt, one of the most striking buildings in the Chamberí district. Its real name is Hospital de Jornaleros de San Francisco de Paula, but it has been popularized under the same name as the street on which it is located. As the first of these indicates, it was initially conceived as a free hospital for the workers of Madrid, inaugurated in 1916. Joaquín Otamendi and Antonio Palacios were in charge of the work, the architect par excellence of Madrid at the beginning of the 20th century. Currently, after being acquired and restored by the Community of Madrid in the 1980s, it serves as the headquarters of the Department of Transport, Housing and Infrastructures.
📍 17 Maudes St., 17
Olavide Square
It is the meeting point par excellence of Chamberí and the best known of the Trafalgar neighborhood, in addition to one of those places in Madrid that do not seem to be in Madrid.
European dream for those who are passing through and, for some time now, a nightmare for the neighbors in the area due to the saturation of terraces, this square has undergone enormous transformations throughout its history. One of the most significant, when in 1974 the controversial demolition of took place Olavide Market a rationalist construction from the 1930s by Francisco Javier Ferrero Llusiá.
📍 O lavide Square
Mercero’s cabin
Since December 2021, in the Plaza del Conde Valle de Suchil at the intersection of Arapiles Street, the only cabin that will be left standing in the capital will be erected when the elimination of the nearly 2,000 in the streets of Madrid: the cabin-homage to Antonio Mercero.
The monument replicates the famous cabin from the movie starring José Luis López Vázquez just a few meters from where it was filmed. Its promoter, screenwriter David Linares, told Somos Chamberí that it was “the right thing to do because Madrid has been another character in his films, it is a small gesture that we owed him“.
📍 C onde del Valle de Suchil Square
Where to eat in Chamberí
Ponzano
For some time now, Ponzano has established itself as the most popular street in the city gastronomic antonomasia -unfortunately for the neighbors of the Zone. It gathers culinary proposals for all tastes and palates. All that glitters is not gold and, as in an apothecary, there is a bit of everything. Restaurants with pretensions and hundredths of truffle flavoring the dishes and also restaurants with a firm commitment to quality, innovation or tradition. This is the case of restaurants such as Lana, Agarimo o Santerra Neotaberna (which is not strictly in Ponzano, but almost).
📍 Ponzano Street
Vallehermoso Market
The contribution of the Vallehermoso Market to the gastronomic fabric of the neighborhood is understood as soon as it is visited. There are several reasons -such as the low rent and the almost clandestine appeal- but some of the most talked-about gastronomic bets of the last few years have taken place inside a historic municipal market. Tripea, which offers one of the best tasting menus of the city; Kitchen 154 and its commitment to spicy food; or the two and his way of renewing traditional cuisine are examples of this.
📍 Calle de Vallehermoso, 36
La Mina
Going to Chamberí and not dropping anchor in that ship of delights that is La Mina, is a cardinal sin. This bar occupies since 1949 the number 8 of General Álvarez de Castro street, carrying by flag its grilled prawns. Thus, between well-drawn beers, the patrons strive in that art that is peeling the shrimp, eating the shrimp, sucking the head of the shrimp, in an atmosphere so at home, so Chamberí. And so many other vices: clams, oxen, santiaguiños, razor clams, spider crabs… It is the place to give yourself a pantagruelic tribute.
On the other side of the bar, almost certainly will be Gonzalo Melendro, the grandson of the founder of this bar with tradition and panache in the center of the city. Almost a decade ago, he renovated the premises to adapt it to modern times. But in spite of that paint and plating, La Mina has not erased the mark that makes it one of the most authentic bars in the Zone: it is a bar of elbows in the bar, of ordering tapas loudly, of seeing the faces of the usual neighbors. It is the bar downstairs (with “marisqueiro” appetizer) that we never want to miss.
📍 Calle General Álvarez de Castro, 8
Mo of Movement
Mo de Movimiento is more than a restaurant, it is a complete project. And it ranges from social inclusion to environmental issues. In the menu you will find dishes made with local and high quality products: beet hummus with homemade pitaccia, roasted bell pepper and cured egg yolk or its delicious cheesecake are some examples. Without forgetting its pizzas made in wood oven.
In the design of the venue, the former Espronceda Theater, all the elements and materials have been designed to make it sustainable, such as the jars hanging from the ceiling that help maintain a pleasant temperature thanks to heat exchange.
📍Street of Espronceda, 34
Santa Cinnamon
Having a restaurant like Santa Canela in the neighborhood is a guarantee of having found the gastronomic equivalent of a comfort movie. Whether for lunch, dinner or just a drink, in this place -which, we warn you, if you try it will become an extension of your living room- you can taste a high level menu while you let your eyes wander along its brick walls identifying the characters portrayed in its graffiti.
Although it is difficult to recommend just one of their dishes, we have it on good authority (“because it’s not the same to tell it as to live it”) that the patatas bravísimas or the artichokes in batter with truffled hummus should not be missing on your table. It is not for nothing that we include it in the list of bars and restaurants to try at least once in a lifetime.
📍 Calle de Guzmán el Bueno, 20
Coffee in Chamberí
Monkee Koffee
If there is something beautiful in this life is to take the first coffee in the morning calmly, tasting a good filter in a quiet environment. Monkee Koffee comes to fill that gap (the one of the hours breakfast that turns into breakfast) in the neighborhood of Chamberí. In the center, one of those long tables to share space between laptops, chats, books, liters of coffee roasted by themselves… In the background, the coveted sofa. And at the bar, breakfast mandanga. A couple of must-haves: the grilled cheese sandwich for salty and cheese lovers; the mascarpone toast with pear and walnuts, for lovers of life in general.
📍 Calle Vallehermoso, 112
Toma Café
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Toma Café is one of the best known specialty coffee shops in the capital. They started in Malasaña, but currently have two locations in Chamberí. Toma 2 is the place for coffee sybarites and breakfast o snack luxury. In addition, Toma 3, very close to the previous one, opens from Thursday to Saturday nights under the name Proper Sound and also worships vinyl music and wine.
📍 5 Santa Feliciana St.; 16 Raimundo Lulio St
Caferama
Caferama is the result of a meeting in another of the neighborhood’s coffee shops: Toma Café. The protagonists of this encounter are Imanol and Agustina, two Argentineans whose passion for specialty coffee has brought them together not only as friends but also as partners in the opening of this specialty coffee shop.
With a tour that began in early 2022, this space not only offers good coffee, beers or wines and sweet and savory side dishes that are mostly handmade, but also wants to network with other local businesses in the neighborhood, such as bookstores.
📍 Calle de Rodríguez San Pedro, 37
Schotis
The short definition is to say that it is a neocastiza churreria. A longer one would involve talking about how, among white tiles and red carnations, this small place has modernized the traditional churro and turned it into much more than flour, water and salt. And among the things it has gained from this, is the fact that it has become one of the most ‘instagrammable’ breakfasts or snacks in Madrid.
📍 Calle de Santa Engracia, 55
What to do in Chamberí
Fact
Hecho is the store that fulfills all the design whims of someone initiated in the subject. From the Miguel Milá basket lamp to Hay cutlery, including a selection of tablecloths and dishes designed and produced by them. Because behind this store in Plaza de Olavide is a group of friends, architects and design experts who have been able to satisfy the most decorative desires of the people of Madrid.
📍 Quesada St., 2
Texture factory
The Texture Factory is (in a nutshell) a workshop of many things. Although another word that also fits is School. Xavier Robledo, founder, talks about their work and defines it: they are disseminators and aspire to make printing and screen printing techniques a domestic and accessible activity. Part of his mission is to “bring it to people who can do it in their spare time so they can combine it with other things they do.” For this purpose, they offer courses and workshops of different topics and duration (from those lasting one weekend and costing between 45 and 80€ to those lasting three months and costing around 250€). The most successful is the silkscreen printing course, which is held every month for eight to ten people.
📍Callede Meléndez Valdés, 34
Espositivo Academy
There are few age-independent social fields or hobbies: reading, painting and Pixar movies are possibly the most significant. Espositivo -a painting workshop and exhibition gallery- accounts for this: painting dilettantes who are 8 or 64 years old gather here. In the words of Desi Civera, manager of the space: “The cool thing is the atmosphere that is created here, there are from teenagers to people in their 60s and they get along super well”.
📍 Calle de Palafox, 5
Casa de las Flores
There are few buildings in Madrid that have generated more positive literature than The House of Flowers. Secundino Zuazo is the architect of the house (which is one of the most iconic corners of Madrid) and interprets that the facade has to fulfill a community service and therefore incorporates typical elements of Madrid architecture from the beginning of the century. The brick, as we told in this report on the neomudejar in Tetuán, is heritage -and metaphor- of the constructive history of Madrid.
📍 Calle de Hilarión Eslava, 2
Canal Isabel II Hall
As its name suggests, this enclave is an old water reservoir built in the early twentieth century, the first elevated in Madrid. Now, after being converted into an exhibition space in the late 80’s by architects Antonio Lopera and Javier Alau, it is a reference in the world of photography and a must stop on any cultural route through Chamberí.
📍 25 Santa Engracia St
Canal Theaters
Culturally, the district has an important performing arts center which since its inauguration in 2009 has programmed some of the most important essential works to see in Madrid the Canal Theatres. It hosts comedy shows , musicals, children’s shows, flamenco, urban dance or performanceand countless artists of national and international prestige have performed on its stages.
📍 Calle de Cea Bermúdez, 1
From Calle de la Princesa to Paseo de la Castellana, Chamberí is one of the largest neighborhoods that has not lost its Madrid soul despite being in constant evolution.
This article has been written by Alberto del Castillo, María F. Carballo, Selene Garcia, Isabel Nieto y Elena French.