Mad About Madrid

Real Madrid Shop in centre of Madrid

Walking up the Calle del Carmen, one of the streets off the Puerta del Sol, you will find a shop dedicated to everything related to Real Madrid. You wil find shirts of all the stars (including Beckham, Figo, Zidane and Ronaldo), tracksuits, signed autographs, baby clothes and many other items. With the latest digital editing equipment, you can even buy a picture of yourself holding the Champions Cup with Ronaldo!

If you can't wait to get to Madrid and want a David Beckham Football Shirt now, why not buy one on Amazon?

Metro: Puerta del Sol

Booksellers - English Bookshop

Booksellers has been around for at least 10 years and offers a lifeline to those English-speaking people who live in Madrid and want to buy books written in English - I´m sure it is also a great place for those travellers who wish to stock up on books. For those learning English the shop has a huge range of English language materials, from books to CD´s and DVD´s.

Address: c/ José Abascal, 48
Metro: Gregorio Marañón, lines 7 & 10

Craft Fair - Paseo de Recoletos

On the Paseo de Recoletos the annual arts and crafts fair of the "Comunidad de Madrid" is currently being held. There are over 200 stalls, with a wide variety of arts and craft mainly from greater Madrid area. You will find everyting from leather purses, art deco mirrors, a wide range of pottery, wooden clocks to wonderful children´s toys and avrious paper products. It is well worth a visit and the prices are very reasonabe for such high quality goods. The fair runs until the 5th January and you can get to it by catching the Metro to Banco de España and walking 50 metres to the start of Paseo de Recoletos. Whilst there I would recommend going to Café de Gijón (Paseo de Recoletos 21).

Christmas fun at El Corté Inglés

Like every Christmas, the famous department store El Corté Inglés has decorated one side of its store in the Puerta del Sol, for the entertainment of children. You will find a number of different scenes with animated characters, loads of scenery and all accompanied by music. For many Madrileños, this has become an annual ritual, often followed by chocolate with churros in the Chocolatería San Ginés. Great fun for all!
The times are: 11 am, 12 pm, 1pm and 2pm and 6, 7, 8, 9 and 9.30 pm from Monday to Thursday and 12, 1, 2 and 3 pm followed by 5, 6, 7, 8, 9 and 10 pm on Saturday and Sunday.

Metro: Sol.
Address: Calle del Maestro Vitoria (parralel to the main opening)

Serrano - Shopping, embassies and architecture

Calle Serrano belongs to one of Madrid's wealthiest barrios, Salamanca. It is here that you will find all the designer clothes stores, expensive jewellry shops and some of Madrid's smartest buildings. It is an extremely long street but the part that most interests shoppers starts at Puerta de Alcalá and runs for around 8-10 blocks. On the left-hand side walking up you will pass the Archaelogical Museum and the Plaza de Colón (Columbus square), which has a statue of Columbus pointing westwards.

If you're looking for shops, lets get started:

Jardin de Serrano - not actually on C/ Serrano but 2 or 3 doors up from it on c/Goya, 6-8

El Corté Inglés

Practically every traveller to Madrid has ended up in El Corté Inglés. El Corté Inglés is Spain’s most popular department store. Established in 1935, it can now be found all over Spain, it even has its own brand of out-of-town hyper stores. The store sells a vast array of goods and services, from clothes, houseware and CD’s to holidays, food and electronic goods.

FNAC - a must-see store

Metro: 3 & 5

FNAC is, I believe, a French company, which specialises in the sale of books, CD's, software, cameras, laptops, magazines and loads more. It is one of my favourite stores in Madrid and is a great place to 'waste' a couple of hours of time. You can find music and books in English and it even has a huge 'music booth' where people can sit down and listen to music, whilst reading the books they may, or may not, buy.