Salamanca

The swankiest part of Madrid, Salamanca is a grid of wide, elegant avenues lined with designer boutiques, luxury apartments and mansions, galleries and up-market restaurants.

It became the city’s rich neighbourhood towards the end of the 19th century when the Marques de Salamanca, a banker, politician and rogue known for his rather dubious business practices, built the first block of houses here, north-east of the city. His own house, on the Paseo de Recoletas, was the first in Madrid to have a flushing lavatory and Salamanca made sure these new developments had the same luxury. Soon other wealthy aristocrats realized the benefits of wider streets and new housing, compared with the narrow, musty streets of old Madrid, and flocked here in droves.

Today Salamanca remains home to Madrid’s ‘yuppies’ and their offspring (pijos or pijas) who dress head-to-toe in designer clothes, wear sunglasses year-round, and drive top of the range sports cars.

Many of the city’s most exclusive and stylish restaurants are to be found here, including Montana, Matilda and Iroco. Their minimalist, sometimes rather clinical interiors might not be to everyone’s taste, but the Salamanca set just can’t get enough of them.

You’ll also find some of Madrid’s most exclusive nightclubs in Salamanca, including Gabana, Moma and Fortuny, where the sports cars parked outside tell you a lot about the type of people inside.

While central Madrid is compact and manageable by foot, here in Salamanca the wide, long avenues mean you’ll have to drive, or rely more on taxis to get from one venue to the next.

The roads can get quite busy and on the main shopping streets the pavements become thick with people, particularly between 6pm and the time most shops close, between 8 and 9pm.

Apart from its restaurants and clubs, the main reason to come to Salamanca is for its shopping. Top designer stores are mainly found on calles Jorge Juan, Ortega y Gasset, Serrano and Juan Bravo, while there are cheaper stores towards the east end of Calle Goya and on Calle Alcala. Private art galleries line Calle Claudio Coello, which, along with Serrano and Lagasca, is one of the oldest streets in Salamanca. They are narrower and the shops are smaller and closer together, making it a good area for browsing and window shopping.

To the far east of Salamanca is Madrid’s famous bullfighting arena, Las Ventas, while to the west is its grand avenue, the Paseo de la Castellana. Many of the city’s largest and luxurious business hotels – the Hotel Hesperia Madrid, Hotel Villa Magna and the Gran Meliá Fénix – are located along this wide thoroughfare, amid the plush office blocks of leading banks and insurance companies.
South of Salamanca is the beautiful Parque del Retiro, where Madrilenos like to take a leisurely stroll all year round.