The Making of Madrid

Your guide to Spain’s capital

Your Madrid Travel Guide

a Blog and Podcast that Shows Another Side of the City

Welcome to your insider’s travel guide to Madrid. The Making of Madrid blog and podcast will help you get under the skin of the city with insider tips, neighbourhood guides and deep historical dives. All content is presented and written by me, Lonely Planet guidebook writer Felicity Hughes. After living in Spain’s capital for more than ten years, I have a wealth of local knowledge and historical expertise at my fingertips, which I’m delighted to share with visitors to the city.

A picture of Felicity Hughes

Insider Tips for Visitors to Madrid

First time in the city and don’t know where to start? This info will help you get oriented.

Madrid’s Most Underrated Attractions

Madrid is full of world-famous attractions, but if you only stick to the big hitters, you’ll miss out on some of the city’s most fascinating spots. For every overcrowded tourist trap, there’s a dusty but delightful museum waiting to be discovered. It’s a topic I tackle in my latest podcast, which you can listen to by…

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A lively scene at Plaza Mayor, Madrid, featuring historic architecture and a statue.

Is Madrid Safe? A Tale of Three Cities

In the podcast this week, I discuss violence in Madrid and whether Spain’s capital is a safe city or not. Having lived in London, Tokyo, and Madrid, I’ve experienced firsthand how safety varies across major global cities. Each has its own unique challenges and cultural attitudes toward public behaviour, particularly when it comes to drinking and…

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How to Survive Summer in Madrid

Updated 31 May 2026 You’re coming to Madrid in August for your summer holidays, hombre, are you crazy? – would be the typical response a Madrileño would give you if they heard your travel plans. They know from bitter experience that this delightful city turns into a furnace during summer. Anyone in their right mind ought…

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Best Day Trips from Madrid

While Madrid boasts fantastic art galleries and fabulous museums, if you’re interested in Spain’s Roman and medieval history, a day trip is your best bet. Only a short train or bus ride away, destinations like Segovia, Toledo, and Alcala de Henares never disappoint. Toledo Once the Visigothic capital of Spain, Toledo’s history goes all the way…

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Neighbourhood Guides

Trying to work out what parts of the city to explore? These posts will guide you through Madrid’s neighbourhoods.

Hidden Corners of Malasaña

Filled with bars, vintage clothes shops, and artisanal emporiums, Malasaña is hands down Madrid’s hippest neighbourhood. Throbbing with activity way into the wee hours, its heart is indisputably Plaza dos de Mayo. But there’s so much to see besides this: dive down any street and you’ll find the barrio full of hidden corners worth exploring. Here…

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Midstream Madrid Itinerary: the Hidden Heart of Old Madrid

Looking to escape the crowds in Madrid’s historic center? Just steps away from Plaza Mayor lies a peaceful neighborhood nestled between two ancient hills, where Madrid’s original streams once flowed. This hidden gem offers tranquil gardens, hushed churches, and authentic local spots that most tourists never discover. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zJFCdwg6Xtk&t=2s The Secret Valley Between Two Hills Madrid’s original…

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New Audio Tour of the City’s Muslim Origins

Think you know Madrid? Think again. Beneath the grand boulevards and baroque palaces lies a city with a very different origin story—one that’s largely hidden from view. My new audio tour with Voicemap, Medieval Madrid: A Guide to the City’s Muslim Past, peels back the layers of time to reveal a forgotten history that begins not…

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Street scene in Malasana Madrid

Guide to Malasaña: Madrid’s Alternative Neighbourhood

Away from the tourist traps of Sol, lies Malasaña, a graffiti-spattered yet elegant neighbourhood filled with achingly cool boutique shops and hidden treasures. Once seedy and even a little dangerous, it’s been transformed for better and worse in the past few years by gentrification, making it a safer, yet increasingly chichi destination. While its heart is…

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Hidden Gems

My guide to Madrid, away from the crowds. For more on the city’s tranquil side, check out my book Quiet Madrid.

Hidden Corners of Retiro: The Artificial Mountain

A romantic folly I’ve spent a lot of time exploring hidden corners of Retiro recently while making my new audio tour for Voicemap. However, as Retiro’s Montaña Artificial (artificial mountain) lay well off my route, I hadn’t had time to visit since was reopened this summer. Still, I’m glad I waited. With the autumnal leaves in…

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Madrid’s Most Underrated Attractions

Madrid is full of world-famous attractions, but if you only stick to the big hitters, you’ll miss out on some of the city’s most fascinating spots. For every overcrowded tourist trap, there’s a dusty but delightful museum waiting to be discovered. It’s a topic I tackle in my latest podcast, which you can listen to by…

Read More

Hidden Gems: the Hermitage of San Antonio de la Florida

Goya’s Hermitage: an ode to the majo Tucked away beneath the palace by the Manzanares River, the Hermitage of San Antonio de la Florida stands as a testament to Francisco de Goya’s artistic genius – a place where 18th-century Madrid comes to life and where the artist himself finds his final rest. Goya’s frescoes transform the…

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Hidden Gems: Campo del Moro

Nestled below the royal palace lies one of the city’s most beautiful and overlooked treasures: the Campo del Moro gardens. One of the destinations in my new book Quiet Madrid: A Guide to the City’s Third Spaces and Hidden Places, these stunning gardens offer both tranquility and a fascinating glimpse into the city’s medieval past. A…

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Popular Madrid History Posts

A history buff’s guide to the forces that have shaped Spain’s capital.

A History of Violence in Madrid

This particular episode is about the history of violence in Madrid and it was inspired because one of my most popular blog posts is called Gangs of Madrid, Is Madrid a Safe City? The following is a transcript of the podcast. https://open.spotify.com/episode/7ex8WYnzwyptn4ebxwdD0f?si=JBTfWozqQ0q3Y1kXj42OKw Transcript When I lived in London as a young woman, I used to go…

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Why are true Madrileños called gatos?

What is a gato? Gato means cat in Spanish but in Madrid, it also refers to someone who can count their ancestry back two generations within the city. This means that both their parents and grandparents were born and raised here. While there’s a little bit of debate on whether this should be on both sides…

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A History of Chocolate and Churros

Updated 10/2/2026 A crunchy deep-fried churro dipped in a gloopy cup of chocolate is one of the most decadent and divine culinary pairings in history. It’s a calorific breakfast that can be enjoyed in churrerías throughout Madrid setting any tourist up for the busy day sightseeing. Surprising then that while both churros and chocolate have a…

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The Burial of the Sardine

Updated 10/2/2026 On Ash Wednesday, while much of the Catholic world begins its solemn observation of Lent, the streets alongside Madrid’s Manzanares River erupt in a boisterous bacchanal. The Burial of the Sardine (Entierro de la Sardina) stands as one of the city’s most enigmatic festivals, where religious tradition meets carnival spirit in a uniquely Madrileño…

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Watch or Listen to the Podcast

Prefer to listen to content? Then check out The Making of Madrid podcast.

Recent blog posts

Eating Gluten Free in Madrid: A Celiac’s Guide to the City

After recently developing a mild intolerance to wheat, I was pleasantly surprised to discover that Madrid is an excellent destination for gluten free eating. Knowing that this was an issue that affects many travellers, I decided to sit down with a proper expert to get the low down for my podcast. Gareth Sewell is an event…

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Madrid’s Hidden Black History with Kwame Ondo

The story of Black people in Spain didn’t begin with slavery, or even with Columbus, but centuries earlier. This lesser-known narrative is explored in the latest episode of the Making Madrid Podcast, where I sat down with Kwame Ondo, a tour guide, actor, and activist who has made it his mission to bring Madrid’s hidden Black…

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Walking tour of Puente de Vallecas

A neighbourhood guide and self-guided itinerary for one of Madrid’s most rebellious districts. I’ve been meaning to do a proper barrio guide to Puente de Vallecas for years, but as I live in Usera, I rarely get out there. Though it’s technically adjacent, I always end up having to go into town and back out again…

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The famous skeleton mural in Los Gabrieles, Madrid's sistine chapel of tile art

Sistine Chapel of Tile Art Back from the Dead

After 20 years in hiding, Los Gabrieles’ skeletons are partying again! I have been waiting years to get inside Los Gabrieles, so when the doors finally swung open this April, after more than two decades of closure, I walked in and, embarrassingly, totally geeked out to the staff, who must be getting pretty used to this…

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Journalism by Felicity Hughes

Felicity Hughes has written about Madrid for major publications, including Lonely Planet, the Guardian, the Financial Times and Time Out. Here are a few examples of her work:

Tours

Felicity Hughes can be hired as a guide to the city. Check the guided tours page to see if she’s available. Or consider getting one of her Voicemap audio guides.

Tour Reviews

QUESTIONS?

Want to hear more about my tours? Get in touch to find out more.