Experience in Madrid, Spain by Sergio

What is it like to live in Madrid? Would you recommend it? What is the city like?

Source

Madrid is perfect for young people, cheap prices, lots of great places to party, loving landscapes and architecture, lots of international people and how to forget it is in the middle of the Iberian Peninsula so you can easily travel wherever over it and discover the beauty of Spain and Portugal. I highly recommend Madrid it definitely opens your mind in all aspects.

Madrid is a massive city with everything you could ask for. Since huge shopping centres to find whatever you may need to Palaces or Cathedrals to spend the day at. Oh and of course its various clubs and places to go out.

Source

What is the student lifestyle like in Madrid?

It's the best. Easy to meet people from all over the world specially in the centre of the city which is always full of both tourist and international people hanging out over there. Spanish people are so open minded and easy going, it's always easy to get along with them!

Source

How much does it cost to live in Madrid?

Not much, renting a bedroom ranges from 250-500 average I would say, depends how far from the city centre you wanna live. The rest, prices in supermarket and stuff are pretty much like the rest of Europe. Beer is kinda cheap that's a good point!

Source

Is it difficult to find accommodation in Madrid? Is there any advice you can give?

Is not that hard. My best advise would be to talk with people that have already lived there or people at uni so they might give you advice or even a friend of them or something who you could share accomodation with. Also erasmus associations and groups are always a great choice for you to get support from.

Source

What is the food like? What are your favourite dishes?

The food is the best! Tapas are all over the city! How awesome are tapas in Madrid, this is great food that in most places is given for free when ordering a beer or wine, even sometimes they give you tapas even if you order a soft drink. This is amazing, you can literally have dinner/lunch for free and you'll only pay for the drinks. The kind of tapas ranges from simple chips to paella or other quality food we all love. If you want great tapas you might go to any tapas bar where you'll have to pay for them (though not a lot) and will get high quality food.

Spain is known for its great food and I'm sure it will not disappoint you at all.

This is something great of Madrid, you can find food from very cheap to very expensive restaurants depends on your budget or the occasion you'd like to celebrate.

Source

What places would you recommend visiting in Madrid?

All of it! from the very centre to the edges of the city (Have a look to the pics I uploaded to have a rough idea how Madrid looks like).

In the centre you can't miss the Royal Palace (My advise: beautiful from every corner, but stunning views from the Sabatini Park and specially from Campo del Moro Park), the Almudena Cathedral, the Royal Opera (stunning inside), Debod Park (From here you have views of Almudena Cathedral), the famous Puerta del Sol (Sun's door) which is the literal centre of Spain from where every actual Spanish road come from (you can find the actual 0 kilometre point in front of the Casa de Correos), the gorgeous Plaza Mayor (Great Square) and of course the brilliant and Impressive Gran Vía (the Great Path).

A walking distance from the centre you can find the beautiful Plaza Cibeles with the Goddess Cibeles fountain and the dazzling Town Hall Palace at the background. Right behind it, passing through the Puerta de Alcalá you'll find the beautiful Buen Retiro Park, great for summer or to chill out with friends with the company of a guitar, here you can boating in its beautiful Estanque Grande (a lake in the middle of the park).

A personal advice is to just have a walk in the deep streets of Madrid, its architecture and vibes will make you fall in love of the city. Some areas you can walk by are: Barrio de las letras, Malasaña, Huertas, Chueca, Mercado de San Miguel, and basically all these streets between Gran Vía and Sol and also between Sol and La Latina.

A bit futher in Madrid you need to visit Alcalá de Henares, El Escorial and Little towns in the Highlands of Madrid (specially in Winter)

Talking about the close cities to visit, you can't miss the stunning cities of Toledo and Segovia, less than an hour away from Madrid by bus. You definitely need to visit them!

Source

Is the nightlife good in Madrid? Where is good to go?

It's great! Easy to meet people. Everyone seems to cheer up when they find themselves among the Madrid's vibes.

Source

What advice would you give future students heading to Madrid?

Enjoy the experience!, is gonna be definitely one of the best in your life. You will make friends from all over the world that will probably remain in your life forever. Get ready to learn a lot, Madrid is a very open minded city full of great people. You'll leave Madrid turned into a improved version of yourself. Well probably you will never leave Madrid, a bit of your heart will always remain over there.