Madrid

Swashbuckling Madrid celebrates itself and life in general around the clock. A vibrant crossroads, Madrid—the Spanish capital since 1561—has an infectious appetite for art, music, and epicurean pleasure, and it's turned into a cosmopolitan, modern urban center while fiercely preserving its traditions. The rapid political and economic development of Spain following the arrival of democracy in 1977, the integration of the country in the European Union a decade later, and the social upheaval brought in by the many immigrants settling here after the new millennium have put Madrid back on the world stage with an energy redolent of its 17th-century golden age, when painters and playwrights swarmed to the flame of Spain's brilliant royal court.

The modern city spreads eastward into the 19th-century grid of the Barrio de Salamanca and sprawls northward through the neighborhoods of Chamberí and Chamartín. But the Madrid to explore thoroughly on foot is right in the center, in Madrid's oldest quarters, between the Royal Palace and the midtown forest, the Parque del Buen Retiro. Wandering around the sprawling conglomeration of residential buildings with ancient red-tile rooftops punctuated by redbrick Mudejar churches and grand buildings with gray-slate roofs and spires left by the Hapsburg monarchs, you're more likely to grasp what is probably the city's major highlight: the hustle and bustle of a truly optimistic people who are elated when they're outdoors.

And then there are the paintings, the artistic legacy of one of the greatest global empires ever assembled. King Carlos I (1500-58), who later became emperor Carlos V, made sure the early masters of all European schools found their way to Spain's palaces. The collection was eventually placed in the Prado Museum. Among the Prado, the contemporary Reina Sofía museum, the eclectic Thyssen-Bornemisza collection, and Madrid's smaller artistic repositories—the Real Academia de Bellas Artes de San Fernando, the Convento de las Descalzas Reales, the Sorolla Museum, the Lázaro Galdiano Museum, and the CaixaForum—there are more paintings than anyone can hope to contemplate in a lifetime.

But the attractions go beyond the well-known baroque landmarks. Now in the middle of an expansion plan, Madrid has made sure some of the world's best architects leave their imprint on the city. This is the case with Jacques Herzog and Pierre de Meuron, both of whom are responsible for a new arts center, CaixaForum, opened in 2008 across from the Botanical Garden. Major renovations of the Museo del Prado and the Centro Reina Sofía are by Rafael Moneo and Jean Nouvel, respectively. Massive towers by Norman Foster and César Pelli have changed the city's northern landscape. Other projects include the massive but stylish new airport terminal, which opened in early 2006, and the daring renovation project of the whole area of Paseo del Prado that's been entrusted to Portuguese architect Alvaro Siza.

Madrid is also ideally placed for getaways to dozens of Castilian destinations—Toledo, Segovia, Alcalá de Henares, and El Escorial.

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