65 Best Nightlife in Madrid, Spain

One of Malasaña's most popular nightclubs, for both its live shows (funk, jazz, and more) and late-night DJ sets, BarCo is a guaranteed good time. Acoustics here are a rung above the competition's.

This unassuming stall inside Mercado de San Fernando is a wine-industry hangout—one of the city's top spots for sampling hard-to-find natural and biodynamic wines. Pair whatever wine the bartenders are drinking lately with Bendito's well-priced cheeses and charcuterie such as mojama (cured tuna) from Andalusia and ribbons of smoky cecina (beef "ham") from León. 

For a space so small, Café Berlín packs a huge acoustic punch and draws an international eclectic crowd. Before midnight, catch nightly live music acts in a panoply of styles (flamenco, swing, soul, and more); from around 1 am on, drop in for the disco-inflected DJ sets that ooze good vibes until 6 am.

Madrid's best-known jazz venue is swanky, and the musicians are often internationally known. Performances are usually 9–11 nightly, and tickets can be bought at the door or online.

Ask a local flamenco aficionado where to catch a rollicking, foot-stomping show and they're likely to recommend this brick-walled tablao, which is intimate enough that everybody feels like they're in the front row. A handful of Spanish dishes are available, but suffice to say, flamenco is Cardamomo's forte.

For trendy twentysomethings, there may be no buzzier place to be than this converted multifloor movie theater that erupts into epic DJ-fueled parties. Buy tickets online ahead of time.

The age-old technique of maceration rules at Macera, where bartenders treat spirits like blank canvases, imbuing them with surprising flavor combinations. Gin is steeped with fresh cilantro, lime, and jalapeño until it achieves a zippy grassy piquancy. Whiskey might be infused with almonds, fresh cherries, mint, or vanilla bean.There's a second, clubbier outpost on Calle de Ventura de la Vega 7 in Barrio de Las Letras.

This club, with its wild color palette, huge dance floor, and better-than-average cocktails, is best known for its branded DJ nights, some of the most popular in the city. La Discoteca (formerly Chá Chá; tickets via  dice.fm) on Fridays and Mondo Disko (Thursdays and Saturdays) rage until dawn with house and electronic music often by international DJs. 

This trendy cinema-bar hybrid occupies a former adult-film theater. The first floor is a high-ceilinged bar with bleacher seating, deck chairs, cushy sofas, and an ivy-covered wall. Upstairs, there's a quieter lounge with velvet walls and warm neon lights; continue to the top floor and you've reached the main attraction, a 55-seat cinema with cocktail service that plays art-house films (buy tickets online in advance). The Spanish movies don't have subtitles, but there are frequent screenings of undubbed English films. 

Madrid's most famous nightclub, Kapital has seven floors—each of which plays a different type of music (spun by top local and international DJs, of course)—and room for 2,000 partiers, plus a small movie theater and rooftop terrace. Dress to impress: no sneakers, shorts, or tanks allowed. VIP tables overlooking the dance floor (approximately €200 for four people) are a worthwhile splurge if you can swing it. 

The Argentine celebrity mixologist behind Salmon Guru has converted one of Madrid's oldest tabernas, built in 1856, into a see-and-be-seen cocktail hot spot. The building's architectural bones remain, from the carved-wood bar to the arched doorways to the tiled walls, but the rest, particularly the flamboyantly garnished drinks and well-dressed crowd, feels distinctly current.

One of Madrid's swankiest and most skilled coctelerías, 1862 Dry Bar shakes and stirs immaculately prepared cocktails that incorporate sherries and unconventional aromatics. The only snag? On busy nights, drinks take forever to arrive.

This classic—if hilariously named—bar (est. 1921) resembles a gentlemen's club with dark-wood interiors and cathedral-like ceilings. It serves a variety of cocktails to an older, business-y crowd.

This glitzy ever-crowded nightclub attracts a well-heeled local crowd with house, reggaeton, and remixed pop tracks. Dress to impress: this isn't an easy door.

Blink and you could miss this tiny, dimly lit wine bar presided over by a trained sommelier with a predilection for oddball bottles. Go on a weeknight, when you're more likely to snag a stool, and don't miss the modern tapas, which punch above their weight.

Opened in 2022, Cadavra is a bumping underground nightclub with something for every type of reveler, from live music lovers (Wednesday jam sessions and concerts Thursday–Saturday) to techno-heads (Thursday–Saturday starting around midnight). 

The handful of tables at this rootsy bar are rarely empty on weekends, thanks to the cozy candlelit atmosphere and picture windows that open in summer. Expect a young, mixed crowd. Weeknights are more mellow.

This feel-good nightclub with a bar, chill-out area, and medium-size dance floor draws a mixed-age, LGBTQ+-friendly crowd with live performances and DJ sets that rage until 6 am.

There are four different spaces in this divey local favorite: a bar in front, a music venue for intimate concerts (pop, rock, electronic, hip-hop), a chill-out room in the back, and a café in the center room.

Almost every classic Madrileño songwriter, musician, and poet has passed through this timeworn hangout, which opens at 3:30 pm (entertainment generally starts at 9). Acoustic guitar concerts priced at less than €10 a head are fantastic—and virtually devoid of tourists. Many shows are free (check the website for details).

This 194-year-old bar will transport you to a typical Spanish tavern of yore. The banged-up tin washbasin, the baroque cash register, the wooden bar shelves and low tables with wooden stools—these details haven't changed in over a century. The house vermouth is the tipple to try; elbow your way to the onyx-topped bar and sip it with a handful of olives or cheese (skip the underwhelming food).

An essential Malasaña experience is gulping down a few ice-cold "yayos"—vermouth, gin, seltzer, lemon slice—at the tin bar alongside free no-nonsense tapas like olives and stewed chickpeas.

You may as well be in Williamsburg or Kreuzberg at this popular and un-campy (mostly) gay bar where an artsy clientele sips cañas (half-pints) and dangerously cheap cocktails before heading out to the discoteca.

Jive to live jazz concerts and DJ sets until 5:30 am on weekdays and 6 am on weekends. Tickets rarely creep above €15.

This intimate nightclub caters to a local alternative crowd and is a favorite stop on the lesbian party circuit, though revelers of all orientations flock here in droves.

This gritty, Berlin-style underground club hosts techno-driven dance parties on weekend nights. The most popular parties are the mixed-crowd Stardust (Fridays), with mostly techno music, and the LGBTQ+-focused Yass Club (Saturdays), with a mix of pop, house, and hip-hop.

A snug, casual wine bar in the quieter Conde Duque area of Malasaña, De Vinos pours hard-to-find wines from regions like Bierzo, Somontano, and—of course—Madrid. Cured sausages and Spanish cheeses make fine accompaniments.

There are no fripperies of modern mixology to be found at Del Diego, and that's just how the dyed-in-the-wool regulars like it. This legendary bar has been pouring flawless classic cocktails like dirty martinis and white Russians since the late 1990s, and amigos, you'd better believe they're all that and a bag of chips.

Arguably Madrid's most renowned cocktail bar, this family-owned landmark is frequented by a varied, and sometimes celebrity, clientele. Indulge in a cosmo or white Russian served with an uncanny lack of nostalgia or irony.

This warm, inviting café-bar is an all-hours hangout. Homesick travelers will find comfort in Delic's carrot cake, brownies, and pumpkin pie (seasonal), while low-key revelers will appreciate the bar's coziness and late hours (open until 1:30 am on weekends).