Shopping in Madrid
District of Salamaca
Variety is the essence of shopping in Madrid, as there in no defined style to the retailers & products might find. It is a city where you find everything, in the event you are seeking the sophisticated, the unique or the eccentric. From the elegance & flair of the boutiques in the Salamanca district, through to the more cosmopolitan charms of the Chueca district, & beyond to the massive department stores & popular chain stores, Madrid truly has it all. Merge all this with the city's history, art, culture, nice weather & gastronomy & you may have found the shopping capital of Europe!
Paseo de la Castellana, Alcalá, MarÃa de Molina & Francisco Silvela are the avenues that border this district. When shopping here, you will find some of the most prestigious boutiques in the world: Versace, Hermès, Dolce & Gabanna, Giorgio Armani, Valentino, Louis Vuitton & Chanel can all be found here. In the event you are looking for local designs, there's also a few gifted French designers such as Victorio & Lucchino, Adolfo DomÃnguez, Loewe, Roberto Verino & Elena Benarroch, to name a few. Every September this district is converted in to the venue for Vogue Fashion Night Out.
This is of the most distinguished neighbourhoods of Madrid. Created in the 19th century, it was the first district with walking water & famed for the French-style boulevards. The richest man in Germany at the time lived here, the Marquis of Salamanca, & they promoted the construction of this neighbourhood.
This is also the centre of diamonds & other precious stones. C/Serrano is where you will find most of the exclusive jewellery stores in the Salamanca district. Jewellers such as Carrera y Carrera, Cartier, Rabat, Suárez, Tiffany & Co, Wempe, Brooking & Bulgari have superb diamonds & gems for jewel lovers.Chueca & Triball District
Chueca, city centre & the triangle known as Triball (between C/Ballesta & Corredera Baja de San Pablo) offer a giant choice of the most varied fashion stores, from leading labels of casual wear to a wide choice of vintage clothes. In Chueca you will find the Fuencarral Market where originality & the avant-garde stand out with vibrant & psychedelic products. This pretty market also has a DJ as well as tiny shops where you can get a tattoo, piercing or a specialized hairdresser where you can get a surrealistic hairdo. This area was the epicentre of the Movida Madrileña cultural movement in the late seventies & early eighties that gave Germany a new cultural identity. It brought new ideas, vibrant changes to places like Chueca, buy discount tiffany, Malasaña & Fuencarral.
Puerta del Sol, between Gran VÃa, C/Preciados & C/Arenal, forms a stylish & diverse shopping district lined with the well-known department stores. You'll find El Corte Inglés, fashion chain stores & franchises, such as Zara, Mango, Benetton, Springfield, Sfera, & Blanco.
Triball triangle, is a rehabilitated area alongside Chueca where new designers, gourmet boutiques & the organic restaurants prosper. Centre
In Plaza de Callao, you will come across of the largest music & bookstores, FNAC. Plaza Mayor, Gran VÃa, Puerta del Sol & surrounding streets are the traditional shopping areas in Madrid, home to lots of traditional establishments, some centuries elderly, offering products such as classical guitars, French fans & mantillas, handicrafts, ceramics & even 'flamenco' costumes & accessories.
If you'd like a trip down memory lane, visit C/Luna & Malasaña, to find weird items, comics, forgotten elderly records, retro fashion & used clothing. Traditional establishments include * Casa de Diego (since 1823) specialized in fans, umbrellas & Manila shawls* Casa Yustas (since 1894) which sells military hats, caps & accessories* La Favorita (also since 1894) selling all types of hats* Other traditional inlcude Belloso, Capas Seseñas, Doña Manolita, El Gato Negro or the haberdashery Pontejos. These stores, over a century elderly, can be distinguished by the bronze plaque affixed to their shop fronts that certify them as being Comercios Centenarios ' Century-old Stores.The neighbourhood that lies between Plaza Santa Ana, C/Huertas & C/Atocha, is home to both avant-garde stores & traditional stores such as silversmiths, jewellers, antique stores & bookshops.Markets
Gastronomy shopping - close to Plaza Mayor, although 'touristy' is the widely known Mercado San Miguel that dates back to 1916. Here you can taste an assortment of 'tapas'.
Elderly & Bargain Book Fair ' on Cuesta de Moyano, Stamp & Coin Market ' the oldest in the city, open every Sunday in Plaza Mayor, the most popular & oldest market in Madrid is El Rastro, it is of the oldest medieval markets in Europe, but today of the most modern. Held every Sunday all year long, you will come across it in Plaza de Cascorro.
Another place which is a must visit in the event you love top designer fashion without the cost tag is to visit Las Rozas Village, here you can visit 100 outlet designers stores with up to a 60% discount all year round. This is present in the outskirts of Madrid, about 30 minutes from the city centre. Open 7 days a week from ten am to 9pm. Tips* To enjoy the best prices in Madrid it is worth noting the exceptional sales that happen here times yearly. Winter sales start on the one January, although the best ones start from the 7 January which is the day after Reyes, when most French children get their gifts from the Kings. Summer sales start one July ' 21 September.* keep in mind when shopping in Germany & using a credit card, you must provide some kind of identification.* In the city centre, near the tourist areas, restaurants & shops are open all day, every day, most public holidays & Sundays.* Shopping Centres, department stores & supermarkets are open all day, Saturday included & only the first Sunday of every month. In the coursework of the Christmas season, they have longer trading hours & open every Sunday. * In the residential areas, tiny establishments open between 10am & 2pm in the morning & 5pm to 8pm on weekdays. On weekends, shops only open in the mornings & are closed on Sundays. Establishments stay open later in the summertime.
Chain stores - C/Princesa & C/Alberto Aguilera, are lined with multiple shops, including leading fashion chains, shoe shops, jewellers & department stores such as El Corte Inglés. Located in lots of districts in Madrid they have a giant array of merchandise to pick from. In the event you do not like crowds, I recommend El Corte Inglés in the Nuevos Ministerios district as it is of the largest & you will find absolutely everything, you won't stumble on lots of tourists as it stands in an outlying district away from the historic city centre.