Your first 48 hours in Madrid

You have landed, you are jet-lagged, and the internet has given you a list of forty things. Here is the short version, in order.

Hour one

Get a SIM at the airport or the first phone shop you pass. €10–20, passport required. Everything else is easier with data.

Take the Metro line 8 from the airport, not a taxi, unless you have a lot of luggage. Remember the €3 airport supplement — it catches everyone. Or the 203 Exprés bus from Atocha for €5 flat, which avoids it.

Hour two to six

Buy a Tarjeta Multi (~€2.50) at any metro machine and load a ten-trip ticket. Then walk. The centre is small and the metro is genuinely slower than your feet for anything under four stops.

Eat something at a bar, standing up, at the counter. It is cheaper than sitting and it is how the city works.

Day one, evening

Go to a mirador at sunset — Las Vistillas is free, the Círculo de Bellas Artes rooftop is not. Then eat late. Kitchens here open at 21:00 and are not being difficult.

Day two

Do one museum, in a free slot if you can, and do not try to finish it. Pick a wing.

Then find your barrio. Walk Malasaña, Lavapiés and La Latina in an afternoon and see which one you want to come back to. That decision will shape the rest of your time here more than any museum.

What not to do on day one

• Do not book a restaurant on Plaza Mayor.
• Do not plan anything for 15:00–17:00. Nothing will be open and you will be hot.
• Do not try to see Toledo, Segovia and El Escorial in one weekend.