Madrid Spain

Description: Madrid is the capital and most populous city of Spain. The city has almost 3.4 million inhabitants and a metropolitan area population of approximately 7 million. It is the second-largest city in the European Union (EU), and its monocentric metropolitan area is the second-largest in the EU. The municipality covers 604.3 km2 (233.3 sq mi) geographical area. Madrid lies on the River Manzanares in the central part of the Iberian Peninsula at about 650 meters above mean sea level. The capital city of both Spain and the surrounding autonomous community of Madrid (since 1983), it is also the political, economic, and cultural centre of the country. The climate of Madrid features hot summers and cool winters.

Population: 3,400,000

Demographics: In 2020, around 76% of the registered population was Spain-born, while, regarding the foreign-born population (24%), the bulk of it relates to the Americas (around 16% of the total population), and a lesser fraction of other European, Asian and African countries.

History: The first historical document about the existence of an established settlement in Madrid dates from the Muslim age. In the second half of the 9th century. Starting in the mid-13th century and up to the late 14th century, the concejo of Madrid vied for the control of the Real de Manzanares territory against the concejo of Segovia, a powerful town north of the Sierra de Guadarrama mountain range, characterized by its repopulating prowess and its husbandry-based economy, contrasted by the agricultural and less competent in repopulation town of Madrid. The number of urban inhabitants grew from 4,060 in the year 1530 to 37,500 in the year 1594. During the first third of the 20th century the population nearly doubled, reaching more than 850,000 inhabitants. New suburbs such as Las Ventas, Tetuán and El Carmen became the homes of the influx of workers, while Ensanche became a middle-class neighborhood of Madrid. The Spanish Constitution of 1931 was the first to legislate the location of the country’s capital, setting it explicitly in Madrid. Since the late 2010s, the challenges the city faces include the increasingly unaffordable rental prices (often in parallel with the gentrification and the spike of tourist apartments in the city centre) and the profusion of betting shops in working-class areas, leading to an “epidemic” of gambling among young people.

Elevation: 657 m

Climate: Cold semi-arid climate. Average annual temperature in Madrid is 15 C (58 F), the average for July is 25 C (76 F), the average for January is 6 C (42 F).

Attractions: Prado National Museum, Royal Palace Of Madrid, Museo Sorolla, Plaza Mayor, Gran Via, Templo De Debod

Airports: Adolfo Suarez Madrid Airport MAD, Torrejon Airport TOJ, Quatro Vientos Airport QYU

Distance To City Centre: 20 km

Commute Length: 25 min

Average Cost: 55 USD

Traffic Hours: 6:30 am – 9:30 am, 4:30 pm – 7:30 pm