It is not necessary to say that Madrid has a variety of museums and monuments that can be visited to make your day, parks that to take walks on and hundreds of neighbourhoods and zones of different cultures to visit. All these information can be found in a good tour guide but no guide book can give a better tourist experience than that provided by someone actually from Madrid, and young too!
Madrid Night: After an exhausting day travelling through the city (and please make sure you are in the city for more than five days or I will be offended), at 20.00 in the evening what can we do? We have two options; on the one hand to go to the hotel to rest (of course then you are not in Madrid) or on the other hand, go out and see Madrid. The drunkenness of the most cosmopolitan city in Spain!
We begin in Madrid. In Spain actually, people do not go out before 23.00 or 24.00, so take a shower at 21.00 and supper at 22.00. A lot of times people go out to dinner or have supper with their friends at home and well, this can take you hours. The food in Spain is prepared with calm so enjoying the food, chatting with your friends, always a first dish, a second one and a dessert. Of course you have supper with Spanish wine (my favourite is the Valdepeñas although a good Rioja is not bad at all).
We continue. Already we have had dinner and then arrange to go out. Where do we go? Watch out for navigators: Madrid is very large and if the chosen zone is not the correct one its will be expensive to be displaced in taxi (the buses stop functioning at 23.30 and then the "owls" start at 24.00, those are the nocturnal, but the route is not equal and you must know where you can take it and where they stop. the underground for me it is a sure transportation route but from certain hours its not recommendable to go to some stations. The underground stop working at 1.30 and until 6.00 does not begin the transportation again).
The most European zone (most foreigners go out around here) is Santa Ana and Huertas. It is between Puerta Del Sol y Plaza de Santa Ana, passing along Huertas street, which has written on the ground phrases of our more famous writers. This is a neighbourhood of "all the life of Madrid" along with the zone of the main square in the neighbourhood of the Austrias. There are lots of the illustrate personages of the culture. They were born in this zone or had lived around here and had 'hammered itself' in duelling at a period when electric lights were not available and the honour was washed in light of a lamp between shines of the steel. Back to Huertas, the streets are filled with people. There are a great number of bars for "tapear" or to have dinner. Certainly the better "sangrías" of Madrid are served in this zone. The bars, the live shows, cafés and nightclubs (with pachangueo, Spanish music of the moment) are also very good. For the smokers, there are "teterías" very lively, perhaps they are a little bit expensive but with going as a minimum 4 or 5 people they do not turn out to be very expensive; in these "teterías" you can order whatever you want although the typical thing is an infusion and smoke tobacco of flavours in pipe. Oh! I forgot to say that in this zone there are restaurants of typical kitchen of each place of Spain.
Leaving from Plaza de Santa Bárbara you will find with lots bars of "tapas", breweries, pubs and cafés. The most crowded zones are those in Campoamor, Fernando IV, Santa Teresa and Barquillo streets (zone Alonso Martínez). In Bilbao, by the boundaries of Fuencarral and San Vicente Ferrer there is a large quantity of localities as in the previous one, some of them with lively performances, and here is the most famous discotheque of Madrid: Pachá. In my opinion the disco is not so good you have to pay to enter and a glass cost 10 euros!! Besides it is difficult for the security guy to let you in if you have body piercings in places other than ears, or wide pants or trainers. Only the stiff rich kids go there and there are not good feelings between the people. I prefer to go to Malasaña, (street Manuela Malasaña, Fuencarral and round to that place). In summers its one of the few places in Madrid where people can drink in the street ("botellón") and to chat with the friends. The environment is tranquil, people speak with the others and there is a good atmosphere. You will find here the best "calimocho" (Coca-Cola and red wine) of Madrid. The styles of the people are alternative, independent, heavy, punk, hippie, etc., and above all, the ones that are unclassifiable.
Another zone to go for partying is Argüelles and Moncloa - university campus. They are relatively joined but they have their differences. In university campus (Metropolitano and Guzmán el Bueno, underground stops) is the place where all the students of the Complutense University hang out (the oldest and most important of Madrid). It is ok to go from time to time because of the university environment but I see a light snobbish touch to many of the pub. However it is always possible to start partying here and end in Alonso Martínez or in Huertas. In Argüelles is another of the large discos of Madrid; Arena Perhaps less snobbish than Pachá, equal of expensive and in my opinion not much recommended. (Kapital, Elite, El Palacio de Gaviria and Joy Eslava are the other large. The first one is in Atocha, the second in Chamartín and the two last near Sol. All of them have several plants and many rooms. If this is your environment they will charm you, but be careful with the security guys, they are not as kind as here). Finally Moncloa; that was a point of reference in Madrid at night years ago but nowadays is low-spirited. Of course, the atmosphere has nothing to do with Malasaña, Alonso Martínez and Bilbao.
If you go to Madrid in some cold month of winter and do not have migrating desires to jump from pub to pub, or perhaps it is still very early for the crazy nocturnal life, I think it is more recommendable to go to some of the numerous and traditional cafés of Madrid. Many of them are decorated in "belle epoque" style. They still remind of times when famous literary gatherings of writers occupied its tables during hours, as is the case of the famous "Café Gijón". Some of them, but the less ones, still conserve this tradition, although in all of them remains this charming atmosphere that invites to write (although be a postcard) or to enjoy with relaxed conversation.
You will be able to enjoy the hot nights in the boisterous and southern atmosphere of the hundreds of terraces that you will find around the city during 5 months to the year (form May to September). Some of them are formed when the pubs take their tables to the street in the small squares or in the largest avenues, but others, the most curious, are results of stands that every year are in some much concurred regions. In this case they are found situated in Paseo de la Castellana, above all between Cuzco and Paseo del Prado, very advisable if you want to see "good-looking people". Pintos Rosales and Paseo de Camoens, are also very popular among young people. On the other hand, those of Gran Vía are not fashionable and the public is older. Nevertheless they offer you the most picturesque spectacle, there all the mixed types live; from the traditional middle-class marriage to the last marginalized people, to the most modern one, to personages as left by the post war. Additionally, people of all the colours walk by there; from white pink to brown dark, really interesting. With respect to those that are in Alcalá street, there are various and dispersed, but some of them are the most beautiful and relaxing.
It will be an understatement to say that I look forward to seeing you in Madrid, whether by day or night.