Madrid | Issue #163
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Here Are 5 Things to Do in Madrid This Weekend
Itâs Friday again!
And thereâs no easy way to say this â fall (aka âautumnâ) is here, and the dewy, sweet mornings of summer are now nothing more than a quasi-tactile memory.
Welcome to another year of La RentrĂ©e, a chicer, more French way of saying âla vuelta al coleâ (aka back to school). Just like Satan, itâs got many names. And local bars and nightclubs struggle to find one that doesnât convey the depression of summerâs ending. âWelcome Back Party!â or âReturn to the City!â parties are everywhere to be seen. As if using English and exclamation marks made it less painful.
Gone are the days of hanging out with your friends at Cibeles until dawn while singing Superestrella, or waking up to the foamy white noise of the Mediterranean splashing against the rocks below your rental apartmentâs balcony. That gem of a gelato place by the beach you discovered with your friends? Gone forever (or at least until next summer).
Face it, friend. The maladies of leading an adult life have finally caught up with us once more, and we march back towards Madrid not sad because itâs over, but joyous because it happened (especially before the rise of the AI overlords that will kill us all).
Anyway, happy weekend! (And welcome back!)
1. đ Manon Lescaut: Watch Puccini ruin everyoneâs life (beautifully)
Now that weâre all back to the good old routine, we may need some cathartic experience that feels like letting out a long, horrific internal scream. So why not check out the opera? Itâs high-brow, and it makes you look like an intellectual in front of your date.
Hear me out! Thereâs doomed romance, really bad decisions, and people singing very loudly (pretty much your summer 2026 experience). Pucciniâs Manon Lescaut has returned to Madridâs opera house for the first time in 102 years, opening the Teatro Realâs new season.
This was the opera that made Puccini a star. His third opera and first major success follows Manon, a young French woman being sent to a convent who instead falls for the dashing Des Grieux and runs away with him to Paris. Unfortunately, love is nice, but poverty is not, and Manon eventually leaves him for the considerably richer Geronte. Things do not improve from there. (See? Never choose money over love.)
The new production puts Manon on a literal merry-go-round. The action unfolds around a rotating carousel-like structure that transforms into a bar, prison, and other settings, turning her increasingly disastrous choices into an endless cycle she canât escape.
The whole thing is in Italian (with Spanish and English subtitles), but honestly, who cares. Itâs the opera.
đ What: Manon Lescaut by Giacomo Puccini
đ Where: Teatro Real, Plaza de Isabel II, Madrid
đ When: Through Oct. 11, check website for hours.
đïž Tickets start at âŹ19
2. đš Estampa Contemporary Art Fair 2026: Pretend youâre a rich art collector for the afternoon
If Madrid Fashion Week left you wanting to stand around another enormous IFEMA pavilion looking sophisticated, we have good news: Estampa Contemporary Art Fair is back this weekend, bringing dozens of galleries and a frankly dangerous amount of art you may suddenly decide to buy even though your âŹ3.99/month Revolut card just canât take it anymore.
Estampa is one of Madridâs big contemporary-art market events, bringing together established Spanish galleries including Max Estrella, Espacio MĂnimo, CayĂłn and VETA alongside younger galleries and emerging spaces from across Spain and abroad.
This yearâs guest artist is Esther Ferrer, one of the pioneers of performance and conceptual art in Spain. The 89-year-old artist (whose work spans performance, photography, collage, drawing and sound) will present her latest project at the fair.
Donât worry if youâre not actually buying anything. Beyond browsing gallery stands, Estampa includes talks, debates, curated sections and Ensayo Futuro, a program dedicated to emerging galleries and experimental spaces.
But people definitely are buying. The number of artists whose work sold at Estampa nearly doubled between 2017 and 2025, from 120 to 233. So maybe practice thoughtfully staring at something before whispering, âInteresting use of space.â
And remember, you donât need to understand contemporary art. Just tilt your head slightly and say, âThis piece interrogates the liminal space between materiality and absence, while simultaneously destabilizing our relationship with the object as object,â or something like that.
đŒïž What: Estampa Contemporary Art Fair - 34th edition
đ Where: Pavilion 5, IFEMA, Avenida del PartenĂłn 5, Madrid
đ When: Sept. 24â27. Check website for opening hours.
đïž Tickets start at âŹ22
3. đŻđ” Spend the weekend in Japan without leaving Madrid
If you are interested in anime, manga, Pokémon, video games, or dressing up as, say, Punie Tanaka (Google her, kids!), Japan Weekend is back. The massive and extremely popular celebration of Japanese pop culture returns this weekend.
If you donât speak Japanese, please know that ăăĄăăšäžç·ă«ăŻćș§ăăȘăăă!
Anyway, a LOT is going on. There will be cosplay competitions, concerts, workshops, video games, board games, artists, creators, and stalls filled with handmade goods and tons of merch (prepare your wallet, peasant).
Pokémon trainers get their own playground. The dedicated Pokémon Zone will host several official tournaments, so this is your opportunity to put all those hours you spent catching imaginary creatures in your late 30s to good use.
Cosplay is serious business here. Competitions range from the Japan Weekend Cosplay Show and International Cosplay League to a cosplay catwalk, childrenâs competition, and the Japan Weekend Idol Festival. Thereâs also karaoke and an Asian Cover Dance competition for K-pop and J-pop. Too late for you to rehearse, probably. But you get to watch.
And Love Live! fans have a particularly good reason to go. Sayuri Date, Nako Misaki, and Nagisa Aoyama from Liella!, the school-idol group at the center of Love Live! Superstar!!, will perform live. (If you need to read that line again to understand what the hell Iâm talking about, that makes two of us).
Understand even half the words in this recommendation? You should definitely go to this.
đ What: Japan Weekend Madrid
đ Where: Riyadh Air Metropolitano, Av. de Luis AragonĂ©s, 4, Madrid
đ When: Sept. 26â27. Check website for opening hours.
đïž Tickets start at âŹ27
4. đż Dig for vinyl treasure at the International Record Fair
Now that itâs clear weâre navigating late-stage capitalism in which The Man expects you to own nothing and be happy (looking at you, Sony đĄ), thereâs never been a better time to give the middle finger to the digital era by buying physical media. Records, CDs, books, DVDs⊠even newspapers. Buy them. Buy them all. At least you know theyâre yours forever and canât be taken away.
Are you tired of streaming services and the intangibility of their products? I have a great suggestion â spend the weekend buying music you can actually hold in your hand.
Madridâs International Record Fair returns to Casa de Campo for its 29th edition, bringing together record stores and specialist dealers from Spain, the U.S., Germany, the Netherlands, the UK and beyond.
Yes, I will be there on Saturday morning. As a physical enthusiast, Iâve got my ticket ready. Vinyl is properly booming again: 2.18m records were sold in Spain last year, accounting for around 70% of the countryâs physical music market. Weâre back, baby!
Thereâll be plenty to dig through. Around 130â140 exhibitors will be selling thousands of records, including first pressings, rarities and special editions, alongside CDs, cassettes, books and music memorabilia. (I am building my collection of original James Bond soundtracks, so if you come across a copy of the 1985 A View to a Kill LP, please let me know.)
You can make a whole afternoon of it. Thereâll also be DJs and live music throughout the weekend, including Natal Pride and Whitehole (the names sound bad, but the bands are good) on Saturday, plus an Elvis tribute and Trago Mortal on Sunday.
Come over and leave three hours later carrying a tote bag full of albums (and realizing you now need a turntable to play them).
đż What: Feria Internacional del Disco de Madrid (29th edition)
đ Where: Recinto Ferial de la Casa de Campo, Avenida de Portugal 1, Madrid
đ When: Sept. 26 & 27. Check website for opening hours.
đïž Tickets start at âŹ6,15
5. đ Now go relic hunting at the Autumn Fair of Old and Antique Books
Apparently, this is the weekend to rebel against digital media altogether. Now that youâve got your vinyl, weâre sending you to Paseo de Recoletos, where Madridâs annual Autumn Fair of Old and Antique Books returns for its 36th edition.
This thing is basically one enormous outdoor secondhand bookstore. More than 30 booksellers from Madrid and across Spain will set up stalls containing over half a million books (thatâs right), with prices starting at just âŹ1.
And âold booksâ covers quite a spectrum. You can rummage through cheap secondhand finds or go hunting for genuinely rare editions that have survived for centuries. Trust me, they will look amazing on your bookshelf. So much better than those Paulo Coelho books (if you go on a date with someone who reads them, run đ©).
The fair has been around since 1989, when the booksellersâ association LIBRIS began organizing it with Madrid City Hall. This yearâs sellers are coming from as far afield as Bilbao, Barcelona, Valencia, Salamanca and Huesca.
Even the poster is worth checking out. Madrid illustrator Fernando Vicente created this yearâs artwork (see above), featuring a woman reading a first edition of Don Quixote with a Tower of Babel made from books rising from her head.
Your Kindle canât make your apartment smell like a 200-year-old library. Buy a damn book (and read it too).
đ What: 36th Feria de Otoño del Libro Viejo y Antiguo
đ Where: Paseo de Recoletos, Madrid
đ When: Through Oct. 12
đïž Tickets: Free admission.
đș What to watch if you donât want to leave the couch this weekendâŠ
đș Mini Series: The Final Problem (El Problema Final) | 2025
đWhere to watch: Netflix
âWhatâs it about: In 1959, 13 people are stranded on an islet near Mallorca during a storm. At their small hotel, English tourist Elisa Mander is found dead. When suicide seems unlikely, retired actor Basil, who once played Sherlock Holmes on screen, decides to investigate.
đ€© Why you should watch: Because if you like old-school murder mysteries, this is basically catnip. This four-part adaptation of Arturo PĂ©rez-Reverteâs novel features JosĂ© Coronado alongside Maribel VerdĂș and MarĂa Valverde. Itâs âAnd Then There Were Noneâ meets âKnives Outâ with great period costumes and Hitchcockian touches. A must-watch.
đŹ English Subtitles: Yes
đđ» Places to try this weekendâŠ
â CafĂ© Libre: Escape Gran VĂa without actually leaving it
Whatâs it about? CafĂ© Libre is a cafĂ© just off the chaos of Gran VĂa, built around the very Spanish tradition of the tertulia: sitting around over coffee, reading and talking. Mornings mean espresso and pastries; later in the day, coffee gives way to wine, vermouth and small plates of Spanish delicacies.
Why you should go: Because finding somewhere around Gran VĂa where you actually want to linger can be surprisingly difficult. CafĂ© Libre is designed as a little refuge from the crowds; somewhere equally suited to reading alone, meeting a friend for coffee, or transitioning seamlessly from afternoon caffeine to evening vermouth.
Bottom line: A stylish little pause button in one of Madridâs busiest neighborhoods. Come for coffee, bring a book, and see how long it takes before you accidentally order a vermouth.
đ Address: Calle de Gran VĂa 11, Madrid.
đ Pizza Pagana: Get thee to a pizzeria
Whatâs it about: The chefs behind Insurgente have opened Pizza Pagana, a new pizza spot inside Mercado de San Leopoldo near Plaza Castilla. Genaro Celia and AgustĂn Mikielievich are working with homemade dough fermented for 72 hours, their own sauces, and a menu that mixes classics with considerably less orthodox creations.
Why you should go: Because this isnât just another market stall selling slices. The pizzas play around with unexpected flavors and textures, while the menu also sneaks in empanadillas.
Bottom line: Long-fermented dough, creative toppings, and chocotorta. Consider us converted to paganism.
Address: Calle de San Leopoldo, 8, Madrid
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