Madrid Articles

Summer is a great time to get out of town, but whither the azaleas? OgilvyAction has created a hotel for plants so that flowers will no longer have to pay the price for their prodigal owners' relaxation.

For business travelers, paying a few extra bucks for a direct flight is seldom an issue, but tourists often book flights with cost in mind, choosing to fly multiple segments to reach their destination if the price is right. If you think connecting at an airport in the U.S. is inconvenient, try gate hopping at London Heathrow, Madrid Barajas, or our other picks for airports to avoid in Europe.

A visitor to Madrid relying on rusty high school Spanish may not hear much slang, known as "argot" or "jerga," while in Spain's capital. Not because it's rare, but because people tend to speak so fast that unless you're born and bred here you'll struggle to make out individual phrases amid a machine-gun babble of speech. Madrileños (residents of Madrid) delight in flouting the restrictions imposed by the venerable Real Academia Española (Royal Spanish Academy), which tries to enforce standards for the Spanish language. So put down your high-school textbook and bone up on this list of common Madrid slang terms and phrases.

Madrid is a very scenic city, so it's not hard to find great photo ops here. In the old days, when I used a manual 35mm camera with film, the challenge was not to use up all my photos within the first hour! Digital cameras make it easier to snap away whenever you see a likely subject – the corner of an ancient stone building, for instance, or a beautiful statue or fountain, or one of the street performers that ply Madrid's tourist routes. Here are five of the best photo opportunities Madrid has to offer:

Madrid is one of the great capitals of Europe and a hugely exciting family vacation destination. However, family travel with tweens can be a little fraught unless you make some good plans in advance. Here are some suggestions for an all-time best vacation in Madrid with tweens.