Madrid Guide 2026

The city that left me wanting so much more

Jun 29, 2026

I’ve been thinking a lot about weddings this week, since I’m coming off a back-to-back double-header between last weekend’s in Rhode Island and this weekend’s in Madrid. I only spent a Thursday-Monday in Madrid, which I quickly realized for my first time visiting would not be nearly enough time to see everything I wanted to. The food, wine, shopping, architecture, art, etc. was all amazing but above all I was blown away by the warmth of the people.

I studied abroad in Paris and as my mom is French we spent a lot of time as kids traveling through France. No offense to French people or anything, but, warm is not the way I’d describe them, and the contrast I felt surrounded by Spanish people all weekend was remarkable.

As one of the few Americans at the wedding in Madrid this weekend, I was blown away not only by how personal and intimate the whole thing felt for a 200-person wedding, but also by how welcomed and included I felt throughout the weekend of events. All of the family members’ speeches moved me to tears, everyone was quick to include us in conversation, and it felt like the concept of “cliques” had somehow never made its way to Spain. The events were glamorous and yet unpretentious. The bride was comfortable, relaxed and humble at all times. Everyone was excited to celebrate with everyone. I took notes for future wedding planning purposes the entire weekend.

Here and there between the scheduled programming we did have time to see the city, and man did we pack things in as tight as we could. I wish I had another few days because there’s still so much I would have liked to do, but if you’re planning to be in town here are the can’t miss places I’d send you if you only have a few days in Madrid like I did.