The cons of living in Madrid, Spain 🇪🇸

From high rents to a difficult climate, there are a lot of things to consider when looking to live in Madrid. This video is a guide to some of the cons of living in Madrid, so that you can make an informed decision about whether or not Madrid is the right city for you.

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[daveboracay]

I lived in Madrid from '86 to '90 and moved back last March. The traffic is actually a lot less and the air is much cleaner now.

[Kerbeygrip]

Half of our family lives in Madrid, fortunately very close to the Retiro. One of our 30 somethings lives in a new suburb, but with a lot of green space and trees to mature in the future. Friends commute between here in Tenerife and the centre of Madrid.
For me the pros outweigh the cons. Great cultural institutions, superb markets, food and drink. Great shopping and we use public transport, which is great! Known the place for 50 years now. Oh, and adore the fountains.

[diegodejuan]

Madrid got too big for my taste, but not so big as other big capitals. In Madrid everything is concentrated and public transportation is excelent (you really don't need a car). It is a very safe city too. Yes, it was more manageable in the past, but today has more to offer and is more modern. For young students or workers I think it is the perfect city, because few cities are so lively, intense and thrilling (never boring). Moreover, people are almost as approachable as in other parts of Spain, so it is not New York. Nevertheless, if you look for retirement no, there are much better choices. If you like to travel around Spain or internationally it is also the best choice because it has the best connections and is located in the center of the country.

[lizcoleman]

I grew up in Spain and when l turned 34 moved to NY and lived there for many years and moved back to Madrid last November. I wouldn't live anywhere else. To me it's the best city in the world. I don't drive here because of the excellent transportation system. The air quality is way better than it was when l lived here before.

[philipallen]

I lived in Madrid in the mid-1990s for 2 years and my view is that a car isn't essential in fact it can be a problem to look after especially if you live within 3-4 miles of the center, lots of access to the metro and buses, etc. Parking can be a nightmare if you don't have a private space with the flat etc. Hiring a car for weekends for trips out or even to the hypermarket every so often works well. Live with the social tide, don't fight it.

[allendanson]

Been going to Madrid for the past 23yrs. Spending up to 6 month a yr there. I live in the north east side close to metro stop Arturo Soria. The transport i use most is my bike there are so many bike paths and most are interlinked that i can go anywhere round Madrid without touching the main roads. In the 23 years of riding a bike in Madrid ive always felt safe on it. You just need to get on a bike and search out all the routes.

[welshtoro]

I love visiting Madrid. I spent a week in the city recently and it was as good as always. It has pros and cons as do all cities. I do like its centrality. Phillip II got that right. It's quite an easy connection to nearly all the other major cities which is a big advantage. A capital city like London is so disconnected from nearly all of the U.K's major cities and a large part of that problem is its geographical location. When I lived in the North East of England it seemed like London was in another country, both geographically and culturally. That's taken as a given if you live in Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland. We have the same problem with the Welsh capital stuck in the South East of Wales. For many Welsh people Cardiff is an administrative centre but nothing more. That problem is true of a lot of capital cities stuck on the periphery. Imagine if the capital of Spain was Almeria, Valencia, Seville, Bilbao, Santiago or (sticking my neck out) Barcelona. In cultural terms Madrid has connections with the entire country. That wasn't always so but today, in 2023, it certainly is.

[davidnelson]

Madrid is always my city, i got free transport and healthcare, and I am pleased. I am a city person no matter what.

[ilBUZZo]

Pros and cons are everywhere. Madrid is no exception, of course

[Vexation]

We were at the US Embassy in Madrid in February. And it was quite chilly. I didn't pack enough warm clothes, lol

[AndresCanive]

This was very informative Stuart. Thank you.

[meatmoneymilkmonogamyequal]

One of the negatives is the electric bill. If my friends in Canada paid Spanish rates for electricity in the winter, they would all flee Canada. In Seville where I live after having lived in Madrid for 19 years, the heating situation in the flats is worse. These flats in Seville are crappy and trashy. I've never been colder in my house in winter than living in a Spanish flat in winter.

[basementstudio]

Living in the Washington DC suburbs I know all too well how expensive a capital city can be and all the protests and marches. Thanks for the video.

[orsorodrigo]

Hola ! I have a doubt about the weather… despiste the extremes ( very cold in winter and hell in summer), is it a sunny city mostly throughout the year? Or the grey in sky is there most of the time ?
( i libe in nothen spain, there are much more grey days over sunny)

Thanks !!

[adityagavali]

I have been living here for 4 years. It is a very safe city, never felt dangerous here, Barcelona is way too risky. The living cost here is horrible, the rents are going up and Madrid receives a lot of international people who come here to work and study and pay these ridiculous amounts of rent hence one of the reasons one has to go far or adjust with the rent here. Going out is fairly cheap, and again depends on your lifestyle too. I love living here, it has great public transport, health care, and more. If you have a decent job here, you cannot complain :)

[aalh]

Got a job offer in Madrid, I'm from New Zealand. I'm on the fence on deciding whether to accept and go for it and your videos help give insights. You've touched on a couple things that make me apprehensive, specifically the weather and the land-locked nature of Madrid. Putting that aside, probably my biggest anxiety is the language barrier. How long did it take you to get up to speed with Spanish, and to be able to integrate the language in your daily life?

[Alexlinnk]

I find it a pro that there are protests. I think it's very interesting and eventufull to find stuff going on in the city. Feels like a movie

[theSSHITT]

While what you say about biking in Madrid is true, I don´t think cars dominate Madrid. A lot of work has been done to pedestrianize Madrid. You used to be able to drive through Sol. Once a week the paseo de prado street in front of the prado is blocked from any cars passing through. You have to have a special license to drive in the city center now and you can´t get permission unless your car is a hybrid or electric vehicle. It´s becoming more difficult and expensive to park in the city center. I even had delivery trucks not be able to drive to my apartment on certain days because I lived in the center. They spent $5 billion to bury the highway by the river. They built a beautiful park over the highway, beautifying the banks of the river with gorgeous landscaping. There are more than 40 parks in Madrid. Casa de Campo is huge and the Retiro is large enough and stunning. Then there is the whole chain of parks starting with Parque Oeste. Madrid was names one of the World´s Greenest cities in 2020 by litter bin. There is a plan to create a green lung for Madrid by planting 1.5 million trees around the city´s perimeter.

[welshtoro]

I live in Birmingham, U.K, and it's two to three hours to the coast in any direction. It's not a big deal and I guess it's the same for Spaniards that live inland. My wife's grandfather spent his entire life in Valladolid and never saw the sea. I was recently in Madrid where I have some family and I was talking to the young daughter of my wife's cousin. She is proud of her city and lives ten minutes walk north of the Retiro Park. Her one regret was that there is "no playa" and that involves a three hour journey in any direction. Spaniards love the beach way more than the British. They don't just want to escape Madrid. It's more of a love of the holiday on the coast. Six weeks ago I was in Madrid's Chamartín train station to go to Valladolid and the place was mayhem. It was like a desperate refugee scene on the news. It was, in fact, a multitude of Madrilenos pouring onto the trains (every fifteen minutes) to take them to Alicante. My Spanish house isn't far from Torre del Mar, which gets flooded with Spanish tourists in the summer, who will spend 12 hours a day on the beach. However, would they like to live in Torre del Mar rather than Madrid? It's swings and roundabouts.

[JonnyZackrisson]

Thanks for being honest. Has animosity grown over time?