Madrid is a dynamic city, full of gastronomic pleasures, late nights, art and music. In recent years it has added important art galleries and avant-garde restaurants – without losing its soul. It has the same rustic tavernas and unfussy bars that writers such as Ernest Hemingway fell in love with in the 1920s. A well-located place to stay is One Shot Prado …

At the crossroads in La Latina, the old-town barrio at the heart of Madrid, a scruffy blue-and-white painted fence of corrugated steel runs the curve of the corner. Peer through a porthole, and you’ll find yourself looking down into a wide, space of poured concrete and graffiti, scattered with tiered benches, a basketball hoop at either end. This is El …