MADRID

General information about Madrid

Madrid is the capital of Spain (since 1562) and also the capital of the autonomous community of Madrid. It is situated in the geographic centre of the Iberian Peninsula. The metropolitan area of Madrid (city and all satellite towns) has about 5 million inhabitants. The city of Madrid has a population of about 3.2 million inhabitants and is after Paris, London and Berlin the fourth biggest city in the European Union. As Spain is a very religious and predominantly catholic country, the population of Madrid is to 85% Roman Catholic, 2% are Jewish and another 2% are Muslims.

The city has a size of 607 sq.km. (the density of population is about 5000 inhabitants per sq.km.) and is distributed into 21 districts.

As Madrid lies on an altitude of 667m above the sea level and because it is located in the centre of Spain, it is very warm and dry during the summer and cold in the winter months.

Through June it is the most time pleasant because with about 25°C it is not too hot and you can seize the long warm nights testing the night life. Through July and August it is very hot with temperatures frequently reaching 40°C and during the night it does not cool down very much what can make a stay in Madrid during these months very uncomfortable if you are not used to such temperatures. But if you prefer to visit the city with little traffic and not so much people than you should travel to Madrid in the Summer because the locals leave the city en masse during these months.

Though during winter it is quite cold in Madrid, it is usually dry. The maximum temperature in January is about 9°C but during the night can go well below zero. If you do not like crowds of tourists when visiting Madrid, you should go there between December and Febuary.

Spring and autumn are the most pleasant times to visit Madrid, as the climate is quite pleasant. Nevertheless you should bring clothes for a range of temperatures because the weather may be very changeable. In April temperatures range from 7 to 18°C and in October from 10 to 20°C.

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