LCBO Food & Drink Travel 2025

Madrid While Madrid is famous for its grand palaces, art galleries with massive collections and Real Madrid, its wildly successful futbol team, it’s also rumoured that this city, which is home to the Landscape of Light World Heritage site, has more bars than any other city. Beer, wine, vermouth or simple drinks like a Combinación (a mix of gin and sweet red vermouth) or Rebujito (sherry and soda) are all popular orders.

SHERRY BARS

Although Madrid’s cocktail joints are on the rise, the heart of this city’s bar scene will always be old-school sherry bars like Centro’s La Venencia , where they pour wine right from the cask and keep track of your tab with chalk on the bar. DRINK LIKE A LOCAL Many Madrileños are known to wash back white anchovies and other seafood snacks with light local wines such as Verdejo, a citrussy and often creamy white made from an ancestral grape used by many wineries in Rueda, a wine region about 90 minutes northwest of the city. A TASTE OF MADRID Marques de Riscal Rueda DO LCBO 36822, $17.10 This was one of the first Rioja wineries to recognize that the conditions in Rueda were per fect for white wines. The wine’s Verdejo expression is bright with tropical fruit notes. Castillo De Almansa Organic Verdejo Sauvignon Blanc LCBO 22547, $11.95 Made in Almansa, a wine region closer to the Mediterra nean, this blend of Sauvignon Blanc and Verdejo is vital and tastes like lemon oil and fresh peaches.

PHOTOGRAPHY BY TRAVELPIX LTD/STONE VIA GETTY IMAGES (LA SAGRADA FAMÍLIA); ALEXANDER SPATARI/MOMENT VIA GETTY IMAGES (MADRID)

GRAND SHOPPING Even if you’re not into shopping, a walk along the Gran Vía , where all the fancy high-end stores are located, is a must. Known as “Spanish Broadway,” this elegant strip attracts as many architecture buffs as fashionistas, thanks to its stunning white Art Deco buildings. Many of them had to be rebuilt after the Spanish Civil War in the 1930s, when this area was a key battleground.

TO DO

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TRAVEL 2025 ————————