Opening hours
Most shops open between 09.30 and 13.30h in the morning and 17.00 to 20.00h
in the afternoon on weekdays. During the summer months, many establishments
will stay open much later in the evening. On Saturday opening hours are
restricted to the morning shift and Sunday is literally the day of rest.
Larger establishments, department stores and supermarkets will stay open all
day, Saturday included, and are allowed to open on the first Sunday of every
month, and every Sunday during the month of December and until the 5th January.
In the centre of the city, closer to the more popular tourist areas, you can find small food or souvenir shops open all day,
every day, even on holidays amd Sundays.
There has been a recent influx of foreigners in Spain, and in particular shops run by the Chinese often
don't keep the same opening hours as Spanish owned or run shops. These bric-a-brac shops, often referred to as "todo a cien" shops
from the times when almost any item could be bought for 100 pesetas, sell virtually anything under the sun and are also open
at almost any hour.
Restaurant opening hours are often quite surprising for visitors. Although bars and cafeterias will stay open all day from early in
the morning to serve breakfasts until late at night, most restaurants don't usually open until after 1am for lunch and 8:30pm for dinner.
They will then, however, stay open until around 5pm or 1pm respectively, although of course as always there are exceptions to the rule and as with the shops, some restaurants located near the tourist areas in the centre of the city will stay open all day.
Banks open early in the morning, around 08.30h, but close for the
day at 14.00h. Some branches open on Thursday evening (e.g. Caja Madrid) or
Saturday morning. Each bank normally has a small plaque outside its offices
indicating any special opening hours.
Please use the
links to the left to find out all you need to know for your visit to Madrid.
