Madrid

Madrid is a capital city that consistently defies expectations. Less immediately picturesque than Barcelona or Seville, the Spanish capital reveals its charms gradually and then completely. Its flagship asset is staggering: within 500 metres, the museum triangle (the Prado, the Thyssen-Bornemisza and the Reina Sofía) holds one of the most important painting collections ever assembled — Velázquez, Goya, El Greco, Rubens and Titian in the Prado; Picasso, Dalí and Miró (with Guernica as the centrepiece) in the Reina Sofía; the Impressionists and Expressionists in the Thyssen.

But Madrid doesn't live by its museums alone. This is an approachable, warm and legendarily lively city. The La Latina neighbourhood and its tapas bars, the baroque Plaza Mayor, the Mercado de San Miguel, the bookshops of the Gran Vía, the vintage boutiques of Malasaña and the terraces of Chueca together form a city to be inhabited from market morning through siesta to the small hours of the night.

Madrid is also the gateway to two of Spain's most impressive sites: Toledo (30 minutes by high-speed train, a UNESCO-listed medieval city crammed with El Grecos) and Segovia (30 minutes by AVE, intact Roman aqueduct and a fairytale Alcázar). The Spanish capital is 2h15 from Paris by plane, no visa required, with the euro — and it remains one of Europe's most budget-friendly capitals.