Cafés

The best coffee in the neighborhood, full stop. Ranked #12 in the World's 100 Best Coffee Shops 2025 and featured in Condé Nast Traveler. Order the cortado — it's competition-level. Small space with limited seating; go on weekday mornings before 9am to guarantee a spot. Worth planning your day around.

Inspired by Tokyo coffee culture, small and Japanese-minimal in feel. Beans from Brazil, Burundi, Colombia, and Ethiopia. Relaxed vibe with swift service — easier to get a seat than Hola. Doubles perfectly with your IML skin appointment on the same street. Try the flat white with oat milk and a tomato toast.

This is your reading café. Two levels — the upper floor has wide street-facing windows and is made for sitting slowly with a book. The lower level is cozier, better for journaling. Recommended by The Infatuation as a pre-Sorolla / Bernabéu stop. Specialty rose and lavender lattes are genuinely good; the French toast is worth ordering at least once. Small but lingering is encouraged.

No seats, but the best pre-Retiro stop in the neighborhood. Get a cortado and a pistachio cookie (made fresh daily — they sell out), walk five minutes to the park, find a bench. Perfect morning ritual. The cookies alone have their own following. 5.0 stars · 466 reviews.

Second Hola Coffee location near the Jardín Botánico and Lavapiés. Same quality as Lagasca — competition-level cortados in a neighborhood with completely different energy. Good stop on a museum-triangle day.

The name translates loosely to "a humble person who invites you home" — that's exactly the feeling. Cozy, vibrant, with real staying power. Owner trained with the Toma Café team before opening in 2015. One of the most genuinely lingering-friendly cafés in Madrid; you won't feel rushed. Use this for a long journaling morning when you're exploring Malasaña anyway.

The café that started Madrid's third-wave coffee movement. Small, characterful, beloved by locals and every serious coffee publication that's ever covered the city. Not the most lingering-friendly space due to size, but the cortado here is the benchmark everything else in Madrid is measured against. Go at least once.

Named after its Iraqi-born owner, Naji's is known for a pistachio latte that Condé Nast describes as magical — authentic pistachio flavor, nothing like the sugary versions elsewhere. A destination worth visiting for the experience, especially on a museum-district day when you're already near the Prado or Thyssen. You're off alcohol for the trip; this is your indulgent drink.