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WIth the 2008 Financial Crisis long gone now, Madrid’s Businesses are thriving as they leverage their excellent position as a gate to Southern Europe, Latin America and Northern African Markets. Few cities have more potential than Madrid at this moment, as the city continuously manages to attract some of the best talent from the whole country (and world) with their huge offering that we will introduce in this guide.
In this Guide we will tell you all about living in Madrid if you are an IT or Tech Expat.
What to expect?
Here are the main highlights of what you can expect when living in Madrid:

Weather
Sometimes, Spanish people are not aware of how fortunate they are to live in a country with such good weather, mild winters and long springs. Given that Madrid features a bit lower temperatures than coastal cities, you will often hear Madrileños complaining about the weather in the city.
Now, when compared with most European cities using data, things do not look nearly that bad, in fact, our colleagues at Fut-Ure Madrid office consider weather one of the main perks.
KPIs:
– Hours of sun. 5 Winter / 9 Summer
– Average weather. 7 C Winter / 28 C Summer
– Rain. 61 days per year
Cost of Living
Check our Madrid Expat guide to see more details about costs of main products and services in Madrid.
Finding an apartment
Unlike other European Capitals, finding an apartment requires little paperwork. There are many agencies that can facilitate moving to an apartment, including showing you to different locations according to your budget, and helping with the contract and even moving from your own city.
If you do not know where to start, at Fut-Ure can help you connect with the best agencies in Madrid depending on your needs and recommend what are the best neighbourhoods to set up your office and / or yourself.
Commuting
Madrid is a very large city, fortunately it features the best infrastructure of all Spanish cities, which makes it fast and easy to reach any spot of the city in car.
Also, this city offers an excellent network of public transport for those who do not wish to commute in private car. Madrid Underground system reaches all neighbourhoods and is designed efficiently so moving from one side of the city to another does not take more than 45 minutes, which is very reasonable, considering the size of the city.
Another option to move around the city are electric scooters. The city is full of them and they are an easy option to go door-to-door.

Professional Environment
Company Profile
As one can expect, being the Capital of Spain, one can find many of the headquarters of companies with business activity in Spain and Portugal, they are usually based in the business areas of the city. Likewise, Madrid is home to a number of large International companies with Spanish origins, such as Movistar.
Besides that, the startup ecosystem is continuously growing with many new companies starting their business activity. If you walk in the areas of Madrid Rio, Arganzuela and Atocha you will be able to see many buildings that host many of those start-ups, notably the Google Campus and the Movistar e-sport center.
of start-ups set up in there.
Networking
Networking is extremely easy in Madrid. Locals are famous for being amazingly open-minded and quick to involve people from other Spanish regions or countries in their social gatherings, and are proud to teach them the many perks of Madrid cuisine while fostering camaraderie (the verb know in Madrid as “going to tapeo” or going in the hunt for nice tapas to share).
Expats communities are strong as well, it will not be a challenge to build a network of peers with whom to share expertise.
Business Culture
If compared with the rest of Spain, Madrid is by perhaps the most finance and business-oriented city.
When compared to other major European capitals, we find that Madrid has a slightly more laid-back DNA than most.
Both Locals and Expats in the city have a vibrant community for informal events that help them to add new connections to both their business personal circles.
See more information of what can be done in Madrid in the following section Leisure.
Travelling in-out
Spanish infrastructures are one of the very best of Europe, so you can expect that it is easy to move within Spain.
Due to the geographic location of the country, moving out towards the north (France) is a bit more complicated, as it requires crossing the Pyrenees which is always a challenge.
In merely 4 hours driving West you can reach the neighbouring country of Portugal, which has been thriving recently and creating interesting synergies with their Spanish counterparts.
Also, reaching other locations by plane or by train is possible.
Besides having direct flight connections with literally the entire Europe, Madrid’s airport (Barajas) is one of the main gates in Europe towards South America.
Flights from airlines like British Airways (with its Spanish branch Iberia) and large Central and South American companies like Latam or Aeroméxico offer flights to the main Latin American destinations.
Leisure
Madrid is known by Spanish as a great place or having fun. There are several reasons for that.
Let’s explore just some of the options of what you can do while living in Madrid:
Food
If you are a fan of authentic spanish food, Madrid will make you happy. And if not, there are many affordable options for every taste and preference, as a multicultural city, you will be able to try delicious food from some of the best Latin American cooks, who live in the city.
Everywhere you go, you will find cozy Spanish restaurant where you will try small portions of different dishes (the famous “tapas”).
You can try a very local option of eating in the Markets. There are so many nice places that it is best if we refer you to other guides where you will be able to see extended information about some of the best.

Sports
For those who like Football, they can enjoy the matches of the mighty local teams like Real Madrid and Atlético de Madrid, but there is much more to do than that.
Including indoor ski, horse riding, tennis, golf, martial arts and many others.
Besides, you will find many gyms in the city, with membership prices ranging between 25 to 45 euro per month.

Museums, Teather and Cinema
Madrid is well known within Spain for its vast culture catalogue, including theatres with decades of history within their walls like the Madrid’s Royal Theatre, Teatro Lope de Vega or the Teatro la Latina
Cinema is always an option in the city, you will find options to watch movies in original version – or dubbed in Spanish if you want to practice the language.
Then for those rainy weekends, there is the option of visiting some of the many impressive museums of Madrid.
Bars, concerts and Clubbing
If you fancy a night out, you will have a hard time deciding which of the many bars and clubs in the city you should visit.
There is no single night when the city is quiet. Parties until late followed by a delicious breakfast of ‘churros’ with chocolate are a classic for locals.
If you choose to follow them to discover why, you will see that Madrid’s people tend to be very easy to chat with.

Day trips
Living in Madrid will give you plenty of options to plan day trips within comfortable driving distances (or using the excellent railway infrastructure).
1. Parks
Residents of Madrid can consider themselves lucky for having some of the best parkes, including Spanish Royal parks and one of the largest parks in Europe Casa de Campo.
In this guide you will find some information about schedules and locations of the parks that you should not miss during your time as an expat (or as brand new resident) in the city.
2. Mountain
Those seeking hiking and escaping the city in search of nature will be happy to have moved to Madrid. Here are some of the options.
And if you wish to travel a bit further north into the region of Asturias, you will find the national park Picos de Europa with its many breathtaking lakes and landscapes.
3. Nearby towns and cities
The area surrounding Madrid is splashed with many beautiful spanish towns that will increase the pleasure of living in this city.
You will find here some of the places that are easily reachable from the city.
We asked the Fut-Ure team in Madrid to vote their favourite one and their choice was Toledo, the once capital of Spanish.
We hope that you have found this guide useful.
Find more details, information and KPIs about Madrid in our Expat Guide.
The Fut-Ure Team will likewise be happy to help you to set up in the city if you are looking for a job in the region, or give you more information about the local Talent market (including details and advice in topics like Taxes and legal) if you are planning to open an office in Madrid.
Take a look at our Job Offers, or Contact us and start your Fut-Ure in Madrid.