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KEY POINTS: What changes about life in Madrid in 2024

Spain's capital city is set for some pretty significant changes in 2024. Whether it be transport changes, tax cuts, new affordable housing or reduced university fees, the new year sees a whole host of changes in Madrid.

Published: 8 January 2024 09:10 CET
Updated: 13 January 2024 16:44 CET
KEY POINTS: What changes about life in Madrid in 2024
A view of Gran Vía in Madrid. Photo: Sebastián Valencia Pineda/Pexels

L3 Metro line

The long-awaited project to expand Metro Line 3 between Villaverde Alto and El Casar (in Getafe) is scheduled to be wrapped up in March and will be opened sometime in 2024, though the Ministry of Housing, Transport and Infrastructure have not put a concrete date on when it will be operational.

Construction work to further expand the Metro across the city will also be undertaken throughout 2024. Line 11 will see work on a tunnel between Plaza Ellíptica and Conde de Casal, and the central section of the line is expected to be between Valdebebas in the north down to Cuatro Vientos in the south.

On the suburban lines, work on Metro Line 5 is also expected to begin in early-2024, allowing travel without the need for changes from Carabanchel to Barajas Airport.

Valdebebas bus station

The new Valdebebas interchange will also open, and will be operational during the first half of 2024. Valdebebas will be the travel infrastructure backbone of the new Ciudad de Justicia area, and once the judicial headquarters are open, it is estimated more than 30,000 people will pass through the area per day.

Low-emission zones

2024 also sees the new phase of the city’s low emissions zone (known as ZBEs in Spain) enter into force, which further limits the circulation of certain types of cars through the city centre.

READ ALSO: Driving in Spain: Which towns and cities have low-emission zones?

This mainly affects older, large vehicles, and off-road vehicles which are not registered in Madrid. Put simply, cars that do not have the environmental stickers identifying where they can and can’t go in the city centre. These are mainly diesel vehicles registered before 2006 or petrol vehicles registered before 2000 – cars classified as ‘A’ vehicles.

READ ALSO: GUIDE: How to get an emissions sticker for your car in Spain

If you have an ‘A’ vehicle and it is registered in Madrid, you can circulate through the city for another year, until 2025.

The number of cameras used to enforce the ZBE has also increased, with another 200 that will be in operation from January 14th.

The fines for entering ZBEs without a sticker, or in diesel vehicles registered before 2006 or petrol vehicles registered before 2000 not registered in Madrid, will be €200.

University fees

Madrid’s regional government will reduce the cost of enrolment fees paid by students from Spanish-speaking countries when enrolling in universities in the region, who will now be charged the same amount as any other EU or Spanish citizen.

Until now, students from Latin America had to pay double the normal price for enrolling (known as la matrícula).

Housing

The capital will also see thousands of new homes built in 2024.

Isabel Ayuso, President of Madrid, has repeatedly promised to expand the region’s public housing stock, and in 2024, the government expects to finish building 1,900 homes as part of its ‘Vive Plan’.

In addition, the Ministry of Housing, Transport and Infrastructure will finish 274 properties in Alcorcón in March. These houses are intended to be available at affordable prices, and will be sold or rented for up to 40 percent below the market value.

Ayuso has also announced that during the first half of 2024 another 568 homes will be finished in San Sebastián de los Reyes.

Schools

Schools and educational centres are also set to be expanded in Madrid.

As many as 17 new schools could be opened across the region, including in the municipalities of Madrid, Arroyomolinos, Getafe, Cobeña, Rivas-Vaciamadrid and Arganda del Rey. There will also be two new public schools in Tres Cantos and Colmenar Viejo, as well as a centre for special needs children in the capital.

Schools of the districts of Arganzuela, Hortaleza, Villaverde, Vicálvaro and Vallecas are also set to be finished in 2024.

Tax cuts

For the second consecutive year, the Madrid region will cut Personal Income Tax (known as IRPF). The rationale behind the measure is essentially to keep more money in people’s pockets: to prevent those Madrileños that have received promotions or salary increases from moving up a tax bracket and paying more.

The law that will allow the government to implement these tax cuts (which will take into account all the relevant brackets and deductions available) has yet to receive the final stamp approval from the Madrid Assembly, but with the Partido Popular’s absolute majority it is not anticipated the bill will encounter any problems in being passed.

READ ALSO: Why is Madrid traditionally so right wing?

At the municipal level, the Madrid city council has cut the Property Tax (IBI) rate from 0.456 percent to 0.442 percent, and reduced the Construction Tax (ICIO) rate in the city to 3.75 percent.

READ ALSO: What is Spain’s IBI tax and how do I pay it?

Taxi fares go up

New fares for the city’s taxis also entered into force from January 1st, with pricing rising. The biggest change covers journeys from Barajas airport to inside the M-30 motorway that separates inner Madrid from the outskirts and vice versa. The price has risen by 10 percent, from €30 to €33, though it remains a flat rate.

Up until 2024, the airport fare had remained unchanged for almost a decade.

READ ALSO: Everything that changes in Spain in 2024

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DISCOVER SPAIN

A history of Madrid’s Barrio de las Letras in seven places

To mark World Book Day, Madrid-based Felicity Hughes takes us on a fascinating journey through the Spanish capital's Literary District, retracing the steps of Hemingway, Cervantes, Dumas and other iconic writers who stayed in this barrio.

Published: 23 April 2024 10:13 CEST
A history of Madrid's Barrio de las Letras in seven places

World Book Day on April 23rd marks the date of Cervantes’ death. The author of Don Quijote lived in the Huertas neighbourhood of Madrid when he published his classic, starting a literary tradition in the area that continues to this day. Also known as Barrio de las Letras, Huertas is Madrid’s equivalent to Bloomsbury.

In my new book, A Guide to Madrid’s Literary District, I explore this heritage in-depth. To celebrate the launch of this guide and to get you prepped for World Book Day, here’s a quick history of the neighbourhood told through seven places.

Teatro Español

While the current neo-classical building was constructed in 1849, Teatro Español traces its history back to 1583. Madrid’s first theatre, Corral del Príncipe was built here 16 years before London’s Globe. As in Shakespeare’s London, the theatre was extremely popular but up until this point, Madrid did not have a dedicated venue. Instead, plays were performed in the courtyards of buildings. In the Corral del Príncipe, lower-class spectators stood in a square courtyard to watch actors perform on stage, while wealthier citizens were up in balconies overlooking the action.

Comic farces involving scandalous plots in which lovers switched partners several times were particularly popular. A writer who excelled at this style of drama was Félix Lope de Vega, Shakespeare’s contemporary and one of the Siglo de Oro’s most famous figures. To this day, you can see his name etched into the facade of Teatro Español, alongside other great writers of the time.

Madrid's Teatro Español

Madrid’s Teatro Español. Photo: Felicity Hugues

Casa Museo Lope de Vega

Lope de Vega didn’t have far to walk to see his words come to life on stage. His house is just a few minutes walk away at number 11 Calle de Cervantes. Now open to the public, you can still wander into the museum’s pretty garden whenever you fancy. Better yet, book yourself in for a free guided tour and you can see the house and hear all about his exciting and slightly disreputable life. A hit with the ladies, the playwright was a prodigious talent and penned around 500 plays during his lifetime. This prompted Cervantes to call him a “monstruo de la naturaleza” (a freak of nature) in his Eight Comedies and Interludes.

Casa de Lope de Vega by Felicity Hughes

Lope de Vega’s house in Madrid. Photo: Felicity Hugues

Convento de las Trinitarias Descalzas

Miguel de Cervantes’ bones lie just one street away in the Convento de las Trinitarias Descalzas at number 18 Calle Lope de Vega. Someone in town planning must have been having a laugh at the expense of both writers when these streets were named! Cervantes’ freak-of-nature taunt came after Lope de Vega had trashed an advance copy of Don Quijote in a letter announcing: “Of poets I do not say: this is a good century! Many are in the making for the coming year. But there is none so bad as Cervantes; nor so foolish as to praise Don Quijote.”

Lope de Vega, of course, was very wrong. Don Quijote was a smash hit when it came out in 1605 and even though Cervantes was pushing 60 when he published his masterpiece, he did get to enjoy his final years in the spotlight. However, this fame didn’t prevent the destruction of his former house at number 2 Calle de Cervantes nor the misplacement of his bones, which are muddled up with other miscellaneous skeletons in a box inside the convent with the initials MC on it!

Madrid's Convento de las Trinitarias

Madrid’s Convento de las Trinitarias. Photo: John Dapolito

Lhardy

As Madrid’s theatre district, Huertas was a thoroughly disreputable place back in Cervantes’ time and a popular saying went: “Calle de Huertas, más putas que puertas” (Calle de Huertas, more whores than doors). However, in the 19th century, this didn’t deter French chef Emilio Huguenin from opening an upmarket restaurant in the area closer to Sol in 1839. A fan of fine dining, Alexandre Dumas famously dined here when he rolled into town.

However, the restaurant wasn’t affordable for many. In fact, Lhardy was considered so posh that Spain’s answer to Dickens, Benito Pérez Galdós declared that they even “put white ties on their Tahona buns.” It’s still going strong and is a great place to soak up the atmosphere of 19th-century Madrid where heated literary salons or tertulias (social gatherings) were often held in coffee shops and restaurants.

Lhardy madrid

Lhardy in Madrid’s Barrio de Las Letras. Photo: John Dapolito

Ateneo de Madrid

The best tertulias were hosted in Ateneo de Madrid, a deceptively slender building tucked away on Calle del Prado. This cultural institution had a rocky beginning during the tyrannical reign of Ferdinand VII when many of its liberal members had to flee to London. However, it was re-established in 1835 after the king died and has been going strong ever since.

The organisation aimed to promote enlightened values that would modernise Spain by fostering scholarship and lively debate and it continues to stick to this philosophy to this day. While it’s still a private member’s club, the spectacular interior of this tardis-like building can be seen by either booking a visit to the library or attending a talk in the gorgeous Salón de Actos.

Madrid’s Ateneo. Photo: John Dapolito

La Venencia

The rumour exchange during the Civil War, this bar has changed little since it was first opened in 1927. The décor, with its wooden tables and gleaming rows of bottles, is simplicity itself. To this day, music is never played, nothing but sherry is served and photos are strictly forbidden, a policy that goes back to the Civil War when Madrid was full of Nationalist spies. Ernest Hemingway would drop in to pick up information during his time as a correspondent in the city. Of course, this wasn’t enough to slake his thirst: Chicote’s on Gran Via was a firm favourite as was Villa Rosa and Cevecería Alemana, both on Plaza Santa Ana.

La Venencia. Photo: Felicity Hughes

Las Cuevas de Sésamo

Another Hemingway haunt in Barrio de las Letras was Las Cuevas de Sésamo. This underground cave was opened up after the war as a clandestine literary salon by former Republican aviator Tomás Cruz Díaz. One of the main attractions of this bar was its literary prize. Tomás launched the Sésamo Prize for theatrical works in 1952 and the scheme was such a success that a short story and painting prize was added, followed in 1956 by an award for novelists. Though the prize money was negligible, the cultural cachet for winners was huge, with many authors going on to forge illustrious careers. These included Soledad Puértolas, Juan Marsé, and Juan José Millás.

Las Cuevas de Sésamo in Madrid. Photo: Sergio de Isidro

Of course, there’s much more to discover about the history of Barrio de las Letras. If you’re interested in the subject, my book A Guide to Madrid’s Literary District from The Secret Kingdoms Press is out now. 

Felicity Hughes is the author of The Making of Madrid, a blog about the history of Madrid.

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