Café Comercial

Bilbao-area café opened in 1887, one of the oldest continuously operating in Madrid

One of Madrid's oldest continuously operating cafés, originally opened in 1887 on Glorieta de Bilbao on the border of Malasaña and Chamberí. The high-ceilinged room with marble-top tables, mirrors, and wooden chairs is exactly as a traditional Spanish café should look.

Coffee, beer, vermouth, and a short lunch menu at reasonable prices. The crowd is a genuine cross-section — students with laptops, retired men with newspapers, tourists who have stumbled in. Open from morning until late. The location at Glorieta de Bilbao makes it an easy stop from the metro. Metro Bilbao.

bars and cafes eating out malasana
A story
Café Comercial was used for decades as a writers' and intellectuals' hangout, then threatened with closure in 2015, which provoked a fierce local campaign to preserve it. It eventually reopened under new management in 2017 with the original marble tables and 1950s decor intact.

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