To celebrate its 50th anniversary, the magazine Time Out came up with the idea of finding the coolest areas in the most vibrant cities around the globe. And they determined that Embajadores, in Madrid, is the winner.
The area, located just to the south of the central Puerta del Sol, took the prize thanks to its “bustling cultural life,” its multi-cultural nature (focused in Lavapiés), the colourful murals on its walls, the vibrant squares such as Tirso de Molina, and its major cultural centers, such as the Tabacalera and La Casa Encendida, which, the magazine says, stand “like transatlantic vessels run ashore in the middle of the city.”
Embajadores is living proof of how this city is transforming, marching toward the future without renouncing its past which is a global benchmark when it comes to urban leisure, according to Time Out editors. In order to put together its ranking, Time Out turned to the opinion of its magazine editors via a “City Life Index” survey, in which more than 15,000 people took part.
Embajadores has, for some time now, been attracting tourists, new residents and migrants. The neighbourhood is currently very fashionable, but that is not always a positive thing for the citizens who live there.
Lavapiés, for example, is one of the areas in the capital that has seen the sharpest rises in rents, driven in many cases by online accommodation sites such as Airbnb. Embajadores is not the only Spanish neighbourhood to appear in the Time Out list. In the number 22 spot is Sant Antoni, Barcelona. It’s “a rarity worth cherishing,” according to Time Out..
