Lavapiés
Indian restaurants, wholesale textile shops and trendy cafés lie cheek-by-jowl with ancient churches, theatres and arts centres in Lavapiés and the other areas to the south of the centre.
These districts were long home to the capital's gritty working class, and vestiges of that era survive: including the El Rastro street market and traditional tenement blocks.
But in recent decades the area's long-term residents have been joined by hip young Spaniards and new immigrants. This mixture has produced one the liveliest and most intriguing areas of the city where evening attractions include the lovely old Cine Doré.