Café Terraces in Madrid

Terrace season and closing times

Madrid terraces come in two kinds. Seasonal ones may open from 16 March to 31 October; annual ones may also stay out for the rest of the year.¹ In season a terrace must close by 01:00 from Sunday to Thursday and by 01:30 on Friday, Saturday and the eve of a public holiday, and outside it by 00:00.¹² The district that grants a licence can set shorter hours, and stacking the furniture has to fit inside them.¹

The season carries the trade. In its 2025 analysis the Ayuntamiento found that bars and restaurants bill almost twice as much in the warm months as in the rest of the year.¹

Rules that changed twice

A 2022 amendment to the 2013 terrace ordinance banned gas heaters. The regional high court struck down that ban in 2023 and then annulled the whole amendment in 2024 on procedural grounds, so the 2013 text applied again.¹ In July 2025 the city government approved a new draft that keeps the same closing times and adds tighter control of streets saturated with terraces.²

Heat, rain and the best months

At the Retiro weather station the mean daily high is 32.8 °C in July and 32.0 °C in August, against 10.0 °C in January (1991–2020 averages).³ Spring and autumn are milder: March averages 16.2 °C and October 19.7 °C, though October is also the wettest month, with 64 mm of rain, followed by November.³

In midsummer the terraces fill after dark. Ferro’s, at Paseo de San Francisco de Sales 7 in Chamberí, has outdoor tables and is open daily 07:00–01:00, and La Parisiena on Plaza de Mariano de Cavia serves from 07:30 to 00:30, Tuesday to Sunday.

Where the café terraces are

Chamberí has the most, ahead of Arganzuela, with Carabanchel and Retiro next. In Chamberí, Toma Cafe Olavide at Calle de Santa Feliciana 5 opens 08:00–20:00 on weekdays, and there are tables outside Abuela Mía on Glorieta del General Álvarez de Castro and Pastelería América-Dos at Calle de Eloy Gonzalo 13. Clima Cafecito on Calle de Alonso Cano keeps weekday hours only, until 16:30.

Arganzuela faces Madrid Río, the park built along the Manzanares after the M-30 ring road was put underground; it separates the district from Latina, Carabanchel and Usera.⁵ Cafetería Montepinos, at Paseo de Juan Antonio Vallejo-Nájera Botas 42, runs from 07:00 to 01:00 on Friday and Saturday, and Julian’s Coffee Bar is at number 54.

Closer to the center, Gran Café Gijón at Paseo de Recoletos 21 has served since 15 May 1888, and its terrace stands on the central walkway of the Paseo.⁴ In Retiro, Café Murillo at Calle Ruiz de Alarcón 27 opens from noon to midnight, Monday to Saturday.