Macera Taller Bar on Calle de San Mateo opened in 2015 as the Malasana craft-cocktail room built on house-macerated spirits, with everything from pineapple rum to wasabi vodka infused in-house.
Tip: Open every day from 18:00 with a 17:00 weekend open; closing 03:30 Friday and Saturday. The macerated-spirit flights are the way to taste the programme.
Address: Calle de San Mateo 21, 28004 Madrid
Museo Chicote on Gran Via since 1931 is Spain's first cocktail bar, founded by barman Perico Chicote with Art Deco decor by Luis Gutierrez Soto, drawing Hemingway, Sinatra, Ava Gardner and Sofia Loren over the decades.
Tip: The original 1931 Art Deco room is the photo seat; the cocktail list keeps the canon classics. Open from 16:00 most nights, late close at the weekend.
Bar Cock on Calle de la Reina behind Museo Chicote has run since 1921 in a wood-and-leather English-club room, the Almodovar-era movida late-night hangout that survived the Civil War and still serves classic cocktails.
Tip: Open from 16:00 daily, 19:00 on Saturday; close at 03:30 weekends. The fireplace-connected legend with Museo Chicote next door is part of the lore.
Black & White on Calle de la Libertad in Chueca opened in 1984 and is Madrid's oldest continuously operating gay nightclub, with cabaret and drag queen shows nightly across a two-floor venue.
Tip: Drag and cabaret shows every night; the top floor is the quiet bar, ground floor is the dancefloor. Closed Sundays; weeknights from midnight.
LL Show Bar on Calle de Pelayo in Chueca is the 1980s-styled gay bar with nightly drag shows around midnight, two floors mixing a quieter downstairs bar with the upstairs strip and drag stage.
Tip: Drag shows nightly from around midnight; the upstairs stage is the headline. Open every day, weekend close at 03:30.
Why Not on Calle de San Bartolome is the Chueca basement gay bar in a wood-panelled baroque-decorated room with black-and-white film-star portraits and the city's gay-anthem chart-music programme.
Tip: Open every night 22:00 to 03:30; the room is small, queues build after 00:00. The terrace tables outside fill first on warm nights.
DLRO Live on Calle de Pelayo has been the Chueca gay nightclub reference for over 15 years, with drag queens, cabaret, go-go shows and stand-up across a two-floor venue running Tuesday through Sunday.
Tip: Closed Mondays; doors from midnight, weekends to 06:00. The drag and cabaret programme is the headline; the upstairs floor runs the dancefloor.