Who or What is multimadrid ?

Some free others for sale, some big others small, some thin others thick but all in all a good thing to pick up when you arrive in Madrid and want to know what's going on during your stay in the AMAZING Spanish capital.

FREE GUIDES - these are available at most hotels, hostels, toursidt offices and generally at places where tourists and ex-patriates tend to hang out. Printed monthly, the following guides are usually chock-full-o-tips and info on what is going on in the city and include sections on everything from sightseeing to gastronomy. Since these guides are free to the public, they also contain a lot of advertisements and promos for restaurants, city tours and what have you.

	* VIVE MADRID (pocket sized, monthly, in English and Spanish) - the better of the guides. It begins with a different article every month on the major happenings in the city. Well layed out and "al grano" ("to the point") info make VIVE MADRID the guide of choice. The 8 maps at the end of the guide are perfect for the visitor who wants to get to know Madrid very well. Featured stores, monuments, etc... in each section ("Culture", "Touristic Places", "Shopping", etc...) are accompanied by a map code to locate them (online version coming soon).

	* InMadrid (newspaper sized, monthly, in English) - this paper really needs no introduction but I will do the honors anyway. A must pick up when in Madrid is the only newspaper sized guide to what is happening in the city from month to month and is also the only one that comes out on the 1st of each month without fail. Their classifieds section is a classic "must browse" amongst Madrid ex-pats and Spaniards alike. InMadrid truly is, as it claims to be, "THE BEST OF THE SPANISH CAPITAL FOR THE HIP, THE COOL AND THE TRANSIENT" (online at www.in-madrid.com).

	* en madrid "what's on" (pocket sized, monthly, in English and Spanish) - this one is the slimmest of them all, weighing in at only about 40 pages due to the fact that it is subsidized by the Madrid Tourism Board. This allows them the luxury of not having to look for many sponsors in the form of ads which make the other guides quite a bit thicker. One of the more artistic guides (nice cover artwork and photography makes for good "eye candy" and easy to pick up). Pretty good & concise info and obviously majorly sponsored by the "El Corte Inglés" department stores due to the map provided which is plastered with store locations (no website available).

	* MADRID Tourist Guide (pocket sized, monthly, in English and Spanish) - Much like the VIVE MADRID guide above but without the useful "This Month's Article" to kick off each issue. Noteworthy is the Restaurant guide at the end of each issue which, although not meant to be, is "tearoutable" (can be torn out so you can do away with the rest of the mag). Also has an easy to use, although limitted map of Central Madrid (online at www.viajes-y-vacaciones.com).

	* LaNetro Guides, Madrid (pocket sized, monthly, in Spanish) - good thing this bad boy is only in Spanish or it just might put the others out of business. Its high quality is no surprise considering the well established online LaNetro web portal for all of Spain at www.lanetro.com. There is no city map in this one as it must be meant for "locals" but the Spainwide LaNetro "Callejeros" ("Street Maps") at http://callejero.lanetro.com/apps/lanetro/index.asp?cod_prov=28 more than makes up for that. This guide is a reason alone for learning to read Spanish (online at http://madrid.lanetro.com).

	* infoshopping, Madrid Shopping Tour (pocket sized, monthly, in English, Spanish and Japanese) - this one is exactly what its title indicates, "info" on "shopping" in Madrid, the expensive type. Just over 50 pages of pure shop till you dropness, this guide is put together by the VERY weak Madrid website called Puerta de Madrid. Mostly advertisements for upscale stores and shopping malls with a few rather superficial articles. You can skip this one if you want, don't kill yourself trying to find it. Good but "busy" map of the city though (equally pathetic and "fluffy" online at www.madridshoppingtour.com).