Guide to Usera: Madrid's Chinatown at street level

Usera does not appear on postcards from Madrid, and that is precisely why it is worth it. It is the largest Chinatown in Spain: a multicultural neighborhood, with small businesses and street life, where lifelong neighbors coexist with the most visible Chinese community in the city.

What to eat in Usera

Usera’s Chinese gastronomic offering is one of the most serious in Madrid: it is not “Chinese food for tourists”, it is regional restaurants designed for the community itself.

• Sichuan Cuisine: several restaurants in the neighborhood serve spicy specialties from the Sichuan province, difficult to find in other areas.
• Cantonese bakeries: open early and sell steamed buns, egg tarts and Chinese sweet breads to take away.
• Asian supermarkets: if you stay in accommodation with a kitchen, here you will find ingredients that do not exist in a conventional supermarket.

What to see nearby

• Madrid Río: the large Manzanares linear park is just a walk away. Bike lanes, children’s areas, terraces and the Arganzuela Bridge by Dominique Perrault.
• Matadero Madrid: the old municipal slaughterhouse converted into a cultural center: exhibitions, cinema, theater, dance and markets almost every weekend.
• The traditional Madrid: traditional neighborhood bars, food markets and squares where life continues to happen at street level.

How to move

Usera is well connected: metro and several bus lines connect the neighborhood with the center in a few minutes. Atocha, Madrid’s main train station, is very close, making the neighborhood a comfortable base both for arriving and for day trips (Toledo, Segovia, Aranjuez).

Our advice

Spend at least one afternoon walking around the neighborhood without a plan: go to a Cantonese bakery in the morning, eat at a Sichuan restaurant, walk down to Madrid Río in the evening and finish at the Matadero if there is a schedule. It is a different Madrid, and it is here.

If you are looking for accommodation in the area, check out our accommodations in Usera.