Where to start on this one!! This is hairy homo heaven. You will see your muscle bears, your otters, your " classic " bears, everything in here, plus the occasional American tourist loving it all!! ;-)
The average age here is thirties to forties, but on weekends and Saturday especially, the age range will vary significantly, as in most of Chueca. You don't have to be a bear - I walked in there clean shaven and had the best time and made quite a few new friends, Spaniards are very friendly as long as you leave the South Beach or Chelsea attitude back home. That being said, this is not really a place to cruise, do come with a friend. I do recommend you practice your Spanish also - unlike Barcelona, not everyone will understand your English, and generally speaking, you should make the effort to speak Spanish in Madrid. You will find that even if you murder the Spanish language and Cervantes rolls in his grave, like my friend Matt did, you will get more than a few smiles for making the effort.
The rule here is you start the party across the street, at a bar called Enfrente ( which literally means, " in front "), and then around 2:00 or so, everyone ends up here. They do have a happy hour nightly until midnight, 2 for 1 on just about anything, but like most of Chueca, everyone is getting sloshed at a bar or still at dinner before midnight, so it will seem sort of dead at that time ( once again, I remind all my American friends, dinner time in Madrid is around 10pm, plan accordingly!! ). Arrive around 1:30 after spending the post-dinner hour at Enfrente, it will be busy but not crazy busy, so you can walk around, get the lay of the land, find your bartender for the night, etc. The overall vibe here is relaxed, a lot of the guys know each other. The drinks were strong and very fairly priced - not unlike some of the rentboys who will hang out near the bathrooms. Be careful, as Americans or Brits, you will be singled out by the hustlers, a firm and polite " Not interested " is all you need, just keep an eye on your wallet ( I recommend you put your wallet in your front pocket in all bars in Chueca when it is wall-to-wall people, as will often happen in bars here ).
And oh, there is indeed a darkroom in the basement. It is exactly what you think it is.
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