Cash or card in Madrid — what do locals actually use?
Card is the default in Madrid for anything above a couple of euros. Contactless payment — both physical card and phone — is accepted at virtually every sit-down restaurant, supermarket, pharmacy, and chain shop in the city. Locals rarely pull out cash at a Mercadona or when splitting a dinner bill at a Lavapiés taberna. That said, keep 20-30 euros on you for two specific situations: small neighborhood bars where the tab runs under five euros and the owner simply doesn't bother with a reader, and street markets like El Rastro, where many vendors are cash-only. Tipping, when people do it at all, is usually coins left on the table rather than added to a card transaction. ATMs from CaixaBank and Bankia (now CaixaBankvia merger) are plentiful and generally fee-free if your home bank doesn't charge on their end. Arriving with zero cash is fine; arriving with only cash will slow you down nowhere meaningful.
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