Argüelles is one of the few everyday Madrid place names that also exists on the official map. It is neighbourhood 92, covering 75.8 hectares, inside the Moncloa-Aravaca district, which totals 4,659 hectares across 7 neighbourhoods. Argüelles is the smallest of those seven, and it shares a district with Casa de Campo, which covers 1,747.6 hectares and is twenty-three times its size.
Is Argüelles a neighbourhood in Madrid? Yes, and an official one. It is neighbourhood 92 of the Moncloa-Aravaca district, covering 75.8 hectares, the smallest of the district’s 7. Unlike Malasaña or Lavapiés it does appear in the municipal delimitation. It is not a special-protection traffic zone, so driving in needs only an emissions label.
Argüelles is an administrative neighbourhood of Madrid inside the Moncloa-Aravaca district, between the Parque del Oeste and the university campus. Its popular name matching its official one separates it from the central areas whose street names appear on no municipal plan at all.
Why it works as a base
For anyone weighing where to stay, the useful comparison is with the old town rather than with other outer neighbourhoods.
Argüelles sits outside the two special-protection traffic zones, which are the Centro district and Plaza Elíptica, so a hire car meets fewer conditions here, as set out in Madrid’s low emission zones explained. It still lies inside the city-wide low emission zone, so an emissions label is required, in driving into Madrid’s low emission zones. Street parking runs on the usual 4 hours in blue bays and 2 in green, in Madrid street parking rules.
A district of impossible scales
The internal spread here is the most extreme in Madrid, and it explains why Moncloa-Aravaca never reads as one place.
| Neighbourhood | Code | Area |
|---|---|---|
| Argüelles | 92 | 75.8 hectares |
| Valdezarza | 94 | 139.7 hectares |
| Valdemarín | 95 | 330.2 hectares |
| El Plantío | 96 | 355.4 hectares |
| Aravaca | 97 | 584.9 hectares |
| Ciudad Universitaria | 93 | 1,425.1 hectares |
| Casa de Campo | 91 | 1,747.6 hectares |
Argüelles would fit almost seven times inside the whole Centro district and twenty-three times inside Casa de Campo. The wider naming pattern is in Madrid neighbourhoods, official and popular, and the opposite case, a popular name with no neighbourhood at all, in where La Latina actually is.
What is nearby, and on what schedule
The neighbourhood is ringed by places whose calendars agree with nobody, which is where a day here goes wrong.
The Temple of Debod is free and still requires a booking, in Temple of Debod free entry and booking. The Faro de Moncloa charges €4.00 and caps how long you stay up, in Faro de Moncloa price and hours. Nearby parks can shut entirely on a weather alert, in Madrid parks and weather closures.
Getting there and what it costs
The entire municipality sits in fare zone A, so distance from the centre does not raise the fare.
A metro single runs €1.50 to €2.00 by station count, in what a Madrid metro ticket costs, and the ring map is in how Madrid’s transport zones work.
Frequently asked questions about Argüelles
Is Argüelles an official Madrid neighbourhood?
Yes, which sets it apart from Malasaña, Chueca and Lavapiés. It appears in the municipal delimitation as number 92, belongs to the Moncloa-Aravaca district and covers 75.8 hectares of ground.
Is Argüelles a practical place to stay?
It is outside the restricted traffic zone, so a hire car faces fewer conditions than in the old town, and it borders two of the city’s largest green spaces. Fares are the same as anywhere in the municipality, all of which is zone A.
Which district is Argüelles in?
Moncloa-Aravaca, district 9, which totals 4,659 hectares across seven neighbourhoods. Argüelles is the smallest of the seven and the largest is Casa de Campo at 1,747.6 hectares, a difference of twenty-three times.
What is near Argüelles?
It borders Casa de Campo and the Parque del Oeste, both in the same district, and sits a short walk from the Temple of Debod and the Faro de Moncloa viewing platform, each with its own booking rules and opening hours.
Can you drive into Argüelles?
Yes, with an emissions label. Argüelles is not one of the two special-protection zones, which are the Centro district and Plaza Elíptica, though it does sit inside the city-wide low emission zone covering every urban road.
One of the few Madrid neighbourhoods where the name people say and the name on file are the same.