Hi, i´m going to Madrid in january and i´d like to know how old must i be to buy alcaholic drinks and get into places at night. I´m 20 and i think i´m old enough

ohhhhhhhhhh yes ana, you are fine, the LEGAL drinking age is 16, but it isn't that strict in some places. Salud!!!!

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(sigh) oh my, don't worry at all about the drinking age. as missmadrid mentioned, the legal drinking age is sixteen. most of the time you can drink at a far younger age. however, i plead with you not to be over- zealous with this. just enjoy yourself and have fun.

This brings back an old memory. I grew up in Philadelphia, which in my lifetime had blue laws forbidding the sale of alcholic beverages on Sunday.

On a Sunday in Madrid (first trip) the brilliant summer sun had done its work of raising a thirst. I turned to my Spanish companion and asked, are the bars open here on Sunday? It took me a minute before I realized how prominently I had put myself into short pants. The bars have been open for millenia and never, to my knowledge, been closed all at the same time.

Enjoy in moderation--as do the Spaniards.
Cantabene

[This message has been edited by cantabene (edited 11-05-2000).]

It's so hard to compare our strict regulations with those of the Spaniards.

I think I first realized how different it was there when I got free samples of alcohol in the grocery store. Such a change from the US.

Actually i´ve asked this because here in Brazil the legal drinking age is 18 and when i went to Australia, it was 18 as well and i only had 16 so i couldn´t enter anywhere and i couldn´t drink anything!

I was just wondering.....do you HAVE to drink in Madrid to have a good time? I'm thinking of going but I don't want to be bored.

Leche

All my spanish friends expected me to drink when we went out, even my friends parents expected it. As long as you drank a little they seemed to be happy so I never had to get to drunk to have fun. I think they sort of feel weird when you don't drink at least a little around them.

I´m sure i can have fun in Madrid without drinking, but i´ll like to try some "drinks" that we don´t have here

The question of drinking in Spain always reminds me of how much more wisely Europe seems to have adapted to human nature than have we here in the USA.

While we persist in trying to legislate what some think of as immoral, Europe seems to have come to grips with the innate frailties of human nature and accommodated them.

E.g. I can't imagine any European nation experimenting with an amendment to prohibit drinking.
Cantabene