If you’re anything like me you can’t stand watching a dubbed film. Nearly all foreign films that arrive in Spain are dubbed, allowing the audience to sit back and pretend that the film actually is in Spanish, even though the voices are all off and the lips moving don’t match up with the sound.

But fear not—in Madrid we are lucky to have a healthy number of versión original cinemas, and good ones at that. My favorite is Cine Ideal, conveniently located between Sol and Tirso de Molina, just a stone’s throw from good food and drink in La Latina or Lavapiés for before or after the film. Ideal is in a gorgeous historic building, but has modern facilities and nine screens, meaning that there’s nearly always a good selection of films from which to choose.

The other V.O. hotspot in the city is just north of Plaza de España, which is home to four (yes, four) V.O. cinemas. Cines Princesa, the largest, is in the so-called Plaza de los Cubos (because of a statue of cubes in the center). Under the plaza there’s another one with only two screens, but on Martín de los Heros, behind the plaza, there are two more: Renoir Plaza de España and Golem. Keep in mind that all films are subtitled in Spanish, no matter what the original language.

There are several other V.O. cinemas in this town, though; clicking on this page will bring up a list of all the cinemas in the city (you’re looking for the ones with V.O. after the name) and a click on any of them will bring up the current week’s showings.

To book tickets in advance on-line, check out www.entradas.com – pick your seats and pay from home, then pick up the tickets on arrival by swiping your card through a special machine in the foyer.