Barrio de las Letras
Calle de las Huertas, Centro, Madrid, 28012, Spain
During the Spanish Golden Age, this small neighborhood contained the greatest concentration of literary genius in the history of the Spanish language — and most of them hated each other.
Calle Mayor
Calle Mayor, Centro, Madrid, 28005, Spain
This 600-meter street is the oldest spine of Madrid, tracing a medieval ridge between the Arenal and Segovia valleys that once served as the main road connecting the Moorish alcazar to the east.
Chueca
Plaza de Chueca, Centro, Madrid, 28004, Spain
In the 1970s and 80s, Chueca was a neighborhood nobody wanted to live in.
El Rastro
Calle de la Ribera de Curtidores, Centro, Madrid, 28005, Spain
The name literally means "the trail" — and it refers to the bloody trail of animal carcasses that were dragged downhill from the old slaughterhouse in Plaza de Cascorro to the tanneries along the Ribera de Curtidores.
Gran Vía
Calle Gran Vía, Centro, Madrid, 28013, Spain
They demolished 300 houses and wiped fifteen streets off the map to build it.
La Latina
Plaza Paja, Centro, Madrid, 28005, Spain
This is where Madrid began.
Malasaña & Plaza del Dos de Mayo
Centro, Madrid, Spain
The neighborhood is named after a fifteen-year-old seamstress who was killed by French soldiers.
Matadero Madrid
8 Plaza de Legazpi, Arganzuela, Madrid, 28045, Spain
Madrid's most exciting contemporary art center is a converted slaughterhouse, and the irony is entirely intentional.
Mercado de San Miguel
Plaza de San Miguel, Centro, Madrid, 28005, Spain
Before this iron-and-glass jewel box existed, there was a 13th-century church here — the Iglesia de San Miguel de los Octoes.
Museo Reina Sofía
52 Calle de Santa Isabel, Centro, Madrid, 28012, Spain
Every day, hundreds of people file into Room 206 and stand in silence before a painting that's 7.
Plaza de Cibeles
Plaza Cibeles, Centro, Madrid, 28014, Spain
If Real Madrid wins the Champions League, this is where a million people come to scream about it.
Plaza de España
Plaza de España, Moncloa-Aravaca, Madrid, 28013, Spain
At the center of this grand square, Don Quixote and Sancho Panza sit in bronze, staring up at their creator.
Prado Museum
23 Calle de Ruiz de Alarcón, Retiro, Madrid, 28014, Spain
The building was never supposed to hold art.
Puerta del Sol
Plaza de la Puerta del Sol, 28013 Madrid
Stand on the small bronze plaque in the pavement here and you're standing at the exact center of Spain.
Real Academia de Bellas Artes de San Fernando
Calle de Alcalá, 13, 28014 Madrid
Picasso studied here.
Retiro Park
Plaza de la Independencia, 7, 28001 Madrid
For two hundred years, this 125-hectare garden was the private playground of Spanish royalty — off-limits to common people, guarded by walls, and filled with peacocks, fountains, and theatrical stages built for an audience of kings.
Sorolla Museum
Paseo del General Martínez Campos, 37, 28010 Madrid
Joaquin Sorolla was the painter of light — Mediterranean sunlight bouncing off wet sand, children wading in surf, white linen billowing in coastal wind.
Thyssen-Bornemisza Museum
Paseo del Prado, 8, 28014 Madrid
The story of how Madrid ended up with one of the world's greatest private art collections reads like a romantic thriller.
Explore culture in Madrid
GPS-guided narration at every landmark. Tap a spot on the map, hear the story. Every fact verified.