With Anda Madrid, six major, interconnected city routes take you to some of Madrid’s best-known places. The initiative of the Ayuntamiento de Madrid is designed for convenient travel on foot. Depending on the route selected and the stops made along the way, a tour takes between one hour and two and a half hours. The duration therefore depends not only on the route but explicitly also on the stops. This makes it possible to treat a walk as a distinct block of time without assigning the same time requirement to all six routes.

City Routes and Finding Your Way at Puerta del Sol

The semicircular Puerta del Sol has been a pedestrian zone since August 2020; several of Madrid’s historic and heavily used streets meet there. The Kilómetro Cero plaque marks the starting point for measuring the distances of Spain’s national radial roads. This gives the square a clearly defined connection to finding your way around the country. The clock on the Casa de Correos sets a fixed date: every year on December 31, it rings in the new year with twelve chimes. A crowd gathers for the traditional grape-eating ceremony, which is broadcast on television. Puerta del Sol is thus home to both a feature of the streetscape and an annual event held on a specific date.

Royal History from Different Perspectives

The history of the Palacio Real de Madrid begins with the former Alcázar: after a fire destroyed it in 1734, Felipe V had the present palace built on its remains. The Palacio is the official residence of the Spanish kings, but is not occupied by the current monarchs. Visitors can also tour the Real Cocina inside the palace. It is a particularly significant surviving example of the historic kitchens of European royal residences. The Galería de las Colecciones Reales offers a different perspective on the monarchy: it traces its history and the artistic tastes of its rulers, from the earliest medieval reigns to Juan Carlos I. The kitchen and the gallery focus on different things—one on a preserved functional space, the other on the monarchy’s long history.

Art from Former Collections to the Present

At the Museo del Prado, the histories of the collection and the building belong to different periods. It displays former royal collections representing the Spanish, Flemish and Italian schools. The museum was founded in 1819; the neoclassical building it occupies was designed by Juan de Villanueva in 1785. The Museo Reina Sofía takes a different chronological approach: it presents modern and contemporary art from the late 19th century to the present, including Picasso’s Guernica. The comparison is clear: the Prado focuses on former royal collections and three represented schools, while the Reina Sofía presents a span of art extending to the present.

The Paseo del Arte, also known as the Triángulo del Arte, brings together three of the world’s most important art museums along a stretch of just under two kilometres. In July 2021, UNESCO declared the Paseo del Arte a World Heritage cultural landscape. The profiles of the individual collections thus sit alongside the Paseo’s broader recognition as a cultural landscape.

Parque de El Retiro as a Destination in Its Own Right

Parque de El Retiro covers 125 hectares and contains more than 15,000 trees. With these dimensions, it offers a large-scale focus alongside museums and city routes with their distinct themes.

Discover more destinations: Usera, Puente De Vallecas, El Gasco, Madarcos, Peralejo, Alcalá De Henares, Torrelodones and Robregordo.

View the main travel overview: Madrid.