Grand Span Madrid
Visiting a city as big as Madrid and managing to see and do all it has to offer is no easy task. From sprawling museums to traditional restaurants and bars, every corner you turn uncovers a spot that draws in tourists and locals alike. To make the choices a bit easier and to make sure you experience as much as you can, we’ve picked 3 great things to do in Madrid. If you can’t fit them all in, don’t worry, you can always come back.
1. Walk along the Gran Vía
The city’s main tourist artery runs the famous Metrópolis building to the Plaza de España. Shops, bars and even a casino line this wide street that stretches for more than a kilometre. If you start walking at the Metrópolis building, with its stunning dome crowned by a bronze statue, the next landmark you’ll come to is at Gran Vía 1, the address for Grassy jewellers since 1952. A bit further on, the Hotel de las Letras deserves a peek inside before you’re wowed by the window display at the Loewe shop or stop to have a drink in the legendary Museo Chicote, which, despite its name, isn’t a museum at all, though there is some art on the walls in the form of photos of celebrities who have passed through the swinging doors.
The impressive Telefónica building kicks off the next leg, where clothing shops compete with each other to grab the eye, and the euros, of a wide variety of clientele. Look carefully - some of the shops are inside old cinemas that have long had to close their doors. Still showing films on the big screen, however, are the Palacio de la Prensa, Capitol and Callao cinemas, in the square that divides this celebrated street. From here to Plaza de España theatres such as the Lope de Vegaand the Compac update their programming every season with major works. Gran Vía comes to an end between the Torre de Madrid and the Edificio España, facing the monument to Miguel de Cervantes that’s in the centre of the grand square.
2. Visit big museums and small galleries
Exploring the area known as Madrid’s Art Triangle is compulsory for any visitor to the city. The Museo del Prado, the Reina Sofía and the Thyssen-Bornemisza are the three vertices that make up this traingle that is right on the Paseo del Prado, but they’re not the only places where you can see art in the area: Madrid’s CaixaForum and its vertical garden are also great places to contemplate beauty.
But you don’t have to walk the hallowed halls of the grandest museums and galleries to admire the all the art Madrid has to offer. Small galleries like Elena Ochoa’s Ivorypress, urban art created at the hand of the likes of Suso33 and collectives such as BoaMistura, along with temporary exhibitions by young painters in bars and restaurants round out Madrid’s cultural panorama.
3. Take in the city’s best views
The Madrid skyline is one of the most attractive in Spain. And if there’s a perfect place to take it all in, it’s from the rooftop terrace at the Círculo de Bellas Artes in C/ Alcalá. From this massive patio you can see the whole city, its great avenues, famous monuments, green spaces, and the Cuatro Torres, the capital’s big skyscrapers. It’s also an ideal spot to have a drink and watch the sun set.
But that’s not the only vantage point for enjoying the incredible views. In Gau&Café, smack in the Lavapiés barrio, you can have dinner while you admire ruins from an 18th-century building or the ‘corralas’ – apartment buildings with a central courtyard and balconies running around each floor that each flat opens onto – very typical of Madrid’s residential architecture, especially in this neighbourhood. If you’re looking for something a bit more central, try the Hotel de las Letras or the Urban (with a swimming pool), which are just a short walk from the Puerta del Sol. The lookout point from the Basílica de San Francisco el Grande or the one behind the Templo de Debod show a lesser-known side of the capital, while if what you’re after is more of a bird’s-eye view, head for the Teleférico de la Casa de Campo.
