Things to do in Madrid on foot: self-guided walking tours

Walking Madrid

Madrid rewards walking more than riding: the things worth seeing sit close together around Puerta del Sol, where a brass plaque marks Kilómetro Cero, the point every Spanish road is measured from, and where a church, a fountain and a monastery all vanished within a few streets of each other. A bus skips past the bronze bear and strawberry tree, the plaque over a lost café, the narrow alley of distorting mirrors behind Teatro Español. On foot, in a spare afternoon, you notice what actually stands where the old city used to be, and what got quietly replaced by a clock or a Metro shaft.

Walk & Tell turns that walking into a self-guided audio guide narrated by someone who was actually there: a one-armed poet leading you from Km 0 to his old tertulia café, or a clockmaker asking who took his church away. GPS starts the story when you reach each stop, walks run 27 to 42 minutes over well under a mile and a half, and the app is free to try and works without data once downloaded. It suits a first visit to Madrid, a couple with an hour to spare, or anyone walking Puerta del Sol alone and wanting company that knows the ground.

Things to see in Madrid on foot

• Kilómetro Cero — The paving plaque outside the old Post Office from which every radial road in Spain is measured.
• Puerta del Sol Clock — The clock on the Real Casa de Correos whose bells ring in the Spanish new year.
• Estatua de la Mariblanca — A female figure of uncertain origin, the last surviving piece of a vanished Puerta del Sol fountain.
• Teatro Español — Spain's oldest working theatre site, authorised by Philip II in 1565 and rebuilt after fire.
• Statue of the Bear and the Strawberry Tree — The bronze bear and strawberry tree on Puerta del Sol's east side, the city's coat of arms made solid.
• Café de La Montaña — A wall plaque marking the vanished café where Ramón del Valle-Inclán held his tertulia.
• Ramón del Valle Inclán alley — The narrow alley whose concave mirrors gave Spanish literature the esperpento.
• Casa Labra — A historic Madrid tavern stop along the route from Km 0 through Puerta del Sol.
• Olga Ramos plaque — A marker on the eastern side of Sol for a vanished café where a famous violinist-singer performed, seen from outside.
• Monasterio de San Felipe — A plaque marking the site of the monastery whose steps were Madrid's most famous rumour-mill.

Questions people ask about Madrid

What can I do in Madrid in a few hours on foot?

You can walk the whole of central Puerta del Sol and the streets just south of it in under an hour and a half, covering Km 0, the vanished church and fountain sites, and the alley of distorting mirrors near Teatro Español. Two audio walks cover this ground, one 42 minutes and one 27, so a spare afternoon is plenty for both.

Is Madrid walkable?

Yes, at least in this central stretch: the two walks here run 0.7 km and 1.4 km, so you are covering a few streets around Puerta del Sol rather than crossing the city. Everything from the Kilómetro Cero plaque to the theatre sits within easy walking distance.

What are the free things to do in Madrid?

Everything on these walks is free to see, since the stops are streets, plazas, statues and plaques rather than paid attractions, and the app itself is free to try. You're looking at things like the Mariblanca statue and the bronze bear and strawberry tree, all visible from outside without a ticket.

Do I need a guide in Madrid?

Not a live one: the app's narrators, a one-armed poet and a clockmaker who both belong to Madrid's own past, tell you what happened on each spot as GPS triggers the story when you arrive. It works like a self-guided audio guide you carry in your pocket, with no group to keep up with.

How long does it take to walk this part of old Madrid?

The Valle-Inclán walk takes about 42 minutes over 1.4 km, and the clockmaker's walk about 27 minutes over 0.7 km, so together they're roughly an hour and a quarter of walking. Both loop through or near Puerta del Sol, so you could do either alone in a short break or both back to back.

Does it work without data?

Yes, once you've downloaded the walk the app works offline, using GPS rather than a live data connection to know where you are and when to start each stop's story.

What happened to the church and fountain that used to be in Puerta del Sol?

The church of Buen Suceso, the steps of San Felipe, and a monumental fountain all once stood in or around Puerta del Sol and are now gone, replaced over time by things like the clock on the Real Casa de Correos and the Metro works below the square. The clockmaker's walk is built around naming who actually took each of them, with only plaques and one surviving statue, the Mariblanca, left to mark where they stood.