Madrid, explained
Madrid has a small, specific set of places built or adapted for looking down at the city: an observation tower at Moncloa, a rooftop terrace on a private cultural foundation, a mirador inside the city council’s own headquarters, a viewing deck near Plaza de España, and a cable car that crosses the Parque del Oeste … Read more
The Faro de Moncloa is a purpose-built observation tower on the edge of central Madrid, next to the Moncloa transport interchange. A lift carries visitors up to a glassed platform roughly 90 metres above street level, from which the city spreads out in every direction, with the Sierra de Guadarrama visible on clear days to … Read more
The Puerta de Toledo is a neoclassical stone gate standing at the southern end of Calle de Toledo, on the edge of central Madrid near the Manzanares river. It was built in the early nineteenth century as a triumphal arch, not a defensive fortification, and it is one of only two surviving gates from the … Read more
What is the Ermita de San Antonio de la Florida? The Ermita de San Antonio de la Florida (ermita means “hermitage” or small chapel) is a late-18th-century neoclassical chapel on the Paseo de la Florida, near the Manzanares river in Madrid’s Moncloa-Aravaca district. It is small, plain on the outside, and famous for one thing: … Read more
The Basílica de San Francisco el Grande is a late-18th-century neoclassical church in the La Latina district, built on the site of an older Franciscan convent and known chiefly for its circular dome — one of the largest of its kind in Europe — and for a large Goya painting hung inside it. It functions … Read more
Plaza de España is a large public square in central Madrid, at the western end of Gran Vía, where the city’s main shopping street meets Calle de la Princesa and the edge of the old royal quarter. It is dominated by two mid-20th-century towers, a monument to Cervantes, and — since 2021 — a rebuilt … Read more
The Palacio de Cristal is an iron-and-glass pavilion built in 1887 inside Madrid’s Retiro Park. It was constructed as a temporary greenhouse for an exhibition of plants from the Philippines, and today it functions as a free exhibition space for contemporary art, run by the Museo Reina Sofía. Who built the Palacio de Cristal, and … Read more
What is the Edificio Metrópolis? The Edificio Metrópolis is an early 20th-century office building at the corner of Calle Alcalá and Gran Vía, built for an insurance company and known for its slate dome, sculpted stone facade and the bronze winged figure on its roof. It is not open to the public and is viewed … Read more
The Cuatro Torres are four skyscrapers on the northern stretch of Paseo de la Castellana, built between 2007 and 2009 on the site of Real Madrid’s old training ground. They are not visitor attractions with interiors to tour: they are working office towers, each anchored by a major corporate headquarters, and together they form Madrid’s … Read more
The Santiago Bernabéu is Real Madrid’s home football stadium, standing on Paseo de la Castellana in the Chamartín district. It opened in 1947 and has been rebuilt and expanded repeatedly since, most recently in a renovation finished in the 2020s that added a retractable roof, a movable pitch, and a fully reclad exterior — turning … Read more
About what you read here. Access Madrid is an independent guide written from published, checkable sources — museum and transport operators’ own information, official city and tourism data, and the public record. We have not visited the places we write about, and we do not publish personal recommendations or invented “local favourites”. Where we point to something notable we say who says so.
Opening times, fares, closures and prices change, often at short notice. Everything here is a starting point, not a booking confirmation — always check the venue’s or operator’s own site before you build a day around it. We are not a travel agency and we give no advice on visas, insurance, health or safety requirements; for those, use your own government’s official guidance.