Madrid Gran Vía Self-Guided Audio Walk: Metrópolis, Telefónica, Callao and Plaza de España
1 hour
About this experience
Madrid cut the Gran Vía through its old streets from 1910, in three stretches, the later two wider than the first. Its buildings climbed with it, from a French insurer's dome to the city's first skyscraper to the two towers that close the street. Start with the Metrópolis dome seen whole down Calle de Alcalá, then the Círculo de Bellas Artes, rejected for its height and built anyway. Step into a quiet street behind a church whose back the avenue cut away, and look up at the Telefónica tower beside a granite copy of a Metro pavilion, cut from the original quarries. Walk down past a department store on the Paris model, Callao's curved Carrión building and its neon sign, a block with a theater hidden inside, and the Coliseum. Finish in the Plaza de España with Don Quixote and Sancho Panza. Eleven stops, about 1.8 km and 60 minutes, step-free and mostly downhill, at your own pace, in English. Rooftop terraces are not included.
- Experience type
- Day tour or activity
- Duration
- 1 hour
- Guide
- English
- Audio guide
- English
- Categories
- Walking tour · Cultural and theme tours · City tours
What's included
Self-guided audio tour in English: 11 stops, 1.8 km, 1 hour Stops at Círculo de Bellas Artes, Telefónica tower, Callao's neon sign GPS map and walking directions in your phone browser, no app needed Lifetime access: start any day, at any hour, and replay it
What's not included
A live guide: you set the pace and the pauses A fixed start time: begin whenever you arrive Museum and monument tickets, all optional extras Tip or gratuity Food and drinks Entry or admission fee
Please note
To start the tour, enter the ticket code from your confirmation on the Roamer redemption page linked there. Do this before you set off, while you still have signal. The tour then opens in your phone browser, with no app to download. Bring a charged phone and earphones. Mobile data helps; if you have none, open the tour on wifi before you set off. Best time: Any day: every stop works from the street. A weekday morning is calmest on the pavements, and the start on Calle de Alcalá looks west, so morning light should fall on the Metrópolis's front from behind you. In the evening the street is lit and the Schweppes sign at Callao glows, but the pavements are at their most crowded, especially on Friday and Saturday evenings and at weekends. The Círculo's rooftop stays open past midnight. Checked 14 October 2026. Getting to the start: Banco de España Metro (line 2) has an entrance on Calle del Barquillo, a few steps from stop 1; Sevilla (line 2) is a short walk along Calle de Alcalá from the other direction. Madrid-Sol (Cercanías) is the nearest suburban train station. Checked 14 October 2026. Getting away, or leaving halfway: Gran Vía Metro (lines 1 and 5) at stop 5, its entrance the granite pavilion; Callao (lines 3 and 5) at stop 7; Santo Domingo (line 2) by stop 8; Plaza de España (lines 2, 3 and 10) about 150 meters from the end, with Ventura Rodríguez (line 3) and Noviciado (line 2) also nearby. Checked 14 October 2026. Círculo de Bellas Artes rooftop (stop 2): Sunday to Thursday 10am to 1.30am (last entry 12.30am), Friday and Saturday 10am to 2am (last entry 1am); 6 EUR, reduced 5 EUR, tickets at reception and a lift in the lobby. Exhibitions Tuesday to Sunday 11am to 2pm and 5pm to 9pm, closed Mondays. Checked 14 October 2026 at circulobellasartes.com. Oratorio del Caballero de Gracia (stop 4): free, every day 10am to 1.45pm and 5pm to 8.45pm (July and August afternoons 6pm to 8.45pm); the entrance is on the Gran Vía, at number 17. A working church: go in quietly and not during services. Checked 14 October 2026 at esmadrid.com. Espacio Fundación Telefónica (stop 5), entrance at Calle de Fuencarral 3 (the building was sold in September 2026; the foundation says its programme continues): free exhibitions, Tuesday to Friday 10am to 8pm, Saturday, Sunday and holidays 11am to 8pm; closed Mondays, 25 December and 1 and 6 January. Checked 14 October 2026 at fundaciontelefonica.com. Teatro Coliseum (stop 9): box office Monday to Thursday 12pm to 8.30pm, Friday and Saturday 12pm to 10pm, Sunday 12pm to 6pm. Checked 14 October 2026 at esmadrid.com. The Edificio España (stop 10) is the Riu Plaza España hotel; its rooftop bar on the top floors is ticketed, with prices that change by day and hour. Check the hotel's own site before you go. The walk is step-free on wide pavements and paving. It climbs about 20 meters in the first 700 meters, to the Red de San Luis, then falls about 50 meters to the Plaza de España. Pickpockets work the Red de San Luis and the top of Calle de la Montera (stop 5), the Plaza del Callao (stop 7), the busy Gran Vía pavements and the Metro. Keep bags closed and in front of you, and phones out of back pockets. The Gran Vía's pavements are crowded, above all in the evenings and at weekends. At each stop, step to the line of lamp posts and trees by the kerb, or back against the shop fronts, rather than stopping in the middle of the pavement. Between stops 3 and 4 you cross the Gran Vía at the traffic lights beside the Grassy building. Walk west along that pavement, cross the mouth of Calle de la Virgen de los Peligros at the Gran Vía lights, and go down its west pavement. At the bottom, a few steps to the right, cross Calle del Caballero de Gracia on the zebra: no lights, one lane, cars coming from your right. Stop 4 is on its south pavement. Calle del Caballero de Gracia (stops 4 and 5) is a narrow one-way street with one lane of traffic: keep to the pavement. Between stops 5 and 6, the side streets off the Gran Vía have traffic lights, except Calle de Chinchilla, just before stop 6: a zebra crossing with no lights. Look both ways. Between stops 7 and 8 you cross Calle de Jacometrezo, the side street under the curved Carrión building: look both ways. Between stops 8 and 9 you cross Calle de San Bernardo, three lanes of faster traffic, at the lights. Between stops 9 and 10 the crossing into the Plaza de España is long: a bike lane, the main road and a bus and taxi lane, all at signals. Cross only on the green. The Grassy clock museum (stop 3) is temporarily closed, and the Palacio de la Música near Callao (stop 7) has been closed since 2008 and is awaiting reform under new owners. Checked 14 October 2026. In winter the Plaza de España holds a Christmas market and an ice rink (last season from 25 November to 11 January), and stalls may stand near stops 10 and 11. Checked 14 October 2026. Stop 11 is beside a children's playground: stay on the path. Public transportation nearby
Itinerary
- 1Day 0
Edificio Metrópolis: The Dome at the Fork
Calle de Alcalá, facing the Metrópolis building (Metro Banco de España), Madrid
A French-designed insurance building with a slate dome, seen whole down Calle de Alcalá at the fork where the Gran Vía begins.
- 2Day 0
Círculo de Bellas Artes: Too Tall to Win
Calle de Alcalá, facing the Círculo de Bellas Artes, Madrid
Antonio Palacios's arts club was rejected for its height, then chosen by its members, and is seen whole across Calle de Alcalá.
- 3Day 0
Edificio Grassy: A Tower on a Sharp Corner
Gran Vía at Calle de Alcalá, facing the Grassy building, Madrid
One of the first buildings on the new street, turning a knife-sharp corner with a round tower, like the Metrópolis back at the fork.
- 4Day 0
Oratorio del Caballero de Gracia: Facing Two Ways
Calle del Caballero de Gracia, at the Oratorio del Caballero de Gracia, Madrid
Juan de Villanueva's calm classical church front on the old street, whose back was sliced off when the Gran Vía was cut.
- 5Day 0
Telefónica Building: Chicago Tower, Baroque Dress
Red de San Luis, facing the Telefónica building, Madrid
Madrid's tallest building until 1953 rises across the Red de San Luis, beside a granite copy of Palacios's Metro pavilion.
- 6Day 0
Gran Vía 32: The Store on the Paris Model
Gran Vía, facing Gran Vía 32, Madrid
A department store on the Paris model and Palacios's Hotel Alfonso XIII, on a stretch ten meters wider than the first.
- 7Day 0
Plaza del Callao: The Carrión and Its Neon
Plaza del Callao, facing the Carrión building, Madrid
The Carrión building of 1933 curves round Callao under its Schweppes sign, with the Palacio de la Prensa across the Gran Vía.
- 8Day 0
Los Sótanos: A Theater Hidden in the Block
Gran Vía at Calle de San Bernardo, facing the Teatro Lope de Vega, Madrid
The last stretch widened by ten meters on paper, and the Otamendi brothers' block of hotel, flats, shops and a theater.
- 9Day 0
Edificio Coliseum: New York on the Gran Vía
Gran Vía, facing the Edificio Coliseum, Madrid
A theater with a tower on top, designed in 1931 in the orbit of New York's Rockefeller Center, seen across the Gran Vía.
- 10Day 0
Edificio España and Torre de Madrid: The Street's End
Plaza de España, facing Edificio España and the Torre de Madrid, Madrid
The Otamendi brothers' two 1950s towers that close the Gran Vía, over the square that sent its traffic underground in 2021.
- 11Day 0
Monumento a Cervantes: Half a Century in the Making
Plaza de España, at the Cervantes monument, Madrid
Don Quixote and Sancho Panza below a seated Cervantes, begun after a 1915 competition and finished only in 1969.
Meeting point
Edificio Metrópolis, Madrid Calle de Alcalá, facing the Metrópolis building (Metro Banco de España), Madrid, Community of Madrid, ES
Pick up
Pickup is not provided.
Cancellation policy · Madrid Gran Vía Self-Guided Audio Walk: Metrópolis, Telefónica, Callao and Plaza de España
Standard Viator policy
- Cancellation 0–24 hours before departure: 100% cancellation fee.
- Cancellation 24–24000 hours before departure: 0% cancellation fee.
Good to know
Operated by Roamer and sold by AGORA. Your voucher and booking reference arrive by email straight after payment.