Madrid Malasaña and Chueca Self-Guided Audio Walk: Conde Duque, Dos de Mayo and the Salesas Reales
1 hour and 15 minutes
About this experience
In the 1700s Malasaña and Chueca were the edge of Madrid. The crown and the city put a guards' barracks, a poorhouse for about a thousand people, an artillery park and a queen's convent here. The city and its people took every one of them back. Start at the Conde Duque's carved doorway, see a church that ran out of money with one tower and no dome, and stand under the Monteleón arch, the gate of the 1808 rising. Read a pharmacy front of painted tiles and the city museum's poorhouse doorway. Pass a 1730s fountain of Fame, a Romantic-era house and the plant-like Palacio Longoria, then the tomb church of a childless king and queen. End in Plaza de Chueca, heart of Madrid Pride, and the San Antón market. Twelve stops, about 2.7 km and 75 minutes, flat, at your own pace, in English. Entry to the Museo del Romanticismo is not included.
- Experience type
- Day tour or activity
- Duration
- 1 hour and 15 minutes
- Guide
- English
- Audio guide
- English
- Categories
- Walking tour · Cultural and theme tours · City tours
What's included
Self-guided audio tour in English: 12 stops, 2.7 km, 75 minutes Stops at Conde Duque doorway, Monteleón arch, a tiled 1925 pharmacy 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: Tuesday to Saturday, starting at about 10.45am, so that the Montserrat church (stop 3) is open when you reach it (11am to 1pm) and both museums are open later on. On Sundays, start at about 11.30am to hear the monks' Gregorian chant at Montserrat at noon; the Museo del Romanticismo is free on Sundays but closes at 3pm. The Salesas Reales church (stop 10) closes at 1pm (1.30pm at weekends) and reopens in the evening. Mondays work from the street, but both museums are closed. Weekend nights in Malasaña and Chueca are loud and crowded. Checked 14 October 2026. Getting to the start: Ventura Rodríguez Metro (line 3) is about 240 meters from stop 1, Noviciado (line 2) about 330 meters, Plaza de España (lines 2, 3 and 10) about 370 meters and San Bernardo (lines 2 and 4) about 490 meters, all straight-line distances. Buses 1, 2, 44, 74, 133 and 749 also stop nearby. Checked 14 October 2026. Getting away from the end: Chueca Metro (line 5) is about 50 meters from the market, Gran Vía (lines 1 and 5) about 420 meters and Banco de España (line 2) about 425 meters. Halfway, Tribunal Metro (lines 1 and 10) is at the corner of the Museo de Historia, by stop 6. Contemporánea Condeduque (stop 1): the center is open Monday to Saturday 9am to 9pm and Sundays and holidays 10.30am to 2pm; exhibitions Tuesday to Saturday 10am to 2pm and 5.30pm to 9pm (to 8pm in summer), Sundays 10.30am to 2pm. Closed 24, 25 and 31 December and 1 January. Checked 14 October 2026 at condeduquemadrid.es. Iglesia de Montserrat (stop 3): free; open Monday to Saturday 11am to 1pm and Sunday 11am to 2.15pm, with Mass Monday to Saturday at noon and Sunday at 11am and noon. On Sundays at noon the monks sing Gregorian chant. Checked 14 October 2026 at esmadrid.com. Museo de Historia de Madrid (stop 6): free; Tuesday to Sunday 10am to 8pm (summer hours, 15 June to 15 September, are reported as 10am to 7pm); closed Mondays. Go in for the chapel, the model of the city, the 1862 painting of the Monteleón park and the only close view of the Fountain of Fame. Checked 14 October 2026. Museo del Romanticismo (stop 8): entry is free for everyone until 31 October 2026 (the museum's own notice), and rooms XV to XXI are closed during building works. It is also closed on the Monday holidays of 2 and 9 November and 7 December 2026. Checked 14 October 2026 at cultura.gob.es/mromanticismo. Santa Bárbara, Salesas Reales (stop 10): free; open Monday to Friday 9am to 1pm and 5.30pm to 8pm, and at weekends and on holidays in the morning and the evening (the parish gives 10am to 1.30pm and 6pm to 8pm). Mass on weekdays at 10.30am and 7.30pm, Sundays at 11am, noon, 1pm and 7.30pm; visit quietly. Checked 14 October 2026 at parroquiadesantabarbara.com. Mercado de San Antón (stop 12): fresh-food stalls Monday to Saturday 9.30am to 9.30pm; food counters every day noon to midnight; roof terrace restaurant 1pm to 1am. The market says hours can change. Checked 14 October 2026 at mercadosananton.com. The whole route is flat and step-free on the mapped line, on paving stones, setts and asphalt. Between stops 2 and 3 you walk the pavement of Calle de San Bernardo, a busy road with buses, and cross it at the traffic lights just past the far end of the Montserrat church, where the next stop stands. Stop 6 stands on the pavement of Calle de Fuencarral, a one-way road of two lanes. Cross it only at the traffic lights by Tribunal Metro, just after the stop. Between stops 8 and 9 you cross Calle de Hortaleza and Calle de Mejía Lequerica at the traffic lights. Between stops 9 and 10 you cross Calle del Barquillo at the traffic lights, then the one-way road round the Plaza de las Salesas on a zebra crossing with no lights. Between stops 10 and 11 you cross Calle del Barquillo again, on a zebra crossing with no lights. The traffic is one-way at both zebras: check which way it comes. Calle de Fernando VI, Calle de Mejía Lequerica and Calle del Conde de Xiquena have narrow pavements, and a few steps of Calle de la Beneficencia after stop 7 have almost none: walk in single file and watch for cars on the narrow lanes around the Salesas. The Jardines del Arquitecto Ribera (stop 7) post no opening hours. If the garden is closed, walk round it by Calle de Barceló and Calle de la Beneficencia and see the fountain through the railings from the street. The Fountain of Fame stands in the museum's own railed garden: never climb the railings. Malasaña and Chueca are lived-in neighborhoods. The Juanse building at stop 5 is homes above the shops: keep doorways clear and do not photograph people at their windows. Plaza del Dos de Mayo and Plaza de Chueca fill with terraces and, on weekend nights, crowds: keep bags closed and phones off café tables. Chueca is the center of Madrid Pride, usually at the end of June and the start of July, when these streets are packed and some may be closed. Montserrat and Santa Bárbara are working churches: keep voices low during Mass. Public transportation nearby
Itinerary
- 1Day 0
Conde Duque: The Barracks Doorway
Calle del Conde Duque, at the Cuartel del Conde Duque doorway, Madrid
A plain royal barracks with one theatrical carved stone doorway, begun in 1717 for the king's guard and now the city's archive and arts center.
- 2Day 0
Plaza de las Comendadoras
Plaza de las Comendadoras, Madrid
A quiet convent square on the city's old edge, with a domed Greek-cross church founded in 1650 for the nuns of the Order of Santiago.
- 3Day 0
Montserrat: The Church With One Tower
Calle de San Bernardo, facing the Montserrat church, Madrid
A Baroque church that ran out of money, with one tower finished, the other stopped at its base and no dome.
- 4Day 0
Plaza del Dos de Mayo: The Monteleón Arch
Plaza del Dos de Mayo, by the Monteleón arch, Madrid
The square stands on the artillery park of the 1808 rising, and its brick arch is the barracks' real gate.
- 5Day 0
Farmacia Juanse: Adverts in Tile
Calle de San Vicente Ferrer at Calle de San Andrés, the Juanse pharmacy tiles, Madrid
A corner pharmacy front of painted tile adverts from 1925, plastered over to dodge a tax and restored in 2026.
- 6Day 0
Museo de Historia: The Poorhouse Doorway
Calle de Fuencarral 78, at the Museo de Historia de Madrid doorway, Madrid
A royal poorhouse doorway fit for a palace, where stone angels draw back stone curtains; the city history museum since 1929.
- 7Day 0
Jardines del Arquitecto Ribera: The Fountain of Fame
Jardines del Arquitecto Ribera, Calle de Barceló, Madrid
A neighbors' garden on the poorhouse's demolished ground, with a 1730s fountain of Fame behind the museum's railings.
- 8Day 0
Museo del Romanticismo
Calle de San Mateo 13, at the Museo del Romanticismo, Madrid
A calm neoclassical house of the 1770s, later the seat of Spain's royal tourism commission and a museum of the Romantic era.
- 9Day 0
Palacio Longoria: A House That Grows
Calle de Fernando VI, facing the Palacio Longoria, Madrid
A banker's house that seems to grow, cast in plant-like artificial stone in 1902 to 1904.
- 10Day 0
Salesas Reales: The Childless King's Tomb
Plaza de las Salesas, facing Santa Bárbara church, Madrid
The tomb church of a childless king and queen, built 1750 to 1757, with Spain's Supreme Court in its old convent.
- 11Day 0
Plaza de Chueca
Plaza de Chueca (Metro Chueca), Madrid
A small square named for a zarzuela composer, at the heart of the run-down quarter that became the center of Madrid's Pride.
- 12Day 0
Mercado de San Antón: The Market Remade
Calle de Augusto Figueroa 24, at the Mercado de San Antón, Madrid
A neighborhood market rebuilt in 2011 as a food hall, paid for by a supermarket underneath and topped by a roof terrace.
Meeting point
Conde Duque, Madrid Calle del Conde Duque, at the Cuartel del Conde Duque doorway, Madrid, Community of Madrid, ES
Pick up
Pickup is not provided.
Cancellation policy · Madrid Malasaña and Chueca Self-Guided Audio Walk: Conde Duque, Dos de Mayo and the Salesas Reales
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.