Where Cervantes Feuded: A Self-Guided Madrid Tour
- 1–1.5 hours
- Free cancellation up to 24h before
- Guided in English
- Instant confirmation
Highlights
Madrid is one of Europe's most layered capital cities, where royal ambition, literary feuds, and financial rivalries are written into every street corner. On this self-guided audio tour, you'll follow a route from Puerta del Sol through the aristocratic Jerónimos neighborhood to the cobblestoned Barrio de las Letras. The tour starts at Puerta del Sol, where you'll find Kilometre Zero, before heading along Calle de Alcalá. You'll pass the Metrópolis Building, its dome covered in slate scales and 24-carat gold leaf, and the Instituto Cervantes, a former bank whose vaults now hold sealed letters from notable figures, to be opened in the future. You'll then enter El Retiro Park through the Puerta de la Independencia and walk among the Paseo de la Argentina's stone ghosts – statues removed from the Royal Palace after a queen's recurring nightmare about them tumbling down. The tour ends at Puerta del Sol, right next to Pastelería La Mallorquina.
Inclusions
What's included
- Lifetime access to this tour in English before your booking date and after it
- Offline access to audio, maps, and geodata
- Flexibility to explore at your own pace with a self-guided GPS tour
- App for Android and iOS
- Directions to the starting point so that when you’re in the right place, the tour will start
What's not
- Smartphone and headphones
- Personal expenses for admission fees not included during the tour
- Food and drink
- Transportation
Itinerary
Pass the Cervantes Institute, housed in a former bank whose vaults now hold sealed letters from notable figures. You'll discover that these letters are meant to stay unopened until a future date, guarding secrets for generations to come.
Marvel at the Bank of Spain, guardian of an underground vault said to flood automatically if intruders break in. You'll hear how this dramatic defence has become one of Madrid's most enduring urban legends.
Discover the Cibeles Fountain, where the lions are actually two mythological lovers condemned to pull a chariot for eternity. You'll learn how this punishment myth has been immortalised in stone at one of Madrid's grandest intersections.
Admire the Cibeles Palace, a building so grand that locals sarcastically nicknamed it Our Lady of Communications. You'll see why its sheer scale earned this cheeky title from Madrid's own residents.
Explore the Puerta de Alcalá, a neoclassical gate with two completely different faces. You'll uncover why its design shifts dramatically depending on which side you approach from.
Wander among El Retiro Park's Paseo de la Argentina, home to stone statues removed from the Royal Palace after a queen's recurring nightmare. You'll walk among these exiled figures, still standing decades after their royal banishment.
See the Congress of Deputies, guarded by bronze lion statues cast from cannons captured in war. You'll stand before these battle-forged guardians of Spain's seat of democracy.
Pass the Prado Museum, one of the world's most celebrated art galleries. You'll take in its grand neoclassical facade before continuing through the aristocratic Jerónimos neighborhood it calls home.
Cancellation
Free cancellation up to 24 hours before the experience starts, for a full refund.
Know before you go
- Meeting point
- This tour starts at Puerta del Sol. Before arrival, please install the mobile app and use the code provided on your confirmation ticket. Detailed starting point instructions are available after downloading.
- Pickup
- Everyone meets at the starting point; there is no pickup.
- Ticket type
- Mobile or paper ticket accepted
- Operated by
- VoiceMap Audio Tours
- Wheelchair accessible
- Infants and small children can ride in a pram or stroller
- Service animals allowed
- Public transportation options are available nearby
- Transportation options are wheelchair accessible
- All areas and surfaces are wheelchair accessible
- Suitable for all physical fitness levels
How it compares in Madrid
- Its from-price is 96% below the median of the 1722 experiences we list in Madrid.
- It is shorter than most of them.
- The operator lists free cancellation on it.
About Madrid
Madrid is Spain's sunny, sociable capital, home to great art museums, royal palaces, leafy parks and tapas bars that stay busy past midnight.
Three great galleries line the Paseo del Prado: the Prado Museum with Velázquez and Goya, the Reina Sofía with Picasso's Guernica, and the Thyssen-Bornemisza with its sweeping private collection. Beside them, El Retiro Park offers a boating lake, shaded avenues and the glass Palacio de Cristal.
Top-ranked sights in Madrid: Plaza Mayor, Royal Palace of Madrid (Palacio Real de Madrid), Puerta del Sol.
Special offers in Madrid
Was/now prices come from the operator, never from us.
