This guide follows six places that line up on one walk across Madrid, from the Prado to the Royal Palace: the Monument to Goya, the Puerta de Felipe IV at the Retiro, the Puerta de Alcalá, the Plaza Mayor, the church of San Ginés and the Plaza de Oriente. Together they tell the story of the Habsburg and Bourbon city, from 17th-century squares and gates to 19th-century statues, and all six are stops on our scavenger hunt.
Monument to Goya
In front of the north entrance of the Museo del Prado, known as the Goya entrance, stands the city's monument to Francisco de Goya, the Aragonese painter who worked as court painter to the Spanish kings. The bronze statue is by Mariano Benlliure, one of the busiest Spanish sculptors of his time, and was made in 1902. It fits the place: the Prado holds one of the largest collections of Goya's work, from his designs for royal tapestries and his court portraits to the dark late paintings he made for the walls of his own house.
- Look up at the painter's figure, then walk round the pedestal: it is part of the sculpture, not just a base.
- Benlliure's work appears again on this walk: the monument to Cabo Noval in the Plaza de Oriente is also his.
Puerta de Felipe IV
This baroque gate stands at the Retiro park, on Calle de Alfonso XII facing the Casón del Buen Retiro. It was built in 1680 as a triumphal arch for the entry into Madrid of Marie Louise of Orléans, first wife of King Charles II, and was the work of the architect Melchor de Bueras, paid for by the city council. Ten years later it greeted Charles II's second wife, Mariana of Neuburg, and the inscription in her honour, added in 1689, is still there.
The gate has moved twice. It first stood on the Carrera de San Jerónimo, roughly where the Plaza de Cánovas del Castillo is now; in 1857 it was moved to the Bajada de los Jerónimos, and in 1922 the municipal architect Luis Bellido placed it in its current spot as an entrance to the Retiro gardens.
- The stone carving by Pedro de Landa and the side figures of Mars and Penelope, added for the second royal entry in 1690.
Puerta de Alcalá
The Puerta de Alcalá in the Plaza de la Independencia was commissioned by King Charles III around 1774 and finished in 1778. Its architect, Francesco Sabatini, designed it as a monumental gate in the old city wall, replacing a smaller gate nearby so that a wider road to Alcalá de Henares could pass through. The wall has long gone, and the gate now stands alone in the middle of a roundabout, one of the best known images of Madrid.
The structure is mostly Segovia granite, while the carved decoration, by Francisco Gutiérrez and Roberto Michel, is in white stone from Colmenar. It is a protected monument, a Bien de Interés Cultural.
- The Latin inscription in the centre, REGE CAROLO III ANNO MDCCLXXVIII: King Charles III, year 1778.
- The coats of arms, trophies and carved figures over the arches; walk round to compare the two sides.
Plaza Mayor
The Plaza Mayor began in the 15th century as the Plaza del Arrabal, the market square outside the walls. Under Philip III the architect Juan Gómez de Mora turned it into a closed, porticoed square between 1617 and 1619. Fires hit it in 1631, 1670 and above all in 1790, when nearly a third of the square burned. Juan de Villanueva then rebuilt it, lowering the buildings to three floors, closing the corners and adding the large archways; the work was finished in 1854.
The square measures 129 by 94 metres and has 237 balconies and ten entrances. Over the centuries it hosted markets, bullfights and public executions; on 30 June 1680 an auto-da-fé here sentenced 117 people. Today it is the setting for the Christmas market and a Sunday stamp and coin market.
- The bronze equestrian statue of Philip III by Giambologna and Pietro Tacca, made in 1616 and moved to the centre of the square in 1848.
- The Casa de la Panadería, the former main bakery of the city, with painted murals by Carlos Franco from 1992.
- The Arco de Cuchilleros in the south-west corner, with steep steps leading down out of the square.
Church of San Ginés
San Ginés on Calle del Arenal is one of the oldest churches in Madrid: it appears in medieval records, and it is thought to have Mozarabic origins. The first church was in Mudéjar style; after several fires it was rebuilt in 1645, and the porch and atrium were added in 1870. The bell tower is the part that survives from the older building.
Famous names fill its registers: the poet Francisco de Quevedo was baptised here and the playwright Lope de Vega married here. Inside, the chapel of the Santísimo Cristo has works by Alonso Cano and Luca Giordano, and the church also owns a painting by El Greco.
- The plain brick and stone exterior on Calle del Arenal, easy to walk past without noticing.
- The Pasadizo de San Ginés, the narrow lane that runs along the side of the church.
Plaza de Oriente
Between the Royal Palace and the Teatro Real lies the Plaza de Oriente. Its story began in 1809-10, when Joseph Bonaparte had the houses next to the palace pulled down; the present design, a rectangle with a curved end, was drawn up by Narciso Pascual y Colomer in 1844. In the mid-1990s the Calle de Bailén was put into a tunnel and the square became pedestrian.
In the centre stands the equestrian statue of Philip IV, cast in bronze by Pietro Tacca in the 1630s from portraits by Velázquez. The horse rears on its hind legs, and Galileo Galilei is said to have advised on how to make it stand: the back is solid and the front hollow.
- The 20 limestone statues of kings, five Visigoths and fifteen medieval Christian monarchs, carved in the 1750s for the cornice of the palace.
- The Cabo Noval gardens with Benlliure's monument, and the Lepanto gardens on the other side.
- The views of the Royal Palace's east front and of the opera house, the Teatro Real, at the other end.
How to see them in one walk
Start at the Prado with the Monument to Goya, then cross Calle de Alfonso XII to the Puerta de Felipe IV and walk through or along the Retiro to the Puerta de Alcalá. Go down Calle de Alcalá past the Cibeles Fountain and the Metropolis Building to the Puerta del Sol, then turn into the Plaza Mayor. From there it is a short walk to San Ginés on Calle del Arenal, and Arenal leads you on to the Plaza de Oriente and the Royal Palace.
See Madrid with World City Trail
Our Madrid scavenger hunt turns the city centre into a game you play on your phone. The route links 10 stops, from the Museo del Prado to the Plaza de Oriente, and all six places in this guide are stops, along with the Prado, the Cibeles Fountain, the Metropolis Building and the Puerta del Sol. At each stop you solve a puzzle and learn a story, at your own pace.
There is also a self-guided walking tour and an outdoor escape game in Madrid, for people who prefer a different format.
Play the Madrid scavenger hunt →
Take the self-guided walking tour of Madrid →
Play the outdoor escape game in Madrid →
Facts checked in October 2026.