Puerta del Sol
Every road in Spain measures its distance from this very square — Madrid's Km 0.
Coming soon on iOS — be first to walk Madrid offline.
A 15th-century city gate that faced east toward the rising sun became a postal hub, a royal gossip corner, a Francoist security headquarters, and the ground zero of Spain's 2011 anti-austerity protests. On New Year's Eve, a crowd watches the 1768 clock tower ring midnight while eating twelve grapes — broadcast live on national television since 1962.
What to look for
- The Km 0 designation — the measured origin of Spain's radial road network, marked at the square's centre
- The House of the Post Office clock tower, built by French architect Jacques Marquet between 1766 and 1768, now the seat of the Madrid Community presidency
- The open plaza where anti-austerity campers set up on 15 May 2011 and sparked demonstrations across sixty-plus Spanish cities
The square is open at all hours; New Year's Eve draws the densest crowds, with the grape-eating broadcast live on RTVE and Atresmedia.
Puerta del Sol is one of 31 sights worth the detour in Madrid, all bundled offline in Voyage GO — download the Madrid pack and it sits on your map with no signal, filling your travel passport the moment you walk past.
More to see in Madrid
- BernabéuThe only stadium on earth to host both a UEFA Champions League final and a Copa Libertadores final — and the first in Europe to crown both a World Cup and a Euro.
- Museo del PradoThe Spanish royal collection — 7,600 paintings accumulated over centuries — opened to the public in November 1819 and never looked back.
- Metropolitano StadiumThe pitch that staged the 2019 Champions League final will host another in 2027 — and is shortlisted for the 2030 World Cup.
- Royal Palace of MadridThe original Alcázar burned to the ground on Christmas Eve 1734 — what the Bourbons built in its place is the largest palace in Western Europe.
- Museo Reina SofíaGuernica — Picasso's 1937 painting of wartime devastation — hangs here at full scale, in person.
- Real Academia Española (Royal Spanish Academy)A duke's private library meeting in 1711 grew into the institution that still rules what counts as correct Spanish — for Spain and 22 other Spanish-speaking nations.