Plaza de la Puerta del Sol.

Plaza de la Puerta del Sol

Madrid


The official centre point of Spain is a gracious, crowded hemisphere of elegant facades. It is, above all, a crossroads: people here are forever heading somewhere else, on foot, by metro (three lines cross here) or by bus (many lines terminate and start nearby). Hard as it is to believe now, in Madrid's earliest days, the Puerta del Sol (Gate of the Sun) was the eastern gate of the city.

The Casa de Correos houses the regional government of the Comunidad de Madrid and was built as the city’s main post office in 1768. The clock was added in 1856 and on New Year’s Eve people throng the square to wait impatiently for the clock to strike midnight, and at each gong swallow a grape – not as easy as it sounds! On the footpath outside the Casa de Correos is a plaque marking Spain’s Kilometre Zero, the point from which Spain’s network of roads is measured. Facing the Casa de Correos from the rooftops opposite is the towering Tío Pepe sign, long a city landmark.

The semicircular junction owes its present appearance in part to the Bourbon king Carlos III (r 1759–88), whose equestrian statue (complete with his unmistakable nose) stands in the middle. Look out for the statue of a bear nuzzling a madroño (strawberry tree) at the plaza's eastern end; this is the official symbol of the city.

Transportation

  • metro: Sol

Lonely Planet's must-see attractions

Nearby Madrid attractions

1. Carlos III Equestrian Statue

0.02 MILES

The Plaza de la Puerta del Sol owes its present appearance in part to the Bourbon king Carlos III (r 1759–88), whose equestrian statue (complete with his…

2. Casa de Correos

0.03 MILES

The main building on the Plaza de la Puerta del Sol houses the regional government of the Comunidad de Madrid. The Casa de Correos was built as the city’s…

3. Bear Statue

0.05 MILES

Look out for the statue of a bear nuzzling a madroño (strawberry tree) at the eastern end of the Plaza de la Puerta del Sol; this is the official symbol…

4. Casa Museo de Ratón Perez

0.07 MILES

The Spanish version of the tooth fairy is a cute little mouse called 'El Ratón Perez', and this small museum close to Sol takes you into a recreation of…

5. Palacio Gaviria

0.08 MILES

Until recently this 19th-century Italianate palace was a nightclub. It has since been artfully converted to a dynamic artistic space, with major temporary…

7. Iglesia de San Ginés

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Due north of Plaza Mayor, San Ginés is one of Madrid’s oldest churches: it has been here in one form or another since at least the 14th century. What you…

8. Convento de las Descalzas Reales

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The grim plateresque walls of the Convento de las Descalzas Reales offer no hint that behind the facade lies a sumptuous stronghold of the faith. The…

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      "country": "Spain",
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