Street Art Guide Madrid | 6 tour routes - Where to find and discover murals, urban art & graffiti in Madrid

... on the street Calle de la Sierpe you will find the first mural, surrounded by several works of urban art just a few metres away. You can always have a look at the map - by following the routes and turning your head, looking everywhere, you won't miss any of the artworks, for example along c/ del Ángel and c/ del Águila. Crossing Gran Vía de San Francisco, you will come across the Real Basílica de San Francisco el Grande, a church with the third largest dome in the world and an emblematic monument of Madrid. Walking down the stairs through the park and green areas, we reach Ronda de Segovia which houses two huge murals. From there you proceed eastwards, passing the Puerta de Toledo, where a few metres away there is a campus of the Carlos III University with a mural by Vhils. Walking up the streets of El Rastro, past the small flea market and second-hand shops, various cafés, restaurants, beer and vermouth bars, lively corners such as Calle de Santa Ana with pixelated nean mosaic artworks and painted murals, we reach Plaza de Cascorro. It can be considered the heart of the neighbourhoods of La Latina and Lavapiés, where street musicians, performing Flamenco songs, entertain the public while tasting beers and tapas, meeting friends on the wide sunny terraces in the evenings. This place and the surrounding area represents a multicultural and traditional mix. This is also true of the murals and other works of urban art that regularly appear and disappear in this area. Walking down Calle de Embajadores, you can see several huge murals curated by Urvanity Art, an annual contemporary art fair and festival with a strong focus on street art, as well as the shop Los Artistas del Barrio which offers screen prints and original works by local artists, and Ghetto Shop - a graffiti shop. Passing through the maze of streets of Lavapiés, an alternative and multi-ethnic neighbourhood, through Parque Casino de la Reina, pass Glorieta Embajadores, CSA La Tabacalera - an artistic social centre with a mural project on the inside - El Keller and various art & dance workshops etc., we walk into Calle de Miguel Servet. Here we come across Swinton Gallery and Librería Grant, specialised cultural spaces of reference. Don't miss them. They also have a strong focus on urban art, work with and support the scene directly and it is also necessary to mention that Goyo Villasevil from Swinton Gallery has written the prologue of our book STREET ART GUIDE MADRID, on which this online guide is based. On the same street, Muros Tabacalera, Madrid Street Art Project and Promoción del Arte have worked with several national and international artists, painting the external walls of the old tobacco factory. A genuine art gallery in public space, with the works incorporated into existing surfaces that act as concrete frames, transforming the grey into vivid colours. The areas to the south and north of Ronda de Atocha are home to famous museums, galleries and art spaces such as La Casa Encendida, Teatro Circo Price, Museo Reina Sofía, Delimbo or Sala Caracol. The route takes us through this area, to the Arganzuela neighbourhood with artworks close to the Delicias metro station, and through the Estación del Arte metro stop in front of the AVE - Atocha train station. Here we enter Lavapiés again via Calle de Argumosa, the so-called Bulevár de Lavapiés, passing by Esto es una Plaza - a self-managed site with impressive facades painted by artists such as BLU, ROA and ZETA1970. Up Calles del Salitre and Santa Isabel, we reach the neighbourhood Barrio de las Letras - Huertas. Its proximity to the Retiro Park, the Prado Museum, Caixaforum, Thyssen-Bornemisza and the congress - Congreso de los Diputados, make it a neighbourhood a bit better known to tourists, but definitely not less interesting. Here the nightlife, restaurants, bars and small shops specialising in crafts & arts and the many people passing through the narrow streets make it ideal for urban artists, who want to leave their art pieces in places with good visibility. Near Plaza Santa Ana, our route turns southwest, via Anton Martín, Tirso de Molina and the area of Madrid de los Austrias, close to Plaza Mayor. From there we return to our starting point / destination: La Latina via Plaza Paja and Calle de la Cava Baja, having a pincho / tapas and a glass of beer or wine.

... c/ del Arenal towards Plaza de Isabel II, Metro Ópera, home to the opera / Royal Theatre. We are in a very traditional neighbourhood, just a few metres from the Royal Palace. On the way to Plaza de Santo Domingo with its many cafés and bookshops, we pass by a heart painted by El Rey de la Ruina. Back in the Puerta del Sol area, in the alleyway Pasaje de la Caja de Ahorros, is a mural by Case Maclaim, painted at Urvanity Art's UVNT Art Fair, which takes place every February and is focused on promoting new contemporary art. The infamous Calle de la Montera, which leads to Gran Vía, is home to a trompe l'oeil and a tag by the famous graffiti artist Muelle, a pioneer of graffiti in Spain and an icon of the Movida Madrileña in the 1980s. We cross the commercial street Gran Vía, famous for its shops, cinemas, theatres, musical shows, lights like the Schweppes sign in Callao, its skyscrapers and other ornate tall buildings. We pass the Telefónica building and walk up Calle de Valverde. In Madrid not only firewalls are painted, but also premises of bars and discotheques and especially the shutters of many shops. The Ya'sta Club has invited Dourone to give colour to its façade. On Calle de Fuencarral there are several huge vertical artworks by artists such as Artez, Helen Bur - commemorating the deceased artist Hyuro and the artwork's author's mother, and also by Jorge R. Gerada, all painted for Urvanity Walls and others such as Ricardo Cavolo. Up the street to our right is Chueca, a very colourful neighbourhood, not only for its street art, the Chueca Market and the square with its many terraces, but above all for its pride in being a LGBTQI+ friendly neighbourhood, being very open and fun. The Bear and the Strawberry Tree are the best known symbol of Madrid, present in the city flag, in the heraldic arms of the city and in the famous statue in Sól. The urban art collective Nevercrew also features this symbol on Augusto Figueroa street. Near Plaza de Santa Bárbara, Alonso Martinez and the Barceló Market, on Calle Hortaleza there is a work by Boamistura advocating for the environment with the phrase 'Accepting the world, you begin to change it'. We are now in the Malasaña neighbourhood, known for its nightlife and numerous bars, clubs, shops and restaurants. A well-known neighbourhood, alternative, hipster, more and more commercial, but still the one with the most young life present in its streets. Around Tribunal, the streets of La Palma, San Andrés, Espíritu Santo, Velarde, Plaza Dos de Mayo, Corredera Baja de San Pablo, Calle del Pez and others to the west, there are countless murals and artistic interventions. Crossing the Calle de San Bernardo, we reach the newly remodelled Plaza de España, with the Edificio España, the Torre de Madrid and the Monument to Miguel de Cervantes. Nearby we climb up a hill via stairs and reach small alleys that lead us to the area of the Centro de Cultura Contemporánea Condeduque. There are a lot of bars and restaurants, graffiti and street art. Our tour ends with a walk through the Calle de la Palma area towards the Metro Bilbao station.

... Urvanity Art, Ruarts Gallery and Madrid Street Art Project (c/ de Covarrubias, 42, 28010). Around Calle de Santa Engracia, one of the district's main streets, there are many trees and green areas such as the round Plaza de Olavide. We pass the Glorieta de Quevedo and Calle de Fernando el Católico, going west, and up Guzmán el Bueno, we then cross the wide Calle Cea Bermúdez where on the corner with Avenida de Filipinas there is a school with a mural by the Brazilian artist Cranio. Heading east again, we see the Estadio Vallehermoso and the Parque de Santander - green sports areas - and we reach the area of Nuevos Ministerios. On a tall building there is a wall painted by David Navascues, which has been there since 1999, one of the oldest murals of Madrid in contemporary context. If we continue walking north, either through the AZCA area with its skyscrapers such as the Torre de Picasso, past Real Madrid's Santiago Bernabeu Stadium, or through Cuatro Caminos, we reach the district of Tetuán. It is a multicultural neighbourhood, heavily influenced by Latino culture. Here you can find fresh fruit and vegetables such as avocados, plantains, yucca and others at unbeatable prices, Latin American condiments and, above all, you will notice that there is a lot of life in the streets. On Plaza del Poeta Leopoldo Luís, SUSO33 has painted one of his biggest works in the city, curated by Madrid Paisaje Urbano. The square was the site of the Dominican culture festival Transitando Fusión España for which several artists of Dominican origin left their colourful traces on the walls, among them Willgom, Eddaviel, Gerson Rodriguez. Not far from here, the artists GVIIIE, ZON, Dingoperromudo, El Rey de la Ruina (Ruina R64) and Krishna Estruel also painted. The aforementioned urban art festival Madrid Paisaje Urbano, with the aim of bringing art to neighbourhoods and corners that previously did not have interventions in public space, invited several artists to express themselves in Tetuán in 2013. In and around Marqués de Viana street there are still several immense works by artists such as Borondo, E1000 and Spy. We are close to Plaza Castilla with its inclined Puerta de Europa towers, but we continue in the other direction to the northwest, crossing the Parque Agustín Rodríguez Sahagún to the neighbourhood of El Pilar, where we find the last mural of this route, a work by Taquen. We return via the metro station on line 7, Peñagrande.

... Its offices are home to impressive murals by Felipe Pantone, Daniel Muñoz 'San' and Okuda San Miguel. Walking east, we reach the San Cristobal de Los Ángeles neighbourhood. Huge buildings with innumerable flats and storeys meet old factory remnants with chimneys and typical daily neighbourhood life, with small local shops, bars, schools and so on. The festival CIRCULAR carried out by Madrid Street Art Project has brought numerous public art interventions to the streets of this area of Madrid. There is also a mural by Sonia Delgado. Under the bridge between Gran Vía de Villaverde and Avenida de Andalucía there is an intervention by Boamistura. We return to Villaverde Alto. Walking along the Parque de los Pikos, we reach Calle Lenguas with a huge mural by SAM3. In the centre of Villaverde Alto there are several statues and four important murals by Escif, Aryz and Liqen. These works have been developed under the programme Madrid Paisaje Urbano. From here we return to our starting point, the metro and suburban train station Villaverde Alto.

... displaying the past of the railway system, curated by Compartiendo Muros and Take Art Way. The Voltio festival has left its mark with two works by E3 and E1000 in Calle de Aguilón. Further south we reach Madrid Río, an extensive green area where the city has made two motorway lanes disappear into the ground, and turned the land into a park for everyone with the Manzanares River in the centre. Sports and leisure areas attract Madrileños every day. Next to the newly built shopping centre is a wall with a giant work by Okuda San Miguel, on a wall where until 2020 there was a mural by the Italian artist BLU which one day was suddenly removed and painted white. Not far from there is a mural by SAM3 - curated like the former BLU artwork by Oficina de Gestión de Muros. Through the streets Matilde Gayo and Mirasierra we continue walking to the neighbourhood of Usera, known for being a multicultural neighbourhood and above all influenced by the Chinese culture. If there is a real Chinatown in Madrid, it is in Usera. On the corner of Juan Español and Gabriel Usera streets there are murals by Laguna626, Spok Brillor, GVIIIE and Sue975. Near the Plaza Elíptica interchange there is a tower painted by 3ttman. Now we are heading towards the Carabanchel neighbourhood. Near the Oporto metro station we see a work by Zecarrion, further along close to the Carpetana metro station we see interventions by Koctel, Sabek and J.M.Yes in Calle de Albentosa. Our route returns to the Madrid Rio area, but first we pass by a work by JORGE RODRIGUEZ-GERADA, near the Urgel metro station, by GVIIIE in front of Marqués de Vadillo. Again we enjoy the green areas of the river, we walk past the Centro Cultural Casa de Reloj, the contemporary art centre Matadero Madrid and we finish this walk at the metro and cercanías station Legazpi.

... and interventions on its outside walls and inside. Here and on the basketball courts under the bridge of Pacífico, you will find several works, among others by Zecarrion. Below the bridge Puente de Vallecas, below Avenida de la Paz, we encounter the first public intervention in the neighbourhood of Vallecas developed under the programme Compartiendo Muros, by CYOP&KAF. On the self-organised space PVA Sputnik Vallekas you find painted walls by several artists, also with social themes, among others by MURALESLIAN. On Plaza de Puerto Rúbio there are two works entitled 'The Rapture in Madrid' by JAZ. Sten Lex have painted a facade on Avenida de la Albufera. We walk along the Cerro del Tío Pío, also known as the Siete Tetas park with its wonderful views over the city and head south where the Rayo Vallecano stadium is located. Close to Asamblea de Madrid we find a mural by BEAR TCK, NEWS, RHAX, COSTRA RAP - THECRIMEKINGS-TCK and one by EL REY DE LA RUINA. In Portazgo, close to Plaza de la Constitución there is a mural by BELIN. We continue walking east to the historic centre of Vallecas with interventions by DEM, PELUCAS BUBBLES, MIGUEL PERALTA (NÓMADA) and SIXE PAREDES. The youth centre El Sitio de mi Recreo is our last stop on this urban art trail. Many local artists have painted its interior and exterior walls but also the Colombian street artist TOXICÓMANO CALLEJERO. To return you can take the metro (Villa de Vallecas) or cercanías (Vallecas).