Puerta del Sol

Puerta del Sol is the square from which all distances in Spain are measured — kilometre zero is a slab in the pavement outside the old post office. Madrid gathers here on New Year's Eve to eat twelve grapes with the clock's twelve strokes.

Overview

The square was a city gate until the sixteenth century and has been the place things happen since: the 1808 uprising against Napoleon’s troops that Goya painted, the proclamation of the Second Republic in 1931, the 15-M protest camp of 2011. The clock on the old post office, now the regional government, sets the grape ritual that the whole country watches on television. The bear and strawberry tree statue is the city’s coat of arms in bronze.

Highlights

Stand on kilometre zero, take the photograph everyone takes, and then leave the square: it is a transit point rather than a destination. Walk five minutes south-west to Plaza Mayor or east to the Barrio de las Letras. Pickpocketing here is organised and constant; the square is where most visitors to Madrid lose a phone.

Overview

Highlights

Location