Gran Vía

Madrid's Broadway — a mile and a half of Beaux-Arts and Art Deco towers built between 1910 and 1929, now lined with theatres, flagship stores, and the neon of the Schweppes and Metrópolis buildings. Cut through in a straight line specifically to modernise a city of medieval alleys.

The Edificio Metrópolis at the Alcalá end and the Edificio Telefónica midway are the two most photographed buildings — both are best seen from across the street rather than directly underneath, where the angle flattens the architecture. Gran Vía's theatres run Madrid's own long-running musical productions, a smaller-scale echo of London's West End, with same-day discount tickets often available at the kiosk on Plaza del Callao. Traffic was cut to buses and taxis on the central stretch, making the wide pavements genuinely pleasant to walk.