Plaza de España

A historic square reopened in 2021 after a major pedestrian-friendly renovation, still centered on its grand monument to Miguel de Cervantes, Don Quixote, and Sancho Panza.

The square that used to be a roundabout

For most of the last century, Plaza de España was a place you crossed rather than a place you stopped. Madrid’s largest square by area had a monument marooned at its centre, four lanes of traffic circling it, and pedestrians confined to the edges. The two-and-a-half-year rebuild that ended in November 2021 inverted that completely: through-traffic now runs in an underground tunnel linking Calle de Bailén and Calle de Ferraz, and the 70,000 square metres above it are a pedestrian park with more than a thousand newly planted trees.

The redesign came from Porras Guadiana Arquitectos, and the square reopened to the public on 22 November 2021. The change is not cosmetic. Noise dropped, the crossings disappeared, and the square finally connects on foot to the green corridor running through the Sabatini Gardens, Campo del Moro, Casa de Campo and Madrid Río. If you visited Madrid before 2019 and remember this square as an obstacle, it is worth walking back through it.

Everything is free, open around the clock, and fully step-free — level paths throughout, with no traffic to cross now that it has been buried.

Cervantes in stone, Quixote and Sancho in bronze

The one element the renovation left alone is the monument to Miguel de Cervantes, inaugurated in 1930. Architects Rafael Martínez Zapatero and Pedro Muguruza designed the stone structure; Lorenzo Coullaut Valera did the sculptural work. The seated figure of Cervantes presides from above, but the bronzes that everyone photographs are lower down: Don Quixote on horseback and Sancho Panza on his donkey, at eye level and within arm’s reach.

It is the obvious pilgrimage stop for anyone tracing Cervantes through the city, and it pairs naturally with a walk through the Barrio de las Letras, the quarter east of Sol where Cervantes actually lived, died and was buried.

Two 1950s towers looking down on it

The skyline above the square belongs to the Edificio España (1953) and the Torre de Madrid (1957), both raised during the Franco era as statements of national ambition and both still the tallest things in sight. They give the square a curious double character: a 1930s literary monument at ground level, mid-century concrete ambition overhead.

For photographs, stand on the eastern side of the monument and shoot west. That single frame gets Cervantes, the two bronzes and both towers. Late afternoon is when the west-facing facades light up and the gardens look their warmest; midday light flattens everything.

Where the new paths actually go

The most useful thing the renovation added is not the lawn, it is the walking route. Pedestrian paths now run from the square down toward the Royal Palace grounds via the Sabatini Gardens, which is quieter and considerably more scenic than the street route along Bailén. Most visitors never realise the connection exists and walk the pavements instead.

In the other direction, Gran Vía begins at the square’s eastern edge, so this works as either the start or the finish of that avenue. Ten minutes north-west through Parque del Oeste puts you at the Temple of Debod in time for what is generally agreed to be the best sunset viewpoint in central Madrid — which makes late afternoon here, then Debod at dusk, a sequence that works almost every day of the year.

Timing, shade and the December ice rink

Thirty to forty-five minutes covers the monument and a lap of the gardens; budget more if you continue on the linked paths toward the palace. There is no booking, no ticket and no dress code, and the square’s sheer scale means it never feels as compressed as Puerta del Sol or Plaza Mayor even on a busy weekend afternoon. Early morning is quietest; weekend afternoons and any seasonal event are the peak.

The added tree cover makes this one of the more bearable central squares in summer heat, though the honest caveat is that the trees are young and cast less shade than they will in a decade — a hat is still sensible at midday in July. Spring and early summer are when the planting looks best. In the weeks around Christmas an ice rink sometimes appears on the square, which is worth checking if you are here in December.

There is a café near the Cervantes monument, but nothing you need to spend money on. For a proper drink or a cheap plate, the casual bars along Calle de Ferraz just off the square are the unpretentious option; alternatively pick up supplies and eat them in the park around Debod with the city spread out below.

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