Among the 21 districts in the Spanish capital city, the majority of urban art decorations belong to the center. Urvanity Art and other public/private projects collaborate with the local art industry. As a matter of fact, the number of painted walls is considerably increasing in the past few years. Thus we wanted to share with you a self guided street tour.
Join now a walking experience that will let you discover the most talented and skillful national and international contemporary art artists. Moreover, we’ll bring you detailed information about each of them.
These are the two routes that we’d suggest you to follow in order to photograph the urban idiosyncrasy, it’s murals and the madrileños daily life (referring to those born & raised in the city):
Where should I head for an alternative street tour around Embajadores area?
First of all, let’s discover one of the most multicultural neighborhoods in the city. There exists a strong and united community. On this proposed street tour you’ll observe nationalities from all over the world: Indian, Senegalese, Moroccan, South Americans and Spaniards, of course!
The district breathes an international flavor through every corner. Furthermore, you could taste those spices at any of the restaurants and grocery stores around Calle Lavapiés.
However, that’s not all. The neighborhood turned from a tricky district into a hipster and cool area. Typical Spanish taberns, tasty coffee shops and bakeries fill up the gastronomy options for alternative travellers.
The atmosphere in the place is varied. Young people, expats, migrants and artists mix in its streets. There are latin barber shops, bike stores, organic bulk supermarkets, urban gardens, socio-cultural centers, museums and contemporary art galleries.
Above all, you’ll enjoy walking around the streets without any specific direction. Take a short break by the time you see a terrace and enjoy the moment.
The best urban art walls in Lavapiés
In case you are interested in exploring the most amazing murals in the city center, these are the stops you shouldn’t miss:
- Casino de la Reina. This park is located next to the Official Language School in Calle Embajadores, 70. The artist who painted the name “Lavapiés” in the whole facade is Ben Eine. This famous British contemporary art artist paints circle like letters that you’ll easily recognize when travelling around the UK.
- Calle Tribulete. Urvanity art wall project allowed the French graffiti writer Pro176 to paint his cubism style figures. This alley is located next to Mercado de San Fernando, a traditional food market in Embajadores district.
- Calle Embajadores, 21. Two renowned artists decorated this little corner close to El Rastro, the biggest & most famous flea market in town. D*Face and Nicolas Romero contributed to embellish Madrid city walls.
Not to be missed spots in the neighborhood
In addition, Embajadores district offers the possibility to discover the real Madrid lifestyle. Taking into consideration that Cooltourspain is a cultural and social project interested in revealing offbeat locations, we’d recommend you to visit:
- After visiting the three spots mentioned above, you should walk to Calle Doctor Fourquet. Contemporary art galleries feature the artworks of emergent talents.
- However, you should leave this street before visiting the most beautiful urban garden in town. Its name is Esta es una Plaza. It opens on sunny days and over the weekends. Don’t miss it!
- La Tabacalera is a former tobacco factory from the XIX century which turned in the early 2000’s into a self sustained cultural center. To us, it’s the graffiti mecca in town.
A street tour around Fuencarral & Chamberí districts
Malasaña is the next area that you should visit on your own. It’s officially known as Universidad. However, locals rarely use this term when pointing at this popular district.
Walking around Fuencarral and Chamberí will offer you the opportunity to observe the best urban art. This street tour might be the best example of how the public space could serve as a medium to express different realities. For instance, the social critique that artists use within their artworks.
Urvanity Art walls in the neighborhood
Secondly, let’s point at the specific addresses where to capture the best urban art in town. Again, it was thanks to Urvanity and Madrid city council that pedestrians could now observe the streets in a completely different way.
- Calle Fuencarral, 31. “About this town” is the mural that Artez painted in one of the most commercial & shopping areas in the city center. At this time, he painted books instead of clothing. The mural talks about the city of Madrid, a place where visitors from all around the globe are welcome to come and enjoy the vivid artistic and cultural content that it has to offer.
- Calle Augusto Figueroa, 16. Later, you’ll observe ‘Offset’, the artwork painted by Never Crew. These artists focus in the relationship between the human being and nature. For instance, this mural features six bears.
- Calle Covarrubias, 42. Alexey Luca (RU) painted the front part of a classic night club called ‘Sala Changó’. A perception game in which the artist requires the general audience to activate their imagination. Could you let us know what do you see?
Cooltourspain’s tips on how to take the most advantage from this street tour.
In conclusion, you should investigate before planning a street tour. Whether you do it walking or with a International Driving Permit Spain, you’ll enjoy it. Our website includes detailed information about where to go and what to visit.However, there are several websites that we would also recommend you to check. For instance,
- Madrid No Frills, daily feed about offbeat spots that you shouldn’t miss in town.
- Madrid Low Cost, information about monthly events.
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