A palace with a ghost born in 1990, a goddess who switched teams, gold that left in the small hours, ashes that travelled for twenty-six years, a museum that was meant to be for science, paintings evacuated at fifteen kilometres an hour, a royal wedding, a royal favourite's palace and the afternoon of the 1886 cyclone.
The Paseo del Prado isn't a museum: it's a whole city in a single kilometre. You start at the Palacio de Linares and its legend, which is younger than many of the people who tell it, and at Cibeles, who belonged to Atlético before she belonged to Real Madrid. At the Bank of Spain, the gold left one night in 1936; on the boulevard, the old meadow of ladies and gallants that Charles III turned into a grand salon; in the Plaza de la Lealtad, ashes that took years to reach their urn. Outside the Prado Museum, the natural history cabinet that became a picture gallery, and the paintings that left in lorries during the war. You climb up to the Jerónimos, where Alfonso XIII was married, and on to the Salón de Reinos and the Casón, what's left of the Buen Retiro palace, and of the afternoon in 1886 when a cyclone felled the Prado. You finish at the gates of the Retiro, on the day the royal site came to belong to the people of Madrid.
An outline of the walk. The full stories are in the app.
Open a marker to see its page. Use two fingers to move the map on mobile.
Walking directions are based on mapped pedestrian routes. Check local access and signs; the route is not an accessibility guarantee. Times are approximate.
Madrid makes sense square by square. Leave room for a terrace, an unexpected slope and a proper break when the sunshine gets strong.
You start beside the Bear and the Strawberry Tree and find out how a crossroads worth less than the Plaza Mayor became the point from which Spain's roads are measured: a clock that replaced a bell, a post office with a guardroom where the staircase should have been, the afternoon of the Mamelukes in 1808 and the Kilometre Zero plaque.
The Gran Vía was sung about before it was built.
In just a few blocks, the most famous writers in the Spanish language lived, loathed each other and were buried.
An app for self-guided audio walks. Choose a city and a route, then listen to the stories behind its streets. You decide when to start and when to stop.
Podtour is coming to iOS and Android. There is no confirmed launch date yet. Join the waitlist and we will let you know when it is ready.
No. Street walks and monument audio tours do not include admission tickets, transport or a guide accompanying you.
Download the audio in the app before heading out, then listen offline. Loading the online base map and calculating a new route from your location require a connection.
Every route includes Spanish and British English. The English version is adapted for English-speaking travellers, rather than translated word for word.
Join the waitlist, choose a city and confirm your email address. When the app launches, we will email you with access details. No card is required. You can also try one free route in every city.
Yes. Your own access is included and you can choose 0–5 guests: up to 6 people including you. Each guest saves up to €0.50 on a walk, €1 on a pack or €2 on a whole city compared with buying separately. The counter shows the total before you confirm one payment.
After paying, share your purchase’s invitation link. Each guest opens it in Podtour and accepts their place on their own iPhone or Android phone. They must redeem it within 30 days of purchase. Unclaimed places then expire and cannot be recovered or renewed. Access accepted in time is kept. Opening the link does not use a place; one account takes just one place, and no more people can join once all places are taken.
No. Choose all your guests before confirming the first purchase. Afterwards you can share the places you paid for, but you cannot increase their number or restart the 30-day deadline.
Join the waitlist. When we launch, your chosen city is yours to explore.
Join the waitlist and get one whole city free when Podtour launches. You choose where.
Podtour manages your launch request with your consent. You can withdraw it and exercise your rights as explained in our privacy policy. Privacy details.
One city per person. All its Podtour routes in Spanish and English. Available at launch. Offer details.
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