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Morning
Plaza Mayor at opening hours. Madrid's 17th-century parade ground is a different place at 8am — empty arcades, café con leche under the frescoes of the Casa de la Panadería.
Kilómetro Cero & the Oso y Madroño. The two obligatory photos — the zero-kilometre plaque and the bear-and-strawberry-tree statue — are 40 metres apart.
Afternoon
The Austrias loop — 2.5 km · 1.5 h. Sol → Plaza Mayor → Plaza de la Villa → Calle Mayor to the Almudena cathedral and Palacio Real, returning via the Ópera arcades. The whole Habsburg city in one flat loop.
Mercado de San Miguel. The wrought-iron gourmet market beside Plaza Mayor: expensive but gorgeous. Go for one vermut and one tapa, then eat properly elsewhere.
Evening
Chocolatería San Ginés. Churros con chocolate since 1894, open around the clock — the classic end to a Madrid night out, at 6am, before bed.
Sleeping here? First-timers should aim for the block between Sol and Plaza Mayor — everything on foot, taxis unnecessary. The streets toward Gran Vía (Preciados, Carmen) are commercial and bright; the lanes south toward Plaza Santa Cruz are older, quieter and better value. Light sleepers should ask for interior rooms everywhere in this barrio, no exceptions.
Questions, answered
Where to sleep: Sol
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