This grand square next to the Casa de Correos (Post Office Building) is a popular meeting place, suffused with meaning for both city and country. Nearly every Spanish person will recognise the clock at the top of the Casa de Correos, as this marks the televised countdown on New Year’s Eve. There’s a tricky ritual involved too: With every chime you’re supposed to eat a grape for good luck (12 in total). Also in the square the is El Oso y El Madroño statue, a symbol for Madrid since the Middle Ages.

If you’d like to get a sense of the city, a walk along the Gran Vía is a superb place to start. It’s Madrid’s entertainment, shopping and cultural nerve centre, a buzzing avenue often full of life until dawn. By day it throngs with shoppers stopping by the many malls, high-street stores like H&M and Zara and luxury boutiques. In the evenings there are couples arm-in-arm, stepping out to the cinema or a musical. And after dark the street pulses with many of Madrid’s top nightclubs. Sights to spot as you stroll include the vast Telefónica Building, built in 1928 and an early example of a skyscraper.

Another of Madrid’s “musts”, Plaza Mayor is a handsome renaissance square, laid out in the early-1600s and completely sequestered by historic three-storey-high residential buildings. There are nine entrances to the square and within the porticoes at the bottom of the buildings are several cafes. Order a coffee (overpriced but necessary because of the location!) at an outdoor table and watch Madrid in action for a few minutes. After that you could wander up to the 400-year-old bronze statue of King Philip III, who was in power at the height of the Spanish empire.

The Royal Palace of Madrid is the largest in Western Europe and one of the largest in the world. With over 135,000 square metres and 3,418 rooms, it has witnessed centuries of Spanish history. It is one of the few official seat of a Head of State that is open to the public. Almost 2 million visitors come every year to discover its rooms, works of art and treasures that are unique in the world.

The Santiago Bernabéu Stadium is a football stadium in Madrid, Spain. With a current seating capacity of 81,044, it has been the home stadium of Real Madrid since its completion in 1947. It is the 2nd-largest stadium in Spain and the largest in the Community of Madrid. The Santiago Bernabéu is one of the world’s most famous football venues. It has hosted the final of the European Cup/UEFA Champions League on four occasions: in 1957, 1969, 1980, 2010. The final matches for the 1964 European Nations’ Cup and the 1982 FIFA World Cup, were also held at the Bernabéu, making it the first stadium in Europe to host both a UEFA Euro final and a FIFA World Cup final.

Plaza de Cibeles is a square in Madrid’s city center at the intersection of the Paseo del Prado and Calle Alcalá, and has become one of the most emblematic symbols of Spain’s capital city.The square is dominated by a magnificent fountain and flanked by impressive and iconic buildings dating from the end of the eighteenth up to the twentieth century. The fountain of Cybele was designed by the architect Ventura Rodríguez in 1782. It represents Cybele, the Greek goddess who is depicted sitting on a lion-drawn carriage. In the beginning, the fountain supplied water to the citizens of Madrid and in 1895, it was moved to the centre of Plaza de Cibeles and became a decorative element. As well as being one of Madrid’s most iconic symbols, the Cibeles Fountain has for many years been the location where Real Madrid, the renowned football club based in the capital, celebrates its victories. It is also where the National Spanish football and basketball teams celebrate their triumphs.