Screen Tourism

Screen tourism, or film-induced tourism, is a form of cultural tourism that continues to attract more and more visitors and is becoming increasingly prominent among the experiences offered by different destinations. Our city provides numerous opportunities to enjoy this kind of experience.

Madrid is a city made for great stories. This has been evident for decades, boasting an exceptional cinematic heritage whose titles are part of the collective imagination and still captivate both domestic and international audiences. The city continues to prove its worth through the many films, series, music videos, television programmes and other audiovisual projects filmed in Madrid each year, which are shown at festivals, in cinemas and onstreaming platforms around the world.

Finding out where our favourite films were shot, connecting emotionally with a series by visiting its locations, picturing ourselves dancing like our favourite artist in the same place where their video was filmed, learning more about the creative processes that brought a work to life or simply discovering anecdotes and gossip about the people behind it all are some of the experiences that define screen tourism. On this page you’ll find a selection of screen tourism products and experiences available in Madrid, inviting both locals and visitors to see, discover and connect with the city through the audiovisual works created here.

Routes through Madrid

Madrid has been a privileged setting for countless films and television series, with an audiovisual industry that dates back to the early 20th century.

From the traditional cinema of Edgar Neville and the iconic films of Luis García Berlanga to the fresh vision of Pedro Almodóvar and the wild imagination of Álex de la Iglesia, as well as series such as Money Heist, Arde Madrid or ¡García!, the city and region of Madrid have been reflected in many of the most significant works of our film and television history. And not only in Spanish cinema: filmmakers such as David Lean, Orson Welles and Jules Dassin shot in Madrid during the 1950s and 1960s, when Hollywood found in Spain one of its favourite soundstages, and any local might have come across stars like Ava Gardner, Charlton Heston or Sophia Loren strolling through its streets. Directors such as Jim Jarmusch, Peter Greengrass and Tim Miller have continued to find in the city the perfect place to bring their works to life.

Through the following screen tourism routes created by the Madrid Film Office and the Tourism Department of Madrid City Council, we invite you to explore the city through its audiovisual heritage, discovering filming locations, places frequented by stars and anecdotes from some of the most emblematic films and series shot in Madrid.

Two of our latest routes are Concha Velasco’s Madrid and Sound Images of Madrid. A project by Gustavo Santaolalla. Concha Velasco is without doubt one of the most recognisable faces of Spanish cinema and one of our most important actresses. Through her films, one can take a journey across Spain over the past seven decades, with Madrid as the main setting for both her life and work. Composer, producer and musician Gustavo Santaolalla, winner of two Academy Awards for Brokeback Mountain (Ang Lee, 2005) and Babel (Alejandro González Iñárritu, 2006), has developed the project “Sound Images of Madrid”, created together with more than thirty film and music students from TAI University School of Arts, which the Madrid Film Office has featured in this route.

For those with a little more time, we also offer a series of informative guides on different themes, providing more detailed information about films shot in Madrid, their filming locations and the image of Madrid they convey. These guides also invite visitors to look closely at the city and discover some of the urban transformations Madrid has undergone over the past century.

And the routes aren’t just limited to the city! The Region of Madrid also offers several tours through the city and other municipalities in the area, a wonderful opportunity to discover Madrid through popular genres such as horror and Fantaterror, or the Hollywood blockbusters filmed here during the 1950s and 1960s.

esMADRIDmagazine

esMADRIDmagazine, the official tourism magazine of the Madrid City Council, invites readers every month to discover a remarkable location in the city that has served as the setting for some of the most notable productions filmed in Madrid. From the locations featured in classic films such as La gran familia (1962) and Carnival Sunday (1945) to the places where some of the most recent series like Valeria, García! and Money Heist have been shot, each month the magazine offers the chance to explore a new part of the city connected with its rich audiovisual heritage. All the suggested locations can be visited.

Here you can check the latest issues:

  • February 2026. Un escenario muy real: Plaza de Oriente. Pages 62-63.

And here you can download the compilations of articles from recent years:

  • Compilation of Articles 2025. Includes the Cuatro Torres Business Area, locations from The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon, Álex de la Iglesia’s Madrid, the Complutense University of Madrid, a view of Madrid from above, the Royal Site of El Pardo, cinema in the courtyards, the Ateneo de Madrid, the Santiago Bernabéu Stadium, the Fuente del Berro and the Puerta de Alcalá.
  • Compilation of Articles 2024. Includes Puerta del Sol, Matadero Madrid, a tribute to Concha Velasco’s Madrid, Adolfo Suárez Madrid-Barajas and Cuatro Vientos airports, the Glass Palace in El Retiro, El Rastro, the Círculo de Bellas Artes, the Madrid of the series Berlin, Lavapiés, the District of Usera and Atocha-Almudena Grandes Station.
  • Compilation of Articles 2023. Includes Paseo del Prado, Cuesta de Moyano, Gran Vía, Monumental Bridge of Arganzuela, Casa de Campo, the Royal Casino of Madrid, the neighbourhood of Malasaña, a tribute to Carlos Saura’s filming locations, the Railway Museum, the Palace of Fernán Núñez and the Prado Museum.
  • Compilation of Articles 2022. Includes Plaza Mayor, Callao and Gran Vía, Berlin Park, the Temple of Debod, the Vistillas Garden, the neighbourhood of La Latina, the meadow of San Isidro, the Monument to Alfonso XII (El Retiro Park) and Plaza de las Comendadoras. 

Map ‘Madrid, Almodóvar’s Girl’

The map Madrid, Almodóvar’s Girl, published by Ocho y Medio Libros de Cine with the sponsorship of Madrid Film Office, was designed as a collector’s item to accompany the exhibition of the same name held at the municipal gallery of the Conde Duque Cultural Centre between June and November 2024. The map can be purchased at the Librería Ocho y Medio, the shop of the Plaza Mayor Tourist Information Centre and other points of sale.

The map overlays the city plan of Madrid with its corresponding key, featuring 272 locations from the director’s 23 films, from Pepi, Luci, Bom and Other Girls on the Heap to Parallel Mothers, including the short film The Human Voice. It also includes notes and anecdotes, such as how Almodóvar used his own home as a set in Dark Habits, Law of Desire and Pain and Glory; iconic venues of the movida madrileña seen in Labyrinth of Passion and Bad Education; and filming locations for All About My Mother that stand in for Barcelona but were actually shot in Madrid.

 Book ‘Madrid through Film’

The book Madrid through Film, by lecturers and researchers Luis Deltell Escolar of the Complutense University of Madrid, and Agustín Gámir Orueta and Carlos Manuel Valdés of the Carlos III University of Madrid, explores the portrayal of the capital in cinema throughout more than 125 years of its history.

Published by Ediciones La Librería with the sponsorship of Madrid Film Office, the large-format, full-colour book spans 276 pages and includes a section highlighting Forty Films in Madrid and A Cartography of Madrid, offering a tour through the capital’s 21 districts with entries that allow readers to compare film stills with the current state of those urban spaces.

In addition, Madrid through Film features a chapter dedicated to some of the city’s distinctive spaces such as its corralas (traditional tenements built around a courtyard with shared balconies), railway stations, cemeteries and the iconic M-30 ring road. Ultimately, it provides an overview of the many perspectives through which cinema has portrayed the city, as well as the undeniable contribution that Madrid and its people have made to the world of film. The book can be purchased at La Librería, the shop of the Plaza Mayor Tourist Information Centre and other points of sale.

‘Madrid on Screen’ Walking Tour Programme

Every summer, the Madrid Film Office organises the ‘Madrid on Screen‘ walking tour programme. Between July and September, both locals and visitors can enjoy a variety of weekend guided walks through the city, inviting them to discover Madrid through the films and series shot there. The programme is part of the Madrid Film Office’s initiatives aimed at promoting screen tourism and showcasing the city’s audiovisual heritage, expanding the range of cultural activities and tourist experiences available in Madrid during the summer season.

In 2025, during its second edition, the programme offered 10 different routes throughout the summer. Returning from the previous edition were the tours devoted to the Madrid of Pedro Almodóvar, Álex de la Iglesia and Concha Velasco, as well as to Hollywood stars who have visited the city and the filming locations of contemporary series. In addition, five new routes were introduced, two of them focused on popular neighbourhoods of the city: Chamberí and Guindalera.

Guided tours and other experiences

Offered by associations and private companies:

In Madrid you can also find guided tours and other screen tourism experiences organised by associations and private companies. Discover what they have to offer!

El Madrid de Pedro Almodóvar
Carpetania Madrid

Un Madrid de cine
Carpetaria Madrid

Un paisaje de cine
Carpetaria Madrid

Tour de cine por los escenarios de series y películas
Civitatis

Madrid de Cine
Free Tour

Tour de Cine y Series
Todo Tour

Studies and Data on Screen Tourism

Screen Tourism in Madrid:

The study ‘Screen Tourism in Madrid: Approaching the Keys to a Future Subsector’, produced by the Autonomous University of Madrid, the Carlos III University of Madrid and the National Observatory of Outbound Tourism (ObservaTUR), with the sponsorship of the Madrid Film Office and presented in December 2024, highlights Madrid’s leadership and its enormous potential as a screen tourism destination. The purpose of the report, based on interviews with around twenty experts from both industries, is to deepen understanding of a relatively new yet constantly growing form of tourism, which according to UN Tourism attracts nearly 100 million people every year around the world. The document provides an overview of the current state of screen tourism in the city and region of Madrid, as well as various recommendations and action lines to foster public–private collaboration and boost the growth of this subsector in the capital.

Other studies:

In its Film Tourism Market Outlook (2023 to 2033) report, the firm Future Market Insights predicts that by 2032 the screen tourism market will exceed $118.6 million, with an annual growth rate of 5.9%, having reached a value of more than $66.9 million in 2023.

An American Express report on global travel trends in 2023 indicates that screen tourism, which it refers to as “Set-Jetting”, is a growing trend, with 64% of respondents (70% among Generation Z and Millennials) stating that they had been inspired to travel to destinations seen in films or series, and 61% saying they felt motivated to visit specific restaurants or shops after seeing them in a film or television programme.

According to another analysis by Expedia, published in November 2023, in the previous 12 months nearly 30% of travellers surveyed said that television programmes and films had become increasingly influential in shaping their travel decisions. In fact, the results show that television programmes are more appealing as travel inspiration than Instagram, Facebook or TikTok.

In a study presented in April 2018 by TCI Research, the consultancy estimated that 80 million travellers choose their destinations based on films and television series. The study revealed that the number of travellers who visit a destination after seeing it in a film or series has doubled in the past five years. Films and series, but also advertisements, music videos, television programmes and other audiovisual productions, project the image of the city both nationally and internationally, showcasing Madrid’s spaces and lifestyle to the world and serving as a powerful platform for tourism promotion. At times, the image of Madrid in cinema and television can even become one of the main reasons people choose to visit the city.

News about screen tourism and
filming locations in Madrid