Filming locations in Madrid

Madrid played the targets of television's most-watched heist, and the thrill of visiting is that the real buildings stand right out in the open, on broad boulevards in the museum district, easy to fold into a day of tapas and galleries. Money Heist built its tension around two grand institutions, and while the dramatic interiors were sets, the exteriors are genuine and very much there, hidden in plain sight on streets you can simply walk.

The first job in the series unfolds at the Royal Mint, which on screen is really the headquarters of Spain's national research council, the CSIC, on Calle Serrano. It is a working institution, so this is an exterior-only photo stop from the public pavement rather than a building to go inside. Treat it as one beat in a walk through the elegant Salamanca district, with the National Archaeological Museum a short stroll south.

The crew's second and even bolder target is the Bank of Spain, the Banco de España, whose monumental corner facade on Plaza de Cibeles recurs throughout the show. Again the interiors were a built set, but the exterior is the real central bank, and the best vantage is from across the plaza, one of Madrid's grandest junctions. The building anchors a square that is worth lingering over in its own right.

These are quick stops by design, so the smart move is to thread them through the city rather than make a special trip of each. From Cibeles you can climb the rooftop terrace of the Cibeles Palace opposite for the view down over the junction, then walk east to the Prado and the green sprawl of Retiro Park. Madrid is at its best on foot and after dark, when the boulevards light up and the tapas bars fill, so save the heist trail for an unhurried afternoon.