Bookstores on the Cuesta de Moyano

Next to the Royal Botanical Garden, connecting the Glorieta de Carlos V and El Retiro Park, lies this pedestrian walkway known as 'Cuesta de Moyano,' lined with a permanent market of secondhand booksellers' stalls, some of which are over a century old. On January 14, 2026, the Community of Madrid declared it an Asset of Cultural Interest in the Intangible Heritage category. Open every day of the week! The fair originated in 1925, when a row of wooden stalls, each about 15 square meters, was set up. At the time, these stalls had no electricity or heating, and books could be bought for a mere 15 cents. This is why the writer Ramón Gómez de la Serna called it the "Anchovy Fair," referring to the price of a snack. In recent years, the Cuesta de Moyano, considered by writer Francisco Umbral to be the most read street in Madrid, has undergone a renovation process that included pedestrianization and the creation of a bike lane, further encouraging strolling through the area. As for the booths, they were replaced with others offering greater comfort, although similar in appearance to the originals. At the top of the hill stands the statue of a illustrious figure in Spanish literature, the writer Pío Baroja, one of the promoters of this fair. At the end of the road is the sculpture of Claudio Moyano, a Spanish politician who passed one of the most important education laws in Spain, the so-called Moyano Law, which remained in effect for over 100 years. Currently, 30 booths coexist, run by the children or grandchildren of the fair's founders (since September 2023, booths 7, 18, and 23, which had been closed for a decade, have reopened with the arrival of five new booksellers). They offer a wide variety of books, from philosophy, literature, and art to essays and even bought and sold copies. Furthermore, you can find real curiosities, such as out-of-print books or vintage comics. La Cuesta de Moyano has been, and still is, a place frequented by important cultural figures and appears in numerous works of Spanish literature.