“You know, the street with all the prostitutes.”
You’ll hear this pretty frequently from study abroad students giving directions to somewhere. It’s Calle de la montera they’re referring to.
It is one of the only (maybe the only) street whose name I actually knew, because I hated calling it “prostitute street” like so many of my classmates, it’s degrading to the women working there. But to be honest, it is a wildly accurate description.
A lot of newbies to the city are startled by how packed with working girls this street is in the evenings, but in reality, this is one of the safest streets in the city to be alone on, because it is so heavily patrolled by police, which is kind of the point of this post.

As shocking as open and obvious sex work can be to an American abroad, its part and parcel on this particular street in Madrid. The locals don’t even seem to notice, and in time it does become just a part of the city’s scene. No need to be surprised, any feeling beyond that, you’re welcome to keep it to yourself as far as the madrileños are concerned.

If you are ever walking alone in the evenings– whether late, late in the AMs going home from a club or earlier– perhaps returning to Puerta del Sol from dinner– I would recommend taking this street lined with sex workers.
There are bright lights, a patrol car rolling through probably once every 15 minutes, and generally other people using the street for the same reason as you- its safety. In all my time there I think I saw maybe two transactions happen, and obviously nothing actually happens on the street.

So, like I said, this post is to point out the street’s safety, especially if you’re walking alone and not looking to get robbed on one of the more winding roads leading from Gran Via (one of, if not the busiest street) to Puerta del Sol (the most popular square in the city). Some of the girls from more conservative/traditional backgrounds had a hard time with this calle, but its just part of Madrid. Perhaps its unsavory, but it may keep you from being robbed at 4AM, so suck it up and just keep walking. They’re just ladies who have no intention of bothering you if you don’t bother them.

This post is directly in contrast to this TripAdvisor thread: https://www.tripadvisor.com

P.S. Actually, now that I’m thinking about it, I remembered something.

I am a ridiculous Texan who says excuse me to people who bump into me on busy city streets. My best friend told me Madrid would break me of that but it didn’t. I also smile pretty much all the time, especially if I look at someone.
Once, walking to an early drink and tapas in Malasaña (just past Gran Via) and I met eyes with one of the women. I was smiling without thinking, and she smiled back.
This surprised me, because madrileños don’t smile at people they don’t know (and even then its rare).
I realized she’d probably done so because a lot of the girls are South American immigrants. I wouldn’t be surprised if some of them had to take up their work because of lost jobs due to Spain’s economy bottoming out, and so much of the population losing their jobs.
She was one of the only people to smile at me my whole time there.