The city with a soul
Every street hides stories — literary, musical, centuries old — that stay invisible until someone tells you about them. MUSA whispers them in your ear, right where you're standing.
21 cities · 1,396 places · 17 languages
iPhone · free to start · Android coming soon
See the city through literature:
Today: Café Gijón, Madrid's last great literary café, open since 1888.
Today: the chapel where Goya painted his boldest dome, and where he has rested since 1919.
Today: Sala El Sol, the surviving temple of the Movida, with live music since 1979.
Today: the Cine Doré, a modernist jewel from 1912 that is now home to the Filmoteca Española.
Today: the Puerta del Sol, Spain's Kilometre Zero.
Today: the dome of the Edificio Metrópolis, with its winged Victory.
Today: Sobrino de Botín, the oldest restaurant in the world still in business, its wood-fired oven burning since 1725.
Today: the Frontón Beti Jai, from 1894, which Madrid very nearly lost.
Today: the Basílica de Jesús de Medinaceli, the Christ Madrid ransomed from Morocco.
The soul
Every place has its own script, and nearly every one is told by a voice with a point of view: 1,360 of the 1,396 in Spanish, and 892 in English too. Press play and wander through the Village for a minute.
What it is
They bring out the hidden stories: what happened here, who lived over there, what was written at that table.
An expert in exactly what you're obsessed with, talking to you as you stroll.
The works aren't behind glass: they're where it all happened. The street is the museum.
The difference
Google Maps organises the city around eating, shopping and sleeping: businesses and services.
MUSA indexes what each corner means — houses, tombs, stages, venues — filtered by what matters to you.
Nine passions
Literary Madrid isn't musical Madrid, or historical Madrid. Tap a passion and watch what lights up.
In all, 208 places for this passion across MUSA's 21 cities.
In all, 345 places for this passion across MUSA's 21 cities.
In all, 201 places for this passion across MUSA's 21 cities.
In all, 143 places for this passion across MUSA's 21 cities.
In all, 920 places for this passion across MUSA's 21 cities.
In all, 623 places for this passion across MUSA's 21 cities.
In all, 193 places for this passion across MUSA's 21 cities.
In all, 120 places for this passion across MUSA's 21 cities.
In all, 271 places for this passion across MUSA's 21 cities.
How it works
01
The whole map rearranges itself around it: not services, but places that mean something.
02
Follow one of 182 narrated routes, or put your own together: tell MUSA how long you have and where to start.
03
Every place you visit earns its stamp. Add photos and notes, and your city becomes a collection.
Along the way
MUSA doesn't stop at a place's page: it gets you there, speaks up when you arrive, and keeps a record of what you found.
Pick a place and MUSA plots the walking route and hands it over to Apple Maps or Google Maps; for public transport, your maps app takes over. With “You'll pass by…” you see the places that match your passions along the way and add them as stops.
Put your phone away and walk: when you reach a place with a story, MUSA whispers it in your ear, even with the screen locked. It never stores or sends your route.
Send a city's notebook as a link — with the photos and notes you choose to include — or as an image ready to share. Photos are shared without their location, and you can take the link down whenever you like.
1,905 historical moments cover all 365 days of the year. Turn on notifications and MUSA tells you what happened in your city on this day. In Madrid and New York there's also a What's on guide to live events.
Tell MUSA what you're in the mood for, how long you have and where to start, and it plots a walk through the streets, with a lunch stop if you like. Want the whole plan? It can lay out your day too.
The app comes in 17 languages. Stories and routes are complete in 6 of them: Spanish, English, French, German, Portuguese and Italian. Narration is in Spanish and English.
Not just for tourists
A tourist finishes the route and leaves; someone who lives there never stops discovering the city. From “visiting a city once” to reading your city for life.
Madrid's great novelist dies in the city he portrayed like no one else. Every day of the year has its moments, and MUSA tells you about the ones that happened in your city.
Where
What your city keeps quiet, told in a whisper.
FAQ
No. You can use MUSA, and even subscribe, without creating an account. An account is optional: it saves your notebook in the cloud so it follows you to a new phone.
Free: all 1,396 places and their stories, most of them with narration, the map, your travel notebook, 2 narrated routes per city, MUSA in your pocket and the “On this day” notifications. Premium opens the other 140 narrated routes, custom routes, the day plan and “You'll pass by…”.
€4.99 a month with 7 days free, or €39.99 a year. No commitment: you manage the subscription in the App Store (Settings › your name › Subscriptions) and can cancel whenever you like. Cancel at least 24 hours before the trial ends and you won't be charged. The App Store shows the price in your own currency.
The app is in 17 languages. Stories and routes are complete in Spanish, English, French, German, Portuguese and Italian, and narration is in Spanish and English.
Partly. Places and routes are stored inside the app, in Spanish, and open even with no signal; in other languages the translation needs a connection. Voices, photos and street-by-street walking routes need one too.
21 cities: Madrid, New York, Paris, Córdoba, Seville, Rome, Barcelona, Valencia, Málaga, London, Dublin, Amsterdam, Prague, Budapest, Zagreb, Istanbul, Ankara, Miami, Orlando, Los Angeles, and Las Vegas. More are on the way.
Coming soon to Google Play. There's no date yet: for now MUSA is for iPhone only.
You can use MUSA anonymously, and your data is never sold. Location is only used if you allow it, and MUSA in your pocket does the matching on your phone itself: it never stores or sends your route. It's all spelled out in the privacy policy, and you can delete your account at any time.
Now on the App Store
Search for MUSA on the App Store. Free to start, no account needed.
Coming soon to Android
