Fuencarral Street is very well known for its alternative shops. If you keep heading up Calle Fuencarral from Gran Vía, on the right, you'll come to the gay neighbourhood Chueca and, on the left, Malasaña, the centre of the so-called "Movida Madrileña" of the 1970s and 1980s and today still an area with a lively atmosphere.
If you keep going up it, you'll come the Fuencarral Market, between Calle Augusto Figueroa and Calle Hernán Cortés. It is considered the Madrid Camdem and in it you'll find all kinds of first- and second-hand clothes and accessories.
Fashion victims can explore Chueca from here and reach Calle Almirante. It is known as the Soho of Madrid and is filled with avant-garde shops and Spanish fashion.
For a coffee, continue heading up Calle Fuencarral and go deeper into Malasaña. Highly recommended is Café Maravillas in Plaza 2 de Mayo or Happy Day Bakery Coffee on Calle Espíritu Santo 11. The first is more authentic, though the second is very interesting too.
If reach the end of Fuencarral, in Glorieta de Bilbao, you can go to Café Comercial for a coffee. The oldest coffee shop in Madrid, literary gatherings were held here in the post-war period.
Set aside 2-3 hours for this stroll, depending on the amount of shopping you plan to do.
To return to the hotel, take the metro from the Bilbao stop (L1 and L4) or from Tribunal (L1 and L10).
