Parks & Gardens in Madrid
Retiro, Sabatini, Casa de Campo and more — where Madrid goes to breathe.
must seeEl Retiro Park (Parque del Buen Retiro)
A 350-acre royal park with a rowing lake, a rose garden, and shaded avenues where Madrid comes to walk, picnic, and breathe.
iconicPalacio de Cristal
An 1887 glass-and-iron pavilion inside Retiro Park, built for a colonial-era plant exhibition and now Madrid's most photogenic exhibition space.
Royal Botanical Garden (Real Jardín Botánico)
An 8-hectare walled garden next to the Prado with thousands of plant species, terraced walkways, and a calm that the surrounding avenues don't have.
Casa de Campo
Madrid's largest park at nearly 1,723 hectares — about five times the size of New York's Central Park — with a lake, a zoo, a cable car, and genuine forest.
Madrid Río Park
A 10-kilometer green corridor along the Manzanares River, built over a buried highway, with 33 bridges, an urban beach, and Madrid's best bike path.
freeSabatini Gardens (Jardines de Sabatini)
Neoclassical, symmetrical gardens on the Royal Palace's north side, built where the royal stables once stood, with the best framed view of the palace facade.
Campo del Moro
English-style romantic gardens behind the Royal Palace, named for a 12th-century Moorish siege camp, with fountains and the palace's most dramatic facade view.
Parque El Capricho
An 18th-century romantic garden built by a duchess, open only on weekends, with a maze, an amphitheater, and a real Spanish Civil War bunker.