The 5 most incredible Madrid parks

Madrid is best known for its Museums, theaters, and nightlife, but there are some magical parks you must visit that will drastically change the what you used to think about the city

El Retiro: a jewel in the center

El Retiro is the lung of the city. With a perimeter of 4 km, it is the home of almost everything you can imagine that can be found in a Park. It has over 8 entrances and the landscape is different depending on which one you use. From Alfonso XII street you reach a garden with sculptures trees that look like an Alice in Wonderland decoration. If you choose Cuesta de Moyano, you have to fall the Fallen Angel statue and you´ll reach the rode garden, where peacocks come up and down totally free. The Crystal Palace and the Velazquez House are free art galleries. At the main road, by the lake where you can hire a boat, tarot readers and puppeteers sell their shows.

Madrid Río, the newest of Madrid parks

Some sections of this long park that stretches along the Manzanares River are still under construction. Nevertheless, it has become a Madrid landmark in less than a decade. Bikers, runners, and skaters meet up there and share a road more than 15 km long. Walkers can use the sand and stone winding paths. They have been designed to entertain the stroller as well as to exercise, so you will find stone rives, green grass, big fountains and a couple of playgrounds where the games are perfectly integrated with the landscape. A traditional greenhouse and a modern art center are located at one of the Madrid Rio´s end.

Parque de Don Enrique Tierno Galván

Named after the mayor who supported the Movida MAdrileña back in the 80´s this is a classic park full of hills, small trees, benches and soil paths. Quieter than Retiro and Madrid Río, it offers the peace and quiet you might need to relax after a long day of visits. Take a picnic and a good book with you and you will forget you are in a European capital city. The park and the big white letters that serve as a memorial for the mayor can be seen from Madrid main road, the M30. You will not find this place in many guides of Madrid Parks

Dehesa de la Villa

This park is located by Moncloa Tube Station and has two very different parts. heading north you will find a landscape very similar to a pine forest, full of Castilian pines (shorter and rounder than classical Christmas trees). If you head south you will enter the Paseo del Pintor Rosales, a long extension of grass, rose gardens, flower beds and statues surrounded by cafés, ice cream shops, and kiosks. If you walk a bit further south you will encounter an Egyptian temple: The Templo de Debod. A present from the Egyptian government to Madrid.

El Capricho

El Capricho is the most exclusive and best preserved of Madrid Parks. It was part of the Alba family heritage and it is considered as a miniature Versailles. At the end of the park, the old residence can be found, it was a palace that has been used as a hotel and also as a private house. The park holds an artificial river and lake, but also a civil war bunker and its own labyrinth. There is also a terras that used to witness proper duels.  One of the reasons why it is so well preserved is because a gardening school is located inside it. The other one is that opening hours are restricted to Saturdays and Sundays.