Retiro Park
A hundred and twenty hectares of former royal gardens, a rowing lake and a crystal palace.
Duration
1 hr 30 min – 3 hrs
Best time
Mornings, or late in the day
Open
Every day
Entry price
Free
The Retiro was laid out in the seventeenth century as a pleasure garden for Philip IV, and only became public in 1868. A hundred and twenty hectares, a lake dug for staging mock naval battles, and a rose garden designed in 1915.
The Crystal Palace, put up in 1887 for an exhibition on the Philippines, is a glass and iron greenhouse with no permanent collection: it hosts contemporary art shows, and entry is free. On Sundays, drum circles form near the lake.
Getting there
Metro line 2, Retiro station, for the north gate, or line 1, Atocha, for the south. The Prado is five minutes from the west gate.
What to bring
- 1.5 L of water
- Cap
Rules on site
The park closes at night, and its gates shut in high wind after several falling-tree incidents. There is no shade on the main avenues: in July and August, come before eleven or after seven.
Other places in Madrid
Prado MuseumVelázquez, Goya and Bosch in one building, including Las Meninas and The Garden of Earthly Delights.Plaza Mayor and Puerta del SolThe arcaded seventeenth-century square, and the zero kilometre of Spain's roads two steps away.
San Miguel MarketA 1916 iron market hall turned tapas counter.
Royal PalaceThree thousand four hundred rooms, the largest working royal palace in Western Europe.