Parks, Madrid

The Botanical Gardens in Madrid (Real Jardin Botánico) are not as huge and impressive as other European gardens of this type, but they are one of my favourite places in Madrid. Located between Museo del Prado and Atocha Station, you can get here easily by Metro (Atocha). Look for the entrance at the small square located close to El Prado. It is the perfect place to chill out, is not so crowded as Retiro or other public parks (probably due to the entrance fee). For instance, when I was living in Madrid, I loved to go there on sunny Sundays mornings to read the newspapers.

The place has a nice old-fashioned atmosphere, no wonder, as its foundation was ordered by King Fernando VI in 1755 and later, during the reign of Carlos III, the Garden was installed in its present location. The architects Francesco Sabatini and Juan de Villanueva took part in the design of the Garden’s new frame. It was declared Artistic Garden in 1942.

Some of the most important buildings in the Garden are the Villanueva Pavilion (there are temporary exhibitions), the Graells Greenhouse and the Exhibition Greenhouse, which was inaugurated in 1993. Recently it was opened to public a impressive collection of Bonsais that belonged to Felipe Gonzalez, former president of Spain. Please see my following tips for details.

The Gardens do opens to public every day of the year except for Christmas Day and New Year's Day, from 10 a.m. until the sunset (6 p.m. in winter, 9 p.m. in summer).

Price of the tickets
- Ordinary ticket: 2€
- Student card: 1€
- Groups of more than ten people: 0,50 €.

Free entrance for seniors (+ 65), children (- 10) and groups of students.

From the official webpage: "The Exhibition Greenhouse reflects faithfully the essence and spirit of this institution. In this greenhouse, more than a thousand of species are cultivated in three different modules: tropical, desert and warm-weather species. The Exhibition Greenhouse was built with modern materials and uses the latest clean energy technologies".

I can only add that it's a small but really nice and interesting place, where you learn about different habitats, from extreme dry to extreme humid. You can walk along the ground level of the greenhouse and return from the high walkway to see the top of the plants.

There is small area dedicated to "carnivore" plants in the humid habitat extreme, kids (and many adults) usually like these amazing plants.

Maybe not so impressive, but there are many interesting and strange plants at the desert habitats area. I did like so much the lithops, tiny ones that resemble pebbles… I bough a few at the site's shop, and now they seem to be happyly living at my balcony as they have doubled their size since then :-)

This is the newest addition to the gardens. Felipe Gonzalez, former president of the Spanish government, seems to be fascinated by the art of growing bonsais. During his years at La Moncloa (official residence of the Spanish President), he build a huge collection of these. When he left its charge in 1996, he donated more than 100 bonsais to the Botanical Garden and finally the collection was opened to public in 2004. You can agree or disagree with Gonzalez's politics, but this man really has a great taste as gardener!!

Some were acquired or donated from several countries. But most of them are miniaturized autochthonous trees from different parts of Spain: pine trees, yew trees, oaks... Currently, some the most resistant bonsais are placed outside, in the Terraza de los Laureles (a nice promenade) and they are changed according seasons of the year. The most delicate are kept in a greenhouse (not public).

We go there with our children but we would like to go there alone. This park is not only for children. The adults have so or more fun than the kids.
The park is divided in: Hollywood Boulevard, Warner Bros. Studios, DC Super Heroes World, Old West Territory and Cartoon Village.
The park has many atractions, for adults and for children. Have fun!

Madrid has officially been labelled the world’s second greenest city (after Guayaquil, apparently) because of the 1200 hectares of semi-wild woodland that is Casa del Campo. Best accessed from the city by cable car it also accommodates a funfair and a (rather sad and badly run) zoo.
City centre is also full of wonderful parks and gardens: Parque del Buen Retiro, once the private grounds of Spanish kings, has remained an oasis right in the centre of the city; Plaza del Oriente with views past the palace and across the sculpted Jardines de Sabatini; Plaza de España with its huge statues of Don Quijote and Sancho Panza; the picture-perfect picnic grounds of Campo del Moro; and Parque del Oeste, with its genuine Egyptian temple that seems to testify to the fact that in Madrid you really never know what you’ll come across next.

Casa de Campo is a wild, open park where you can walk for hours and enjoy nature. There are various birds and rabbits. Beautiful walks. One way to reach it is to take subway to "Lago" station. There at the lake is the info center of the park; or just start walking around with no destination. By the lake there are many restaurants (nice but not cheap). This area is the most crowded of the park, where you also will see prostitutes even at day time, and soccer matches. You can reach the park also by cable car leaving Madrid at "Paseo Pintor Rosales" street (subway: Arguelles or Plaza Espana, and walk a bit) and the cable car will drop you off at the heart of the park (not close to the lake). Don't miss this beautiful park with gorgeous sceneries! There is also a zoo/aquarium and an amusement park in Casa de Campo.

In the west corner of the city there is the "Parque del Oeste" (West Park). It's green year-round, very well kept with flowers, an artificial creek and pond, and many people relaxing, exercising, walking dogs, in love, drinking or playing music, etc. It is never crowded (like the Parque del Retiro tends to be).
Get off the subway at Moncloa station and take the exit "Intercambiador", cross the street and you're there. Once you hit the park walk left. It's big so don't just see the first part (which is the most crowded).

Between La Almudena Cathedral and San Francisco el Grande Church, lays the beautiful and surprisingly underrated park of Las Vistillas, a name that could be translated as something like "small views", though the things that could be seen from there had little of small. Indeed, I personally found the perspective of La Almudena much more imposing from this point that from the feet of the building... all of them in a relatively quiet environment with little traffic and plenty of green areas. Definitely not a bad place to be in :-)

Not to be missed is the simply spectacular summer terrace that could be find on the top of the park; enjoying a drink while witnessing a sunset over the Cathedral could be accounted, imho, among Madrid’s finest attractions.

The park could be found between Calle Bailen and Calle Segovia, in La Latina district. Metro La Latina or Opera.