El Retiro Park

The Parque del Buen Retiro is where Madrid goes to breathe. Laid out in the seventeenth century as the gardens of Philip IV's Buen Retiro palace, a pleasure retreat on what was then the eastern edge of the city, it was opened to the public in the nineteenth century and now covers more than a hundred hectares of formal avenues, shady woods, lawns and fountains right behind the Prado. In 2021 UNESCO listed it, together with the Paseo del Prado, as a World Heritage cultural landscape called the Landscape of Light. The heart of the park is the Estanque Grande, the Great Pond, where you can hire a rowing boat and paddle in front of the monumental colonnade and equestrian statue of King Alfonso XII; the steps around the monument are a classic place to sit and watch the boats. Walk south through the woods to the Palacio de Cristal, the Crystal Palace, a romantic glass-and-iron pavilion built in 1887 for an exhibition of plants from the Philippines, which stands beside a small lake with a cascade and swamp cypresses; together with the nearby brick-and-tile Palacio de Velázquez it is used by the Reina Sofía museum for free contemporary art exhibitions. Further on are the Rosaleda rose garden, at its peak in May; the Fountain of the Fallen Angel, a rare public statue of Lucifer; the Paseo de la Argentina, lined with statues of Spanish kings; and the Puerta de Alcalá, the neoclassical gate at the park's northern corner. On weekends the park fills with families, joggers, buskers, fortune-tellers and puppet shows, and it is one of the best places in Madrid to see how the city really relaxes.

Using the park well: the main entrances are on Calle de Alfonso XII, behind the Prado, at the Puerta de Alcalá on Plaza de la Independencia, and on the southern and eastern sides near Atocha and the Ibiza neighbourhood. Retiro metro station on line 2 serves the north side and Ibiza station the east; Atocha serves the south. The park is open from early morning until late evening every day, with longer hours from spring to autumn, but it can close without notice during weather alerts for high winds, storms or extreme heat, and after storms while trees are checked, so do not be surprised to find the gates shut on a blustery day. Boat hire is a modest fee, with queues on sunny weekends; go on a weekday morning for a calm row.

When to go: mornings are cool and quiet, with joggers and dog-walkers; late afternoon and early evening, especially on weekends, bring the crowds, the music and the golden light on the pond. Sunday is the liveliest day of all. The rose garden is best in May, autumn colour peaks in November, and in summer the shady avenues are a relief from the heat, though the open lawns bake at midday. Exhibitions at the Crystal Palace are free when they are on, and worth a look even if contemporary art is not your thing, simply to stand inside the glass. Terrace cafés around the pond serve drinks and snacks at park prices; a picnic on the lawns is a cheaper and more local choice.

The Retiro links naturally with the museums. Spend the morning at the Prado, cross Calle de Alfonso XII to the park for a picnic lunch and a row on the pond, and then wander south through the woods to the Crystal Palace. On the park's western edge, the Real Jardín Botánico, the eighteenth-century botanical garden beside the Prado, is a quieter, ticketed alternative, and the Salón de Reinos, the last great hall of the old palace, stands between the park and the museum. Families can spend hours here — the boats, the puppets, the playgrounds and the space to run make it the city's best free attraction for children — and couples should take a late-afternoon row, then watch the sun set behind the Alfonso XII monument.