Retiro Park

A ten-minute walk from the city centre leads to a place where the only sound is the rustling of leaves beneath more than 20,000 trees. El Retiro Park covers 114 hectares between Alcalá Street, O'Donnell Street, Alfonso XII Street and Menéndez Pelayo Avenue. So deeply woven into Madrid’s identity, it even gave its name to the neighbourhood that surrounds it. Originally created as the private gardens of the Spanish Crown, it became a public park in 1868. Rowing across the Great Pond, with the Crystal Palace reflected in the water, remains one of the most iconic ways to experience El Retiro.

The Velázquez Palace, the iron-and-glass sibling of the Crystal Palace, was built for the 1887 Philippine Exposition and has recently reopened after a two-year restoration with an exhibition by Fernando Sánchez Castillo, on view until March 2027. The nearby Crystal Palace remains closed for restoration until the same date. Those looking for a walk will find a 4.5-kilometre shaded route passing the Rose Garden, the Cecilio Rodríguez Gardens, and the elegant geometric layout of the Parterre, the French-style garden commissioned by King Philip V over three centuries ago.

Among the park’s more than one hundred catalogued tree species are several centuries-old specimens recognised as singular by the Community of Madrid, including a majestic Mexican cypress that has stood here for over a century. High in the treetops, eagle owls and peregrine falcons nest, rewarding patient observers. In the Chopera, the Forest of Remembrance offers a quieter corner of the park, created as a tribute to the victims of the 11 March 2004 attacks.