Parks, Nature and Wildlife in Madrid, Spain
Madrid is better known for its museums than for its trees, but the city’s tourist board describes it as one of Europe’s greenest capitals, and most of its large parks are free and a short metro ride from the centre. This guide covers the main parks and gardens in the city, the zoo and other animal parks, and the mountains and reservoirs within a day trip, with opening hours, prices and transport as published in autumn 2026. Hours change with the season, so check the linked official pages before setting out.
El Retiro
El Retiro Park covers over 125 hectares and has more than 15,000 trees. It began as the garden of the Buen Retiro Palace, and on 25 July 2021 it was declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site together with the Paseo del Prado, under the name Landscape of Light. Entry is free. The gates open at 6am and close at midnight from April to September and at 10pm from October to March. The nearest metro stations are Retiro (line 2), Ibiza (line 9), and Atocha and Estación del Arte (line 1). The park can close in severe weather; screens at the entrances show a warning when it does.
Inside the park, the Velázquez Palace and the Glass Palace, a glass pavilion built in 1887, serve as exhibition halls of the Reina Sofía Museum. Other stops are the statue of the Fallen Angel, the Parterre with its Montezuma cypress and the puppet theatre, which has shows every weekend. Since spring 2026 an audio guide in Spanish and English, opened through QR codes, covers 38 landmarks. The Madrid Book Fair is held in the park every year, usually in May and June.
The lake and the Monument to Alfonso XII
El Estanque del Retiro
The large lake (Estanque Grande) was built between 1634 and 1636 as the centre of the palace garden, where mock naval battles were staged for the court. Today it is a municipal sports centre with 100 rowing boats. A boat for up to four people costs €6 from Monday to Friday and €8 at weekends and on public holidays, for 45 minutes. Rental starts at 10am, and children under 14 must be with an adult. The service is closed on 24, 25 and 31 December and 1 January.
Monument of Alfonso XII
The colonnade on the east bank is the Monument to Alfonso XII, designed by José Grases Riera and inaugurated in 1922. The equestrian statue on top is by Mariano Benlliure. The column holds a viewpoint that can be visited only with a booking through the city’s Pasea Madrid guided walks. The climb is 97 steps and there is no lift.
La Rosaleda
La Rosaleda
The rose garden was designed in 1915 by Cecilio Rodríguez, the municipal gardener, and has more than 4,000 roses. It is at its best in May and June. Entry is free, from 10am to 8pm between April and September and from 10am to 6pm between October and March.
Jardines de Cecilio Rodríguez and the Casa de Fieras
Jardines de Cecilio Rodríguez
The gardens named after the same gardener are on the Avenida de Menéndez Pelayo side of the park. The tourist board describes them as classical gardens with an Andalusian air. They make a quiet corner away from the lake.
Monkey’s home at the Casa de Fieras
Next to them stood the Casa de Fieras, the Retiro menagerie that was the forerunner of Madrid Zoo. Its monkey pit, home to baboons for a century and a half, was restored and has been on view since autumn 2023 as a reminder of the old zoo. The park runs guided tours for a closer look.
Bosque del Recuerdo
El Bosque de los Ausentes, now called the Bosque del Recuerdo
The memorial that older guides call El Bosque de los Ausentes is listed by the tourist board as the Bosque del Recuerdo (Forest of Remembrance). The grove honours the victims of the terrorist attacks in Madrid on 11 March 2004. It is part of the park and can be visited during park hours.
Real Jardín Botánico
Real Jardín Botánico
The Real Jardín Botánico is at Plaza de Murillo, 2, beside the Prado Museum. Its location goes back to Carlos III, who wanted a complex devoted to the natural sciences here. The garden is run by the Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas (CSIC) and shows 5,500 species of live plants. Its herbarium holds more than a million entries. Two self-guided routes cover 15 plants linked to Al-Andalus and 15 notable trees.
The garden opens at 10am every day except 25 December and 1 January. It closes at 6pm from November to February, 7pm in March and October, 8pm in April and September and 9pm from May to August. General admission is €4. Students aged 18 to 25 and over-65s pay €1, and under-18s enter free. Admission is also free on Tuesdays from 10am to 3:30pm. Metro: Atocha or Estación del Arte (line 1) and Banco de España (line 2).
Casa de Campo
Casa de Campo, view from the lake
Casa de Campo, west of the centre, covers 1,535.52 hectares and is Madrid’s largest public park. Philip II created the estate in the 16th century. It stayed in royal hands until the government of the Second Republic ceded it to the city council on 1 May 1931. Most of it is open woodland used by runners and cyclists. The lake has boat hire and is lined with restaurants, and there is an outdoor public pool in summer.
Entry is free and the park is open all year, but it is closed to private vehicles. Use the metro: Lago and Batán (line 10) or Casa de Campo (lines 5 and 10). BiciMAD, the city’s bike-share scheme, has docking stations at several entrances. The cable car between Casa de Campo and Parque del Oeste was listed as temporarily closed for works in 2026.
Parque de Atracciones
Parque de Atracciones amusement park, credit
The amusement park inside Casa de Campo has 32 rides in four themed zones, plus a walk-through attraction based on the series The Walking Dead. Metro: Batán (line 10). According to the park’s price list in autumn 2026, a dated ticket bought online starts at €23.90. At the ticket office, general admission (visitors over 140 cm tall) is €44.90 and reduced admission (100 to 140 cm, over-65s and large families) is €35.90. Children under 100 cm enter free with a paying visitor. The park does not open every day, so check its calendar first.
Zoo Aquarium de Madrid
Lion at the Madrid Zoo, Credit
The zoo, also in Casa de Campo, keeps more than 3,000 animals of more than 500 species, grouped by continent. Among them are giant pandas, Iberian lynxes, koalas and gorillas, and there is an aquarium on site. Metro: Casa de Campo (lines 5 and 10). The zoo’s price list in autumn 2026 gives general admission (ages 8 to 64) from €19.90 online and €29.50 at the ticket office. Children aged 3 to 7 pay from €16.90 online or €23.90 at the ticket office, and under-3s enter free. Entry closes one hour before the zoo does.
Parque del Oeste and the Temple of Debod
Parque del Oeste
Parque del Oeste covers almost 100 hectares between Moncloa and Ciudad Universitaria, close to the Universidad Complutense campus. It was created in 1906 and rebuilt after the Civil War; three machine-gun bunkers from the war still stand near Avenida de Séneca. The layout is that of an English garden, with slopes, winding paths and an artificial stream 600 metres long. At the south end, the Ramón Ortiz rose garden hosts the city’s international competition for new roses each year.
The park is free and has no gates. The rose garden opens at 10am and closes at 6pm from 1 November to 1 March, at 9pm from 16 April to 15 September, and at 7pm for the rest of the year. Metro: Moncloa (lines 3 and 6), Plaza de España or Príncipe Pío. Since a remodelling in 2022, a pedestrian route links the park with the Temple of Debod, Plaza de España, the Sabatini Gardens and the Royal Palace.
Templo de Debod
The Temple of Debod is an Egyptian temple from the 2nd century BC. Egypt gave it to Spain in thanks for help in saving monuments from the Aswan Dam. It was rebuilt stone by stone and opened to the public in 1972. The 8 hectares of gardens around it, designed in 1968, look over Casa de Campo and are a popular place to watch the sunset.
Entry to the temple is free and advance booking is recommended. It opens from Tuesday to Sunday and on public holidays from 10am to 8pm (last entry 7:30pm). From 15 June to 15 September it closes at 7pm. It is closed on Mondays. Only 30 people may be inside at once and a visit lasts 30 minutes at most. Metro: Plaza de España or Ventura Rodríguez (line 3).
The gardens of the Royal Palace
Campo del Moro
Two free gardens flank the Royal Palace. Campo del Moro, on the slope behind it, spans more than 20 hectares and was declared an Artistic-Historic Monument in 1931. The name recalls 1109, when the Muslim leader Ali ibn Yusuf is said to have camped here while attacking the fortress. The present gardens were laid out by Narciso Pascual y Colomer in 1844 and redesigned by Ramón Oliva in 1890. They give a long view up a lawn to the palace.
Patrimonio Nacional manages the garden. There are three entrances: Paseo de la Virgen del Puerto, Cuesta de San Vicente (beside Plaza de España) and Cuesta de la Vega (behind the Almudena Cathedral). All open at 10am. Closing time is 6pm from October to March at the first two gates, and later in summer: 8pm at Cuesta de San Vicente and up to 10pm at Paseo de la Virgen del Puerto from May to August. The garden is closed on 25 December, 1 January and 1 May and for official events. No ticket is needed; tickets for the palace itself are sold on Patrimonio Nacional’s ticket site. Metro: Príncipe Pío or Ópera.
Jardines de Sabatini
The Sabatini Gardens lie in front of the north façade of the palace. They were built in the 1930s on the site of the former stables and finished after the Civil War, in a formal style with a rectangular pond, fountains and white marble statues. Entry is free, pets are not allowed, and the tourist board recommends them at dusk. Metro: Ópera or Plaza de España.
Madrid Río and Dehesa de la Villa
The River Manzanares rises in the Sierra de Guadarrama and crosses the west of the city. Along its banks runs Madrid Río, a long strip of paths, lawns and sports areas. It has 17 play areas along the Salón de Pinos promenade, fitness stations and an urban “beach” of water jets for hot days. The Matadero Madrid arts centre is here too. The river has been rewilded, and the tourist board reports a marked return of wildlife. Downstream the path continues into the Linear Park of the Manzanares. It is an open public space; metro stations along it include Príncipe Pío, Puerta del Ángel, Pirámides, Marqués de Vadillo and Legazpi.
Dehesa de la Villa
Dehesa de la Villa, in the north-west near Ciudad Universitaria, is the nearest thing to real woodland inside the city. Stone pines and black pines, replanted under Isabel II, are the main trees, with almonds, poplars and ashes in the damper hollows. More than 70 species of birds have been recorded. It is free, has no gates, and has a running circuit and picnic areas. Metro: Francos Rodríguez or Valdezarza (line 7).
Sierra de Guadarrama National Park
The mountains north-west of the city have been a national park since 2013. The Sierra de Guadarrama National Park covers 33,960 hectares, almost 64% of it in the Madrid region and the rest in Segovia. Its highest summit is Peñalara, at 2,428 metres. The park authority counts more than 1,000 plant species and 148 kinds of birds, among them the black vulture and the Spanish imperial eagle. The two best-known areas are the glacial cirques and lakes of Peñalara and the granite landscape of La Pedriza, above Manzanares El Real.
Numbers are capped in the busiest places. The park’s access page gives these options:
- Cercanías line C8 runs to Cercedilla, from where the Fuenfría valley is reached on foot.
- Line C9 from Cercedilla to the Navacerrada and Los Cotos passes was closed for works in 2026, with replacement road transport.
- Regional buses to the mountain villages leave from the Moncloa and Plaza de Castilla interchanges.
- The Peñalara massif takes at most 945 visitors a day, and the Los Cotos car park 250 vehicles.
- La Pedriza admits cars through a barrier until 270 are parked inside. On winter weekends and public holidays the barrier is closed to incoming cars from 10:30 to 16:00.
The park has visitor centres at Peñalara, La Pedriza, Fuenfría, El Paular and Valsaín, and it publishes a programme of guided walks. At weekends it advises phoning the Peñalara centre before travelling.
Reservoirs around Madrid
Madrid’s drinking water comes from rivers dammed in the mountains and from groundwater. Canal de Isabel II, the regional water company, operates 13 reservoirs, and some of them are also places for walking and water sports.
Embalse de El Atazar, Credit
- El Atazar, on the River Lozoya, came into service in 1972 and is the largest in the region, with a capacity of 425.3 cubic hectometres, close to half of the whole supply system. Its arch dam is more than 134 metres high. At Cervera de Buitrago, the Marina de Cervera is a water-sports base with a sailing school, windsurfing and rowing.
- Valmayor, on the River Aulencia, opened in 1976. With 124.4 cubic hectometres it is the second largest.
- Santillana, which Canal lists as Manzanares El Real, holds 91.2 cubic hectometres at the foot of La Pedriza. The national park includes it in its guided walks.
- La Jarosa, near the town of Guadarrama, dates from 1969 and is small, at 7.2 cubic hectometres.
Pantano de San Juan, Credit
The Pantano de San Juan, on the River Alberche in the south-west of the region, is managed by the Confederación Hidrográfica del Tajo and not by Canal. It is the place where bathing is organised. The town of San Martín de Valdeiglesias has two authorised bathing areas, Playa Virgen de la Nueva and El Muro, and calls them the “Playa de Madrid”. Virgen de la Nueva has repeatedly been awarded a Blue Flag. Local firms rent kayaks and paddle boards. Fires, glass containers and motor vehicles are banned in the bathing areas.
Safari Madrid
Get up close to wildlife at the Madrid Safari
Safari Madrid is a private animal park at Aldea del Fresno, at kilometre 22 of the Navalcarnero to Cadalso de los Vidrios road, south-west of the capital. Visitors drive their own car along a route among animals kept in semi-liberty, including rhinoceroses, giraffes, elephants, zebras and lions. The reptile house, the birds of prey show and a children’s farm are visited on foot. Soft-top convertibles are not allowed on the route, and a car is needed to do it.
The park says it opens every day of the year. In autumn 2026 its timetable gave ticket office hours of 10:30 to 17:30, the drive-through route from 11:00 to 18:00 and the walking areas from 10:30 to 19:00. Admission is €23 for adults and €18 for children and for visitors over 65. Online tickets are not sold for the same day. Hours are adjusted during the season.
Tips for students
- Most of this list is free: El Retiro, Casa de Campo, Parque del Oeste, the Temple of Debod, Campo del Moro, the Sabatini Gardens, Madrid Río and Dehesa de la Villa. The Botanic Garden costs €1 for students aged 18 to 25.
- Parque del Oeste and Dehesa de la Villa are the closest parks to Ciudad Universitaria, and both are used for running.
- For the zoo and the amusement park, buy dated tickets online. The ticket office price is much higher.
- For the Sierra de Guadarrama, go by train or bus and start early at weekends, when car parks fill up and quotas apply.
More about living and studying in the city is on the Madrid city page, and the directory lists schools across Spain.
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