Diego Delso · CC BY-SA 4.0
Parque del Retiro
A former royal garden, public since 1868, and the city's shared back garden ever since.
Retiro is 125 hectares of formal garden, woodland, and one boating lake with a colonnade at the end of it. It has a nineteenth-century glass palace in the middle that is worth the walk on its own, a rose garden, and enough space to absorb the entire city on a Sunday without feeling full.
Rowing a boat on the lake is the obvious thing and it is fine. The better move is the Palacio de Cristal in the early morning, when the light comes through the glass and there are about four people in it.
Before you go
- Don't miss
- The Palacio de Cristal, early, before the queue for the boats starts
- Sundays
- Drummers, buskers and tarot readers near the lake from midday
- Metro
- Retiro, Ibiza or Atocha depending on which end you want
Published · updated · details checked
Researched from published sources rather than a personal visit. Check before you go.
Where it is
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