A great city needs a great park, and Madrid is no exception. Just to give you a sense of scale, at…read more300 acres, it's a shade smaller than London's Hyde Park and a little over 1/3 of the size of Central Park. However, El Retiro (as locals call it) is over 200 years older than Central Park, starting as the private royal grounds. Its centerpiece is Estanque Grande (Grand Lake), a huge 17th-century artificial lake covered in rowboats on the weekend (Photo 3). Dominating the lake is the majestic Monument to Alfonso XII built in bronze and marble with an expansive colonnade (Photo 6). Because Madrid's most famous museums stand close to the park's western edge, we walked along the Statue Walk where Spanish monarchs are memorialized (Photo 7). Jamie W and I also visited another smaller lake that features the Art Nouveau-style Palacio de Cristal (Crystal Palace), but unfortunately it was closed. However, we took advantage of the Kiosco Nacional Palacio de Cristal, an open-air terrace cafe that served light lunch fare and coffee drinks (Photo). We couldn't help but indulge in a couple of desserts (Photo 2). Moreover, even though the park was plenty crowded, there was still a sense of bucolic serenity here. It wasn't a challenge to find a peaceful respite amid the overall greenery, especially with the sometimes overwhelming urbania outside the park. RELATED - Exploring Madrid? Here's a collection of places I've visited and reviewed: https://yelp.to/AwA0OI30NX

Retiro Park is an oasis in the center of Madrid. Is a gorgeous, immaculately maintained green space…read morein the heart of the city. There are numerous entrances into the park and walking paths throughout. On a pretty day, it's hard to find a better place to spend the afternoon. The people watching is fantastic, and there are multiple things to see and do inside the park, including the crystal Palace. I love to go sit by the lake and watch the people on the boats. They are often musicians playing, kids riding their bikes, and families enjoying all that Madrid has to offer.

My mom and I did their 4:00 PM E-bike tour this past week. It was a great experience and our guide…read morewas excellent! I would recommend doing this tour on your first day/afternoon in Madrid so you can get acclimated to the city and see some of the main sites. Our guide, Fran, was knowledgeable, personable, and animated. The background he provided at each of the sites was interesting and helped us learn more about Madrid and Spanish history. He also had great tips and recommendations for where to go in Madrid. The tour was about 10-15 people I'd say. It was a good size to command enough attention to safely drive on the road in a lane but have everyone stay together. They provided a water bottle, helmet, bike. Fran even took us to a special "surprise stop" at the end (churros!). With the E-bike, you could adjust the assistance and you still pedaled to make the assist go, but it was a good choice to have some assist as there are hills and you don't want to worry about having to keep up on going when you're driving in a lane on the road. The shop also has bikes, roller blades, and skate/penny boards for rent.

Best way to spend 2 hours at Parque De El Retiro. The park is rather large but flat so exploring…read moreby bike is not only fun but makes for a fun way to see the park. Rental was quick and easy, you have to leave your ID and 2 hours was about $7.50 euros per person. We easily explored the parque in 1 hour with time for photos and admiring the beauty it offers. Definitely recommend!

Come here when you want to relax in nature and rest those feet or even to take a nice jog!…read more This park is so romantic and the most wonderful escape in the middle of a bustling city. It is HUGE and located very close to the Prado museum. It is the perfect place for a picnic! There are also multiple cafes scattered throughout where you can get beer, wine, food, coffee, sweets, ice cream, snacks, go to the restroom, etc. They also have multiple historic buildings and monuments scattered throughout the park that you can check out. The highlight for us was the row boat experience! For 6 euro, up to 4 people can get in a little blue row boat and paddle around their small lake for 45 minutes. We purchased beer beforehand and had a snack to enjoy on the boat. It was so much fun, especially on a gorgeous day! We came here 2/3 days on our visit, that's how much we loved it! We watched the sunset from here and it was superb. A must-do when you're in Madrid.

This park is huge and full of beautiful sights…read more We initially came here to see the Palacio de Cristal. It closed at 10 and it was about 8pm so we figured it would be ok. Not a chance! The Palacio de Cristal is in the dead center of the park. It was too dark even with a flashlight to walk through. A lot of people were out, especially the runners, but it just didn't seem like we would be safe. You couldn't see anything so we just decided to come back in the daylight. When we came back the next day we finally saw all the beautiful flowers and landscaping that was pitch black the night before. We saw the Palacio de Cristal, El Museo de Prado, other monuments, and we also ran into the Pabellión de los Jardines de Cecelio Rodríguez.

This studio was a rare find in Madrid. It is apparently, the only spin studio in the city. The…read moreprice is reasonable. The bikes are new and ride so smoothly. Carlos, the owner/manager/instructor was amazing and even did the class in Spanish and English for us silly Americans who barely understood what he was saying. The class was challenging, the music was energetic and everything was included (water, towels, shoes, fruit , showers). Everything was clean and I can't wait to go back! Good luck Carlos! I hope that TopCycle hits it BIG!

I heard much of TopCycle. Do you know what their current prices are? Would they give a discount…read morefor five sessions?

Beautiful park with the view of Royal palace. Conveniently located by bus stop for multiple bus…read morelines. When I visited in May it closed at 8.

Lovely palace gardens .... if it's a nice day- it is worth it to take a walk around to the only…read moreentrance on Paseo de la virgin del puerto - closer to the Pio principal train station . It's downhill from the palace . So if you plan to see the palace then remember after the gardens - it's a walk uphill . This place is free and so beautiful and quiet . Two peacocks walking around not very afraid of people near them . I saw horse and carriage with guards constantly circling around the top and the bottom of the palace.

Another awesum summer open air pools to chill out in madrid especially in August when life halts in…read morethe city for vacations. Seperate pool for kids to learn swimming. Nice grass and shade to sit around and relax. Less crowded so amy be you can read a book in the sun of spain. Not very expensive as it is a public pool.

Great time. loved watching the game. Its so much different than being in an arena in the US. Very…read morecool. Not a lot of food to choose from and limited drinks, but we loved it. Its a must do

Great tour, you get to see the history of the club. Price is worth the admission. Starts up on the…read moretop outer sections then you walk through the history of the championship cups towards the center section all with seeing the difference between sitting at the top to sitting in the players seats at the end. Then going through the locker rooms and finishing with a virtual tour of the bus ride to a game. Great visit