Once the private playground of royalty, Madrid's main park—which was granted World Heritage status in 2021 by UNESCO—is a 316-acre expanse of formal gardens, fountains, lakes, exhibition halls, children's play areas, and outdoor cafés. There is a puppet theater featuring slapstick routines that even non-Spanish-speakers will enjoy; shows are free and generally take place on weekends at 12:30 pm. The park is especially lively on weekends, when it fills with buskers, jugglers, and other street performers as well as hundreds of Spaniards out for exercise. There are occasional concerts in summer. From the entrance at Puerta de Alcalá, head to the park's center, where you'll find the estanque (pond), presided over by a grandiose equestrian statue of King Alfonso XII erected by his mother.
The 19th-century Palacio de Cristal, southeast of the estanque, was built as a steel-and-glass greenhouse for exotic plants—and, horrifically, tribesmen displayed in a "human zoo"—from the Philippines, a Spanish colony at the time, and is now a free-admission art exhibition space. Next door is a small lake with ducks, swans, and gnarled swamp trees. Along the Paseo del Uruguay at the park's south end is the Rosaleda (Rose Garden), an explosion of color and heady aromas. West of the Rosaleda, look for a statue called the Ángel Caído (Fallen Angel), a rare depiction of the Prince of Darkness falling from grace. In February 2023, the Montaña Artificial ("Man-Made Mountain") at the northeast corner of the park reopened after nearly 20 years of neglect. Built in 1817, the pink building with a vaulted ceiling was a folly of Ferdinand VII and has a waterfall and cats galore.
