mister_b

My daughter and I will be in Madrid in late August early September. In addition to museums and other cultural hot spots we would like to visit at least a few gardens and National Parks in or near Madrid. Do you have any recommendations/favorites that you would like to pass along? Are most accessible by bus/train if outside the city? If a National Park, any tips on day hiking that time of year? Also, does the soccer team Real Madrid have any scheduled home games during late August/early September? A quick glance at the Real Madrid website suggested no. Any feedback on the above would be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance!

traveller1959

Many questions, some answers:

- Right in Madrid, Parque del Buen Retiro is a splendid city park.

- Near the Prado, visit the Jardín Botánico.

- Also visit Atocha train station - a historic building which has been converted to a tropical garden.

- Just outside Madrid, Monte de El Pardo is a natural park with a lot of native animals. See http://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monte_de_El_Pardo

Football:

Usually, the season starts in the last week of August. The calendar, however, is not released by now. Keep watching Real's website.

mister_b

Thanks Traveller!

victor_d

More gardens:
Aranjuez palace gardens are very nice. You can get there by commuter trains.
http://www.aranjuez.es/sql/default.asp?id=1296


Natural parks and hiking
An interesting natural park is La Pedriza, but there is not good public trasnport connection to get there.
You could try some hikes from Navacerrada or Cotos, there are the easy mountains of '7 picos' and 'Peñalara' many routes to do and easy to get there with commuter trains (line C9). Nice views, fresh environment, extensive forests.

http://www.revistaiberica.com/Rutas_...ma/index_5.htm

http://www.parquenaturalpenalara.org/

Revulgo

In addition:

Parks and gardens
http://www.esmadrid.com/monograficos...nografico.html

A cable car round ride
http://www.esmadrid.com/en/portal.do?IDR=550&TR=C

Spots for watching sunsets
http://www.esmadrid.com/en/portal.do?IDR=389&TR=C

Dining in a park
http://www.esmadrid.com/en/portal.do?IDR=362&TR=C

mister_b

Very helpful...thanks for the excellent suggestions Victor and Revulgo.

Pegontheroad

The Atocha train station is really quite spectacular. Retiro Park is especially enjoyable on weekends, especially Sunday, where there are numerous musical groups and individuals, puppet shows, etc.