caniac

Hello all,

My family will be in Spain for 8 days in late March-early April. My kids are on the track team at school and my wife and I also like to run. Are there places in Seville, Granada, Toledo, &/or Madrid that you can recommend for running? Are there parks, waterfronts, city streets, etc. that would be safe and enjoyable for 3 to 5 mile runs?

Thank you!

thit_cho

I've been to Madrid on business several times, and I ran in Retiro Park early in the morning.

Good luck in Toledo -- its built on a hill, and has smooth-stoned streets. You'd probably need to travel a bit outside the city center to run.

yk

Yes, Toledo is up on a hill, but one can definitely run along the river at the bottom of the town.

Lexma90

I've never been to any of the places you're asking about, but check out runtheplanet.com for ideas of running routes. I run by myself (I'm female), so often the park or out-of-town routes don't work as well for me, but that website has posts by locals with lots of good ideas for a group like yours.

Also, have you ever checked out mapmyrun.com? It's a lot of fun to use for everyday runs and routes, and I'm also using it to come up with ideas for running when we travel to central Europe later this year. You can map your runs, including elevation and distance, and set it for map view, photo, or a combination, so you can see what it looks like where you'd be running.

PalenQ

I ran in Madrid along a canal or river below the west and north side of the Plaza Mayor - this canal river leads to a huge, huge park that goes for miles.

Seville you may try the area where the World Expo was - lots of open spaces and even tracks if you can get in them

bwage30

my wife and I were in those places in dec 2006. We ran in Madrid at the retiro park. There is a great route down the hill from the puerta del sol to the park and then you can do as many miles as necessary in the park. In toledo, we also ran, it is a great place to get a hill workout in. We chose to simply run through the streets of the town. There were lots of turns and hills, but a good shorter workout. In granada, you can run up into the albaicin. This will give you a good run and great views of the alhambra. In seville, run along the river--easily able to get 3-5 miles. We approximately 5 miles in each city.

caniac

Thanks to all of you for the great information!