1027 Best Sights in Spain

This convent church in western Toledo was erected by Fernando and Isabel to commemorate their victory at the Battle of Toro in 1476. (It was also intended to be their burial place, but their wish changed after Granada was recaptured from the Moors in 1492, and their actual tomb is in that city's Capilla Real.) The breathtakingly intricate building is largely the work of architect Juan Guas, who considered it his masterpiece and asked to be buried there himself. In true plateresque fashion, the white interior is covered with inscriptions and heraldic motifs.

Founded in 1150 by Ramón Berenguer IV in gratitude for the Christian Reconquest, the monastery first housed a dozen Cistercians from Narbonne. Later, the Crown of Aragón used Santa María de Poblet for religious retreats and burials. The building was damaged in an 1836 anticlerical revolt, and monks of the reformed Cistercian Order have managed the difficult task of restoration since 1940. Today, a community of 25 monks and novices still pray before the splendid retable over the tombs of Aragonese rulers, restored to their former glory by sculptor Frederic Marès.

Hard to miss because of its deep-pink facade, Córdoba's Museum of Fine Arts, in a courtyard just off the Plaza del Potro, belongs to a former charity hospital. It was founded by Fernando and Isabel, who twice received Columbus here. The collection, which includes paintings by Murillo, Valdés Leal, Zurbarán, Goya, and Joaquín Sorolla y Bastida, concentrates on local artists. Highlights are altarpieces from the 14th and 15th centuries and the large collection of prints and drawings, including some by Fortuny, Goya, and Sorolla.

This museum—one of Spain's finest for Spanish art—is in the former convent of La Merced Calzada, most of which dates from the 17th century. The collection includes works by Murillo (the city celebrated the 400th anniversary of his birth in 2018) and the 17th-century Seville school, as well as by Zurbarán, Diego Velázquez, Alonso Cano, Valdés Leal, and El Greco. You will also see outstanding examples of Sevillian Gothic art and baroque religious sculptures in wood (a quintessentially Andalusian art form). In the rooms dedicated to Sevillian art of the 19th and 20th centuries, look for Gonzalo Bilbao's Las Cigarreras, a group portrait of Seville's famous cigar makers. A market selling paintings and sculptures is held outside the museum on Sunday morning.

Valencia was a thriving center of artistic activity in the 15th century—one reason that the city's Museum of Fine Arts, with its lovely palm-shaded cloister, is among the best in Spain. Its permanent collection includes many of the finest paintings by Jacomart and Juan Reixach, members of the group known as the Valencian Primitives, as well as work by Hieronymus Bosch—or El Bosco, as they call him here. The ground floor has a number of brooding, 17th-century Tenebrist masterpieces by Francisco Ribalta and his pupil José Ribera, a Diego Velázquez self-portrait, and a room devoted to Goya.

The museum is at the edge of the Jardines del Real (Royal Gardens; open daily 7:30 am--8:30 pm or 9:30 pm, season depending), with its fountains, rose gardens, tree-lined avenues, and small zoo. To get here, cross the old riverbed by the Puente de la Trinidad (Trinity Bridge) to the north bank.

This airy modern natural history museum traces human evolution from primate to the present day. There are life-size replicas of our ancient ancestors, plus hands-on exhibits and in-depth scientific explanations (in English) that will fascinate visitors of all ages. Pair with a museum-led visit to the Atapuerca archaeological site (inquire at reception or online to arrange).

For a window into what agrarian life was like in this area in centuries past, pop into this tiny museum presided over by the passionate historian who amassed the antique curiosities on display. The influence of the Central European \"Fúcares\" families on the area is especially fascinating. A guided tour, in Spanish, takes a little less than an hour and is well worth it.

After a day spent meandering through medieval passageways and marveling at ancient churches, this contemporary art museum, founded by one of Europe's late great modern art collectors, is a breath of fresh air. Highlights include sculptures by Ai Weiwei and Dan Graham and paintings by Josef Albers and John Baldessari. A much-anticipated renovation by Tuñón Arquitectos (of Atrio fame), finished in 2021, added soaring galleries and multimedia spaces to house the gallerist's entire collection. If visiting on a weekend, be sure to reserve entry in advance online.

Spain’s national museum of contemporary art houses works by all the major 20th-century Spanish painters and sculptors. Its collection breaks from tradition by grouping works of the great modern masters—Picasso, Miró, and Salvador Dalí—by historical context as opposed to artistic movement. So, Goya's Disasters of War engravings (a precursor of the avant-garde movements of the 20th century) sits beside one of the first movies ever made, Employees Leaving the Lumière Factory by the Lumière brothers. Picassos and Dalís are not displayed together but are rather scattered around the 38 rooms. The museum also displays important works by Juan Gris, Jorge Oteiza, Pablo Gargallo, Julio González, Eduardo Chillida, and Antoni Tàpies.

The crown jewel is Picasso's Guernica. The sprawling black-and-white canvas depicts the horror of the Nazi bombing of innocent civilians in the ancient Basque town of Gernika in 1937 during the Spanish Civil War. The work was commissioned by the Republican government for the Spanish pavilion at the 1937 World's Fair in an attempt to garner sympathy for the Republican cause. Rooms adjacent to Guernica reconstruct the artistic significance of Spain's participation in the World's Fair with works by Miró, Josep Maria Sert, Alexander Calder, and others. Guernica did not reach Madrid until 1981, as Picasso had stipulated in his will that the painting return to Spain only after democracy was restored.

The fourth floor in the Sabatini Building is devoted to art created after World War II, and the Nouvel Annex displays paintings, sculptures, photos, videos, and installations from the last quarter of the 20th century.

The museum was once a hospital, but the austerity of the space is somewhat relieved (or ruined, depending on your point of view) by the playful pair of glass elevator shafts on its facade. Three separate buildings joined by a common vault were added to the original complex in 2005—the first contains an art bookshop and a public library, the second a center for contemporary exhibitions, and the third an auditorium and restaurant. The latter, which got a face-lift in 2017, is a colorful, space-age spot to enjoy a café con leche—or a cocktail—and an eye-catching tapa or two.

Across the street from the entrance to the Roman sites and connected by an underground passage is Mérida's superb Roman art museum, in a building designed by the Spanish architect Rafael Moneo. Walk through a series of passageways to the luminous, cathedral-like main exhibition hall, which is supported by arches the same proportion and size (50 feet) as the Roman arch in the center of Mérida, the Arco de Trajano (Trajan's Arch). Exhibits include mosaics, frescoes, jewelry, statues, pottery, household utensils, and other Roman works. The crypt beneath the museum contains the remains of several homes and a necropolis that were uncovered while the museum was being built in 1981.

Museum closed for renovation at time of writing. 

One of the world's top museums, the Prado is to Madrid what the Louvre is to Paris: an iconic landmark that merits a visit by every traveler who comes to the city.

King Carlos III commissioned the construction of the Prado in 1785 as a natural science museum, the nucleus of a larger complex encompassing the adjoining botanical gardens and elegant Paseo del Prado. But when the building was completed in 1819, the royal family opted to turn it into a museum showcasing the art gathered by Spanish royalty since the time of Fernando and Isabel. In the 21st century the museum got a new building and wing resurrecting long-hidden works by Zurbarán and Antonio de Pereda and more than doubling the number of paintings on display from the permanent collection.

The Prado's jewels are by the nation's three great masters, Goya, Velázquez, and El Greco, though the museum also holds masterpieces by Flemish, Dutch, German, French, and Italian artists, collected when their lands were part of the Spanish Empire. The museum benefited greatly from the anticlerical laws of 1836, which forced monasteries, convents, and churches to forfeit many of their artworks for public display.

Enter the Prado via the Goya entrance, with steps opposite the Mandarin Oriental Ritz hotel. The layout varies (grab a floor plan), but the first halls on the left coming from the Goya entrance (Rooms 7A–11 on the second floor) are usually devoted to 17th-century Flemish painters, including Peter Paul Rubens (1577–1640), Jacob Jordaens (1593–1678), and Anthony van Dyck (1599–1641).

Room 12 introduces you to the meticulous brushwork of Velázquez (1599–1660) in his numerous portraits of kings and queens. Look for Las Hilanderas (The Spinners), evidence of the artist's talent for painting light. The Prado's most famous canvas, Velázquez's Las Meninas (The Maids of Honor), combines a self-portrait of the artist at work with a mirror reflection of the king and queen in a revolutionary interplay of space and perspectives. Picasso was obsessed with this work and painted several copies of it—now on display in the Picasso Museum in Barcelona—in his own abstract style.

The south ends of the second and top floors (primera planta and segunda planta) are reserved for Goya (1746–1828), whose works range from the bucolic to the horrific in tone. Among his early masterpieces are portraits of the family of King Carlos IV, for whom he was court painter. One glance at their unflattering and imbecilic expressions, especially in The Family of Carlos IV, reveals the loathing Goya developed for these self-indulgent, reactionary rulers. His famous side-by-side canvases, The Clothed Maja and The Nude Maja, may represent the young Duchess of Alba, whom Goya adored and frequently painted. No one knows whether she ever returned his affection. The adjacent rooms house a series of idyllic scenes of Spaniards at play, painted as designs for tapestries.

Goya's paintings grew political around 1808, when Madrid rose up against occupying French troops. The 2nd of May portrays the insurrection at the Puerta del Sol, and its even more terrifying companion piece, The 3rd of May, depicts the nighttime executions of patriots who had rebelled the day before. The garish light in this work typifies the romantic style, which favors drama over detail, and makes it one of the most powerful indictments of violence ever committed to canvas. Goya's "Black Paintings" are dark, disturbing works, completed late in his life, that reflect his inner turmoil after losing his hearing and his embitterment over the bloody War of Independence. These are copies of the enormous, hallucinatory paintings Goya made with marvelously free brushstrokes on the walls of his house (known as La Quinta del Sordo: "the Deaf One's Villa"), situated near the Manzanares River. Don't miss the terrifying Saturn Devouring One of His Sons (which Goya displayed in his dining room!), a painting that communicates the ravages of age and time.

The Prado's ground floor (planta baja) is filled with 15th- and 16th-century Flemish paintings, including the bizarre proto-surrealist masterpiece Garden of Earthly Delights by Hieronymus Bosch (circa 1450–1516). In Rooms 60A, 61A, and 62A, contemplate the passionately spiritual works of El Greco (Doménikos Theotokópoulos, 1541–1614), the Greek-born artist who lived and worked in Toledo, known for his mystical elongated forms and faces—a style that was shocking to a public accustomed to strictly representational images. Two of his greatest paintings, The Resurrection and The Adoration of the Shepherds, are on view here. Before you leave, stop in the 14th- to 16th-century Italian rooms to see Titian's Portrait of Emperor Charles V and Raphael's Portrait of a Cardinal.

Buy tickets in advance online; to save a few bucks on an audio guide, download the Prado Museum Visitor Guide app ahead of your visit.

This is one of Zaragoza's sightseeing treasures, both for the palace in which it is housed and for its collection: Gargallo, born near Zaragoza in 1881, was one of Spain's greatest modern sculptors.

Part of the charm of this art gallery, one of the city's most prestigious museums, is that its small collection is such a family affair. These are the works that Pablo Picasso kept for himself or gave to his family, including the exquisite Portrait of Lola, the artist's sister, which he painted when he was 13, and the stunning Three Graces. The holdings were largely donated by two family members—Christine and Bernard Ruiz-Picasso, the artist's daughter-in-law and her son. The works are displayed according to the creative processes that marked Picasso's 73-year development as an artist. The museum is housed in a former palace where, during restoration work, Roman and Moorish remains were discovered. These are now on display in the basement, together with the permanent collection of Picassos and temporary exhibitions. Book tickets ahead to avoid the line; guided tours in English are available; book at least five days ahead.

This hidden-gem museum uses the archaeological record to show what life was like in Astorga during Roman times, when the city was called Asturica Augusta. The most memorable part of the experience is the Ruta Romana, a walking tour of Roman archaeological remains (combined tickets can be bought at the museum). Descriptions are in Spanish only.

See the world through the once-in-a-generation eye of Spain's most famous impressionist painter, Joaquín Sorolla (1863–1923), who lived and worked most of his life at this home and garden that he designed and decorated. Every corner is filled with exquisite artwork—including plenty of original Sorollas—and impeccably selected furnishings, which pop against brightly colored walls that evoke the Mediterranean coast, where the painter was born. The museum can be seen as part of the Abono Cinco Palacios, a €12 pass that grants access to five mansion-museums.

The far-reaching collection of the Thyssen's almost 1,000 paintings traces the history of Western art with examples from every important movement, from 13th-century Italian Gothic through 20th-century American pop art. The works were gathered from the 1920s to the 1980s by Swiss industrialist Baron Hans Heinrich Thyssen-Bornemisza and his father; the museum, inaugurated in 1992, occupies the light-filled galleries of the late-18th-century Palacio de Villahermosa. Critics have described the museum's paintings as the minor works of major artists and the major works of minor artists, and the collection traces the development of Western humanism as no other in the world.

One highlight is Hans Holbein's Portrait of Henry VIII. American artists are also well represented; look for the Gilbert Stuart portrait of Impressionists and Postimpressionists including Camille Pissarro, Pierre-Auguste Renoir, Claude Monet, Edgar Degas, Vincent van Gogh, and Paul Cézanne. Track down Pissarro's Rue Saint-Honoré in the Afternoon, Effect of Rain for a jolt of mortality, or Renoir's Woman with a Parasol in a Garden for a sense of bucolic beauty lost.

Within 20th-century art, the collection is strong on dynamic German Expressionism and works by Georgia O'Keeffe, Andrew Wyeth, Edward Hopper, Francis Bacon, Robert Rauschenberg, and Roy Lichtenstein. The temporary exhibits can be fascinating and in summer are sometimes open until 11 pm. In summer, the rooftop terrace (closed Mondays; accessible via a separate entrance on Calle de Zorrilla) is an appealing place to kick back with a coffee or cocktail. You can buy tickets to the museum in advance online.

The first thing that grabs your attention at this museum—located 14 km (9 miles) outside town—is the landscape that surrounds it: the Los Barruecos nature reserve. Spanning 800 acres, the park's otherworldly landscape comprises rolling grasslands, lakes, and enormous, peculiarly shaped boulders, which you can explore on foot. These curious natural forms inspired Wolf Vostell, a German artist of the Fluxus and Happening movements, to turn a defunct yarn factory within the park into a museum. Today you can still take in his bizarre, thought-provoking work—including a Cadillac surrounded by dinner plates and a wall of rusty Guardia Civil motorcycles.

West of the city center, this museum rises on a long-neglected archaeological site, parts of which date back to the 12th century. The building is an outstanding convergence of old and new: the exhibition space uses the surviving 16th-century perimeter walls of the fortified city, including a stone courtyard facing the sea and a promenade along the ramparts. There are three floors of galleries, and the collection includes works by Miró, Picasso, and Antoni Tàpies, among other significant artists. To get here, take the narrow Carrer de Sant Pere through the old fishermen's quarter from Plaça de la Drassana.

Housed in a former synagogue, this museum examines the history, daily life, and artistic and cultural traditions of Catalonia's Jewish communities in medieval times, with a focus on Girona. A highlight is the 21 stone tablets, one of the finest collections in the world of medieval Jewish funerary slabs. These came from the old Jewish cemetery of Montjuïc, revealed when the railroad between Barcelona and France was laid out in the 19th century.

The museum organizes conferences, exhibitions, and seminars. It also contains the Institut d'Estudis Nahmànides, with an extensive library of Judaica.

This is the most interesting museum in Sitges, established by the bohemian artist and cofounder of El Quatre Gats café in Barcelona, Santiago Rusiñol (1861–1931), and containing some of his own paintings together with works by El Greco and Picasso. Connoisseurs of wrought iron will love the beautiful collection of cruces terminales, crosses that once marked town boundaries.

This eye-catching center for design is home to six permanent collections covering textiles, historical clothing and haute couture, ceramics (with pieces by Miró and Picasso), decorative arts, and graphic design. The product design and modern and contemporary furniture collections are particularly outstanding. Temporary exhibits run the gamut, with recent shows devoted to the graffiti art of Banksy, Balenciaga's exquisite hats, and women in design. The building itself, by MBM Arquitectes (Oriol Bohigas, doyen of the firm, was the prime mover in much of Barcelona's makeover for the 1992 Olympics), juts out like a multistoried wedge into the Plaça de les Glòries.

Across the river, on the eastern edge of town, this rustic museum contains traditional Asturian houses, cider presses, a mill, and an exquisitely painted granary. Also here is the Museo de la Gaita (Bagpipe Museum) celebrating the area's centuries-old bagpiping tradition. Bagpipes from other parts of the world are on display as well.

This lush green space in the middle of Estepona houses Europe's largest orchidarium. More than 1,300 species and more than 4,000 plants, from South America and Asia, are exhibited under a futuristic 100-foot glass dome containing a giant cascade. Guided tours are available.

Opposite Astorga's cathedral is this fairy-tale neo-Gothic palace designed for a Catalan cleric by Gaudí in 1889. Though the humdrum interiors pale in comparison to the eye-popping exteriors, those interested in local ecclesiastical history shouldn't miss visiting the Museo de Los Caminos (Museum of the Way). Audio guides are available in English.

This lovely palace has three ornate patios—including a spectacular courtyard graced by a Roman mosaic taken from the ruins in nearby Itálica—surrounded by Moorish arches and fine azulejos (painted tiles). The side rooms house a collection of archaeological items. The second floor contains the family apartments, and visits are by guided tour only. It's well worth paying for the second-floor tour, which gives an interesting insight into the collections and the family.

The Palacio Real was built over Madrid's first defensive fortress, established by Berbers in the 9th century. It overwhelms with its sheer immensity against the city's silhouetted background. The palace was commissioned in the early 18th century by the first of Spain's Bourbon rulers, Felipe V. Outside, classical French architecture adorns the Patio de Armas: Felipe was obviously inspired by his childhood days at Versailles with his grandfather Louis XIV. Look for the stone statues of Inca prince Atahualpa and Aztec king Montezuma, perhaps the only tributes in Spain to these pre-Columbian American rulers. Notice how the steep bluff drops west to the Manzanares River—on a clear day, this vantage point commands a view of the mountain passes leading into Madrid from Old Castile. It's easy to see why Madrid's Berber rulers picked this spot for a fortress.

Inside, 2,800 rooms compete with one another for over-the-top opulence. A two-hour guided tour in English winds a mile-long path through the palace. Highlights include the Salón de Gasparini, King Carlos III's private apartments, with swirling inlaid floors and curlicued stucco wall and ceiling decoration, all glistening in the light of a two-ton crystal chandelier; the Salón del Trono, a grand throne room with the royal seats of King Felipe VI and Queen Letizia; and the banquet hall, the palace's largest room, which seats up to 140 people for state dinners. Despite being the official seat of the throne, no monarch has lived here since 1931, when Alfonso XIII was deposed after a Republican electoral victory. The current king and queen live in the far simpler Palacio de la Zarzuela on the outskirts of Madrid.

Also inside the palace are the Museo de Música (Music Museum), where five-stringed instruments by Antonio Stradivari form the world's largest such collection; the Painting Gallery, which displays works by Spanish, Flemish, and Italian artists from the 15th century on; the Armería Real (Royal Armory), with historic suits of armor and frightening medieval torture implements; the Real Oficina de Farmacia (Royal Pharmacy), with vials and flasks used to mix the king's medicines; and the Real Cocina, Europe's best-preserved royal kitchens, opened to the public for the first time in 2017 and whose framed handwritten menus, antediluvian wood-burning ovens, enormous copper cauldrons, wooden iceboxes, and nearly 3,000 antique kitchen utensils make it a must-stop for foodies. On Wednesday the Changing of the Guard takes place (every 30 minutes from 11–2) at the Puerta del Príncipe, across Plaza de Oriente, with a more solemn and lavish ceremony (with up to 100 guards and horses) the first Wednesday of each month at noon.

If you have a car, don't miss the Palacio Real de La Granja in the town of La Granja de San Ildefonso, on the northern slopes of the Sierra de Guadarrama. The palace site was once occupied by a hunting lodge and a shrine to San Ildefonso, administered by Hieronymite monks from the Segovian monastery of El Parral. Commissioned by the Bourbon king Felipe V in 1719, the palace has been described as the first great building of the Spanish Bourbon dynasty. The Italian architects Juvarra and Sachetti, who finished it in 1739, were responsible for the imposing garden facade, a late-baroque masterpiece anchored by a giant order of columns. The interior was gutted by fire, but the collection of 15th- to 18th-century tapestries warrants a visit.

Outside, walk through the magnificent gardens: terraces, ornamental ponds, lakes, classical statuary, woods, and baroque fountains dot the mountainside. Provided there is enough rainfall, on certain evenings in the summer, the illuminated fountains are turned on, one by one, creating an effect to rival that of Versailles. Dates and start times sometimes change on a whim, so call ahead.

Gaudí built this mansion in 1886–90 for textile baron Count Eusebi de Güell Bacigalupi, his most important patron. (The prominent four bars of the senyera, the banner of Catalunya, on the facade between the parabolic arches of the entrance attest to the nationalist fervor the two men shared.) Gaudí's principal obsession in this project was to find a way to illuminate this seven-story house, hemmed in as it is by other buildings in the cramped quarters of El Raval. The dark facade is a dramatic foil for the brilliance of the inside, where spear-shape Art Nouveau columns frame the windows, rising to support a series of detailed and elaborately carved wood ceilings.

The basement stables are famous for the "fungiform" (mushroom-like) columns carrying the weight of the whole building. Note Gaudí's signature parabolic arches between the columns and the way the arches meet overhead, forming a canopy of palm fronds. (The beauty of the construction was probably little consolation to the political prisoners held here during the 1936–39 Civil War.) The patio where the horses were groomed receives light through a skylight, one of many devices Gaudí used to brighten the space. Don't miss the figures of the faithful hounds, with the rings in their mouths for hitching horses, or the wooden bricks laid down in lieu of cobblestones in the entryway upstairs and on the ramp down to the basement grooming area, to deaden the sound of horses' hooves.

Upstairs are three successive receiving rooms; the wooden ceilings are progressively more spectacular in the complexity of their richly molded floral motifs. The room farthest in has a jalousie in the balcony: a double grate through which Güell was able to observe—and eavesdrop on—his arriving guests. The main hall, with the three-story-tall tower reaching up above the roof, was for parties, dances, and receptions. Musicians played from the balcony; the overhead balcony window was for the principal singer. Double doors enclose a chapel of hammered copper with retractable prie-dieu; around the corner is a small organ, the flutes in rectangular tubes climbing the central shaft of the building.

The dining room is dominated by a beautiful mahogany banquet table seating 10, an Art Nouveau fireplace in the shape of a deeply curving horseshoe arch, and walls with floral and animal motifs. From the outside rear terrace, the polished Garraf marble of the main part of the house is exposed; the brick servants' quarters are on the left. The passageway built toward La Rambla was all that came of a plan to buy an intervening property and connect three houses into one grand structure, a scheme that never materialized.

Gaudí is most himself on the roof, where his playful, polychrome ceramic chimneys seem like preludes to later works like the Park Güell and La Pedrera. Look for the flying-bat weather vane over the main chimney, a reference to the Catalan king Jaume I, who brought the house of Aragón to its 13th-century imperial apogee in the Mediterranean. Jaume I's affinity for bats is said to have stemmed from his Mallorca campaign, when, according to one version, he was awakened by a fluttering rat penat (literally, "condemned mouse") in time to stave off a Moorish night attack.

Get ready to marvel at some of the most arresting mountain scenery in Europe. The terrain of this national park is formed by jagged peaks, steep rock walls, and deep glacial depressions filled with crystalline water, all of which lie in the shadow of the twin peaks of Els Encantats. Until the turn of the last century, this area was one of the remotest in Europe, known only to shepherds and hunters. Its 200-some streams, lakes, and lagoons intersperse with fir and birch forests and empty into the Noguera River watercourses: the Pallaresa to the east and the Ribagorçana to the west. Rain and snow are notably frequent in all areas. The land sweeps from wildflower-blanketed meadows below 1,524 meters (5,000 feet) to rocky crests at nearly double that height. The twin Encantats measure more than 2,743 meters (9,000 feet), and the surrounding peaks of Beciberri, Peguera, Montarto, and Amitges hover between 2,651 meters (8,700 feet) and a little less than 3,048 meters (10,000 feet). The park offers an abundance of walking trails; the most popular is a day hike from east to west, starting at the village of Espot and finishing in Boí. Less time is needed to see the glacial lakes at Circ de Colomèrs, a 40-minute drive south from Baqueira.  Driving inside the park is not permitted, so most visitors leave their cars at the closest entrance and then take a taxi or shuttle, stationed at the main parking areas, to the trailhead.

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.