Parque del Retiro — Estanque Oval

Walking script

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1. 1

   The Retiro was a royal retreat from the 1630s and became a public park in 1767. The Estanque oval is the formal centre of it, and a loop of the water with the two side paths is about 3.2 km. Start from the Puerta de Alcala side so that the monument is in front of you for the first half.

   Sight · The Estanque is a 280 m long sheet of water with…
2. 2

   This is a park with a strong centre of gravity. The whole design pulls the eye to the water and the monument, which means walking here is unusually easy to do badly — you can spend the entire loop looking at one thing. Give the first kilometre a nearer object: the plane trees, which are pollarded every winter into fists of knuckle-like growth.

   Sound · Rowboats on the water, the scrape of oars in loc…
3. 3

   The northern path is wide, busy and lined with booksellers and street performers on weekends. Walk it at a steady medium pace and use the crowd as a timing device rather than a distraction. Matching your stride to a group walking ahead for thirty paces is a useful way to keep a pace without a watch.

   Touch · The paths around the Estanque are rolled gravel …
4. 4

   At the eastern end the path rises about 20 m to the level of the monument. It is a short climb and the only real change in elevation on the route. Shorten the count to four paces in, four out, and let that be the whole instruction for the rise.

   Smell · Dust and hot stone in summer, cut grass after th…
5. 5

   The southern bank is quieter and has benches facing the water. Sit for three minutes and watch the rowboats. There are 100 or so of them and they move at about the speed of a slow walk, which makes them a good external clock for the pace you should be holding.

   Breath · Flat, generous paths allow six in and six out; t…
6. 6

   The last stretch returns along the western side through the rose garden, which is at its best in May and again in October. The path here is narrower and the trees close overhead. This is where the walk stops being about the park's composition and becomes about the immediate surroundings — a useful switch at the end of a route that started with a wide view.

   Sight · The Estanque is a 280 m long sheet of water with…
7. 7

   End at the Fallen Angel fountain, which is the park's most photographed object and the place where most visitors stop walking. Stand beside it for one minute rather than joining the queue of photographs, then leave by the Puerta de Alcala.

   Sound · Rowboats on the water, the scrape of oars in loc…