Casa de Campo Park

At over 1,700 hectares, Casa de Campo is Madrid's largest public park, roughly five times the size of New York's Central Park. Located west of the city centre across the Manzanares river, the grounds served for centuries as a royal hunting forest before being transferred to the city in 1931 under the Second Republic. Philip II enclosed the area in the 16th century to link his new Madrid residence with a private game reserve. Today it is criss-crossed by hiking and cycling trails, a boating lake, the Zoo-Aquarium, and the Parque de Atracciones amusement park. The Teleferico cable car glides from the Moncloa district above the cityscape to the park in 11 minutes, making for one of Madrid's more unusual approach routes.