Dehesa de la Villa Park

PLEASE NOTE: El Retiro and eight of the city’s other parks (El Capricho, Sabatini Gardens, the Rose Garden in Oeste Park, Juan Carlos I, Juan Pablo II, Quinta de Fuente del Berro, Quinta de los Molinos and Quinta Torre Arias) may close if weather conditions are severe. On these occasions you are also advised not to visit Dehesa de la Villa and Oeste Park which have no gates and cannot be closed to the public.

Dehesa de la Villa is on the north-west side of Madrid, near Ciudad Universitaria. Its main feature is that it is still a woodland area, with landscaping and gardens in the sections close to the city and plantations of cedar trees.

This place is home to a wide variety of bird life, with more than 70 species spotted there, making it one of Madrid's most valuable parks. Local people and park users see it as a slice of real woodland inside the city.

During the reign of Queen Isabel II the park was replanted with pine trees, mainly stone pine and black pine, now the most common species in the park. There are also almonds, especially bitter almonds, and acacia trees, particularly near Calle Francos Rodríguez.

Poplar, ash and elm trees grow in damper, low-lying areas. Cedar and Pissardii purple-leaved plum trees flourish in the garden areas. The shrubs growing here are mainly rockrose, broom, rosemary and blackberry.