This is the city's green west side: a former royal hunting estate with a lake, the zoo and the theme park, plus the cable car, an Egyptian temple at sunset and a hillside park with a rose garden. Distances are bigger than they look, so plan around one big stop and bring a picnic.
Hábitat Madrid is the city's season of nature activities, run from environmental centers in three big parks. Kids plant in a family vegetable garden, track animal prints, build bird feeders and join bird walks, all led by environmental educators. Each session has a set age range and needs booking, so it suits families who plan a few weeks ahead.
Cirque du Soleil brings KURIOS to Madrid for the first time, under its Big Top. A scientist opens the door to an invisible world, and a cast of strange characters bursts into his cabinet of curiosities: acrobatics mixed with poetry and humor, in a steampunk setting.
The organizer pitches it as a family show, but it has loud noises, some dark scenes and flashing lights, so sensitive kids may struggle.
A hip-hop musical take on Dodie Smith's story, told by Cruella de Vil as a social media influencer fighting to keep her crown after Anita and her dalmatians go viral. Expect big dance numbers, life-size dog puppets, urban remixes of familiar songs and a party finale that gets the audience up and dancing. The plot leans on fame and followers, so older kids follow it best.
A puppet version of Little Red Riding Hood from Marimba Marionetas. It starts as the story kids know: a basket of food, a walk through the woods, a crafty wolf. Then a mysterious elf and a surprising witch burst in, and the tale turns into an adventure full of magic and mix-ups.
It's a story about friendship and kindness, a good fit for kids who already know the original.
Hamish Binns and his band play a mix of children's songs, classical music, folk and jazz, all on unusual instruments built from recycled materials: a guitar made from a toilet bowl, a double bass made from a mannequin, a violin made from sewer pipes.
It's an energetic, funny family concert that also teaches something: you don't need a Stradivarius to make good music.
A children's stage version of A Christmas Carol. Mr. Scrooge has to relive the bad things he has done, and gets the chance to rethink how he lives and how he treats other people.
It suits kids who can follow a spoken story and sit through a full play. Children who don't yet follow Spanish will likely lose the thread.
Each November the Sociedad Micológica de Madrid lays out wild mushrooms its members have gathered, each one labeled edible, toxic or of no interest. It's a hands-off way for kids to learn which mushrooms not to touch on a forest walk. Kids can also enter a drawing contest, sketching a mushroom from a slide while parents look around.
A family concert based on The Color Monster, the well-known picture book about feelings. A live band ties each emotion to its own piece of music, and along the way the show works in helping each other and working together.
It suits kids who are ready to sit and listen until the end.
The city's classic amusement park, in the Casa de Campo, dresses up for Christmas. Kids can hand their letters to Santa and, after Christmas Day, to the Three Kings. Winterland, a themed world of ice, light and fantasy creatures, reopens, the Gran Teatro Auditorio puts on holiday shows, and there's a tree lighting. The regular rides stay open too, from Nickelodeon Land for small kids to Abismo for teens.
Okarino Trapisonda stages Hans Christian Andersen's The Nightingale, adapted by Joaquín Amaro and told in the old style of marionette theater. Close to fifty puppets, made with different techniques, carry the story through the customs of ancient China.
It's a tender fairy tale with adventure and intrigue, a good fit for kids who can follow a story told in Spanish.
A Christmas musical from Compañía La Bicicleta, Teatro Sanpol's in-house company. Tomte, a helpful gnome, hunts for a light bright enough to guide Santa's sleigh now that Santa's eyesight is failing. He chases a star, tries the tree lights the Grinch wrecked and the Little Match Girl's matches, until Rudolph and his red nose save the night.
Four short stories with songs, dancing reindeer and Nordic folk characters.
Compañía La Bicicleta, the resident company at Teatro Sanpol, stages L. Frank Baum's story as a musical. Dorita (Dorothy), her dog Toto, the Scarecrow, the Tin Man and the Lion follow the yellow brick road to Oz while the Wicked Witch of the West waits in the shadows.
It sticks closely to the book, with songs, bright sets and a puppet Toto. It suits kids who already know the story or follow spoken Spanish.
The cable car has crossed Madrid since 1969, gliding about 2.5 kilometers in 11 minutes from Parque del Oeste, over the Manzanares river and the treetops of Casa de Campo, to the park's far side. The views take in the Royal Palace and Almudena Cathedral skyline. It ends near the Parque de Atracciones and the Zoo Aquarium.
Animals from five continents share the zoo, including giant pandas, koalas, Sumatran elephants and white rhinos. The glass-pyramid aquarium, Spain's first tropical marine aquarium when it opened in 1995, holds about 330 species, two 18-meter walk-through tunnels and a shark tank. Sea lions Tau, Carlota and Saba star in a short daily demo, and a small train loops past the pandas, meerkats and lemurs.
Casa de Campo is the city's biggest park: 1,535 hectares of pine and oak woodland west of the river. Families come for the lake, where you can rent a rowing boat, and for a string of play areas with a castle, a pirate ship, a giant rope pyramid, zip lines and a long tube slide. A flat 4 km nature trail follows a stream away from the lake.
A real Egyptian temple, built more than 2,200 years ago for Amun and Isis, rescued from the rising Nile and given to Spain in 1968 for its help saving the Abu Simbel temples. Inside are small, dim rooms with carved reliefs and a low-ceilinged terrace level. Outside, it stands over a pool, a short walk from Plaza de España.
A central cinema in the Plaza de los Cubos complex, a short walk from Plaza de España, that shows most of its films in original version with Spanish subtitles. The program leans toward independent and festival titles, so family releases are fewer than at a multiplex, but undubbed animated and teen films turn up each week.
A wooden fortress of towers and platforms stands in the renovated Plaza de España, named for Barataria, the island Sancho Panza governs in Don Quixote. Six slides run from 1 m to 6 m tall, so toddlers and older kids each find their drop. About twenty swings and seesaws hang from steel frames around it, and the Cervantes monument with both characters stands nearby.
Rides range from Abismo, one of the fastest roller coasters in the world at 105 km/h, to Tornado, an inverted coaster where legs dangle, and Star Flyer, the park's tallest ride, a chain swing with views across the city. Nickelodeon Land is the younger kids' zone, with a Paw Patrol roller coaster, Rugrats bumper cars, a Ninja Turtles driving school and SpongeBob's Splash Bash, where riders fire water.
A family theater by the Manzanares near Príncipe Pío, home to Compañía La Bicicleta, which has staged children's musicals here since 1983: The Wizard of Oz, Little Red Riding Hood, A Christmas Carol. Visiting companies add concerts, puppets and shows for toddlers.
The 600-seat hall has stalls and a mezzanine, and every seat has a clear view of the 12-meter stage.
A city-run sports center at the Puerta del Ángel edge of Casa de Campo, rebuilt in 2021. Indoors there is a 25-meter pool plus a shallow teaching pool for small children. In summer three outdoor pools open: a kids' pool and two recreational pools of 33 by 16 and 36 by 25 meters. Swim classes run for every age.
Almost 100 hectares of English-style garden on the slopes west of Moncloa, with steep lawns, winding paths and a 600-meter artificial stream with a path alongside. The Teleférico cable car leaves from the park for Casa de Campo, an Egyptian temple from the 2nd century BC stands at the southern tip, and three Civil War bunkers still sit near Avenida de Séneca.
A pine forest inside the city, planted from the time of Isabel II with stone and Aleppo pines and home to more than 70 bird species. Kids follow woodland trails and a botanical path, picnic under the trees, and climb the Cerro de los Locos hill for a sunset view across the city. A few small play areas sit along the park's edges.
A 110-meter lighting tower built in 1992, where a glass elevator climbs 92 meters to an enclosed viewing deck. From the windows, kids can pick out the Royal Palace, the Almudena Cathedral, the Four Towers, and the Guadarrama mountains. A rail around the deck holds scale models of 51 buildings in view, with facts in Spanish and English.
The national museum of the Americas, with pre-Columbian gold, Inca textiles, and a 2,000-year-old Paracas mummy bundle from Peru, still wearing its gold nose ornament and collar. Rooms move through explorers' maps, daily life, religion, and writing. Look for the Tro-Cortesiano Codex, a painted Maya book, and the Quimbaya Treasure. English audio guides can be played or downloaded on your phone from the museum's website.
This is the city's green west side: a former royal hunting estate with a lake, the zoo and the theme park, plus the cable car, an Egyptian temple at sunset and a hillside park with a rose garden. Distances are bigger than they look, so plan around one big stop and bring a picnic.
Hábitat Madrid is the city's season of nature activities, run from environmental centers in three big parks. Kids plant in a family vegetable garden, track animal prints, build bird feeders and join bird walks, all led by environmental educators. Each session has a set age range and needs booking, so it suits families who plan a few weeks ahead.
Cirque du Soleil brings KURIOS to Madrid for the first time, under its Big Top. A scientist opens the door to an invisible world, and a cast of strange characters bursts into his cabinet of curiosities: acrobatics mixed with poetry and humor, in a steampunk setting.
The organizer pitches it as a family show, but it has loud noises, some dark scenes and flashing lights, so sensitive kids may struggle.
A hip-hop musical take on Dodie Smith's story, told by Cruella de Vil as a social media influencer fighting to keep her crown after Anita and her dalmatians go viral. Expect big dance numbers, life-size dog puppets, urban remixes of familiar songs and a party finale that gets the audience up and dancing. The plot leans on fame and followers, so older kids follow it best.
A puppet version of Little Red Riding Hood from Marimba Marionetas. It starts as the story kids know: a basket of food, a walk through the woods, a crafty wolf. Then a mysterious elf and a surprising witch burst in, and the tale turns into an adventure full of magic and mix-ups.
It's a story about friendship and kindness, a good fit for kids who already know the original.
Hamish Binns and his band play a mix of children's songs, classical music, folk and jazz, all on unusual instruments built from recycled materials: a guitar made from a toilet bowl, a double bass made from a mannequin, a violin made from sewer pipes.
It's an energetic, funny family concert that also teaches something: you don't need a Stradivarius to make good music.
A children's stage version of A Christmas Carol. Mr. Scrooge has to relive the bad things he has done, and gets the chance to rethink how he lives and how he treats other people.
It suits kids who can follow a spoken story and sit through a full play. Children who don't yet follow Spanish will likely lose the thread.
Each November the Sociedad Micológica de Madrid lays out wild mushrooms its members have gathered, each one labeled edible, toxic or of no interest. It's a hands-off way for kids to learn which mushrooms not to touch on a forest walk. Kids can also enter a drawing contest, sketching a mushroom from a slide while parents look around.
A family concert based on The Color Monster, the well-known picture book about feelings. A live band ties each emotion to its own piece of music, and along the way the show works in helping each other and working together.
It suits kids who are ready to sit and listen until the end.
The city's classic amusement park, in the Casa de Campo, dresses up for Christmas. Kids can hand their letters to Santa and, after Christmas Day, to the Three Kings. Winterland, a themed world of ice, light and fantasy creatures, reopens, the Gran Teatro Auditorio puts on holiday shows, and there's a tree lighting. The regular rides stay open too, from Nickelodeon Land for small kids to Abismo for teens.
Okarino Trapisonda stages Hans Christian Andersen's The Nightingale, adapted by Joaquín Amaro and told in the old style of marionette theater. Close to fifty puppets, made with different techniques, carry the story through the customs of ancient China.
It's a tender fairy tale with adventure and intrigue, a good fit for kids who can follow a story told in Spanish.
A Christmas musical from Compañía La Bicicleta, Teatro Sanpol's in-house company. Tomte, a helpful gnome, hunts for a light bright enough to guide Santa's sleigh now that Santa's eyesight is failing. He chases a star, tries the tree lights the Grinch wrecked and the Little Match Girl's matches, until Rudolph and his red nose save the night.
Four short stories with songs, dancing reindeer and Nordic folk characters.
Compañía La Bicicleta, the resident company at Teatro Sanpol, stages L. Frank Baum's story as a musical. Dorita (Dorothy), her dog Toto, the Scarecrow, the Tin Man and the Lion follow the yellow brick road to Oz while the Wicked Witch of the West waits in the shadows.
It sticks closely to the book, with songs, bright sets and a puppet Toto. It suits kids who already know the story or follow spoken Spanish.
The cable car has crossed Madrid since 1969, gliding about 2.5 kilometers in 11 minutes from Parque del Oeste, over the Manzanares river and the treetops of Casa de Campo, to the park's far side. The views take in the Royal Palace and Almudena Cathedral skyline. It ends near the Parque de Atracciones and the Zoo Aquarium.
Animals from five continents share the zoo, including giant pandas, koalas, Sumatran elephants and white rhinos. The glass-pyramid aquarium, Spain's first tropical marine aquarium when it opened in 1995, holds about 330 species, two 18-meter walk-through tunnels and a shark tank. Sea lions Tau, Carlota and Saba star in a short daily demo, and a small train loops past the pandas, meerkats and lemurs.
Casa de Campo is the city's biggest park: 1,535 hectares of pine and oak woodland west of the river. Families come for the lake, where you can rent a rowing boat, and for a string of play areas with a castle, a pirate ship, a giant rope pyramid, zip lines and a long tube slide. A flat 4 km nature trail follows a stream away from the lake.
A real Egyptian temple, built more than 2,200 years ago for Amun and Isis, rescued from the rising Nile and given to Spain in 1968 for its help saving the Abu Simbel temples. Inside are small, dim rooms with carved reliefs and a low-ceilinged terrace level. Outside, it stands over a pool, a short walk from Plaza de España.
A central cinema in the Plaza de los Cubos complex, a short walk from Plaza de España, that shows most of its films in original version with Spanish subtitles. The program leans toward independent and festival titles, so family releases are fewer than at a multiplex, but undubbed animated and teen films turn up each week.
A wooden fortress of towers and platforms stands in the renovated Plaza de España, named for Barataria, the island Sancho Panza governs in Don Quixote. Six slides run from 1 m to 6 m tall, so toddlers and older kids each find their drop. About twenty swings and seesaws hang from steel frames around it, and the Cervantes monument with both characters stands nearby.
Rides range from Abismo, one of the fastest roller coasters in the world at 105 km/h, to Tornado, an inverted coaster where legs dangle, and Star Flyer, the park's tallest ride, a chain swing with views across the city. Nickelodeon Land is the younger kids' zone, with a Paw Patrol roller coaster, Rugrats bumper cars, a Ninja Turtles driving school and SpongeBob's Splash Bash, where riders fire water.
A family theater by the Manzanares near Príncipe Pío, home to Compañía La Bicicleta, which has staged children's musicals here since 1983: The Wizard of Oz, Little Red Riding Hood, A Christmas Carol. Visiting companies add concerts, puppets and shows for toddlers.
The 600-seat hall has stalls and a mezzanine, and every seat has a clear view of the 12-meter stage.
A city-run sports center at the Puerta del Ángel edge of Casa de Campo, rebuilt in 2021. Indoors there is a 25-meter pool plus a shallow teaching pool for small children. In summer three outdoor pools open: a kids' pool and two recreational pools of 33 by 16 and 36 by 25 meters. Swim classes run for every age.
Almost 100 hectares of English-style garden on the slopes west of Moncloa, with steep lawns, winding paths and a 600-meter artificial stream with a path alongside. The Teleférico cable car leaves from the park for Casa de Campo, an Egyptian temple from the 2nd century BC stands at the southern tip, and three Civil War bunkers still sit near Avenida de Séneca.
A pine forest inside the city, planted from the time of Isabel II with stone and Aleppo pines and home to more than 70 bird species. Kids follow woodland trails and a botanical path, picnic under the trees, and climb the Cerro de los Locos hill for a sunset view across the city. A few small play areas sit along the park's edges.
A 110-meter lighting tower built in 1992, where a glass elevator climbs 92 meters to an enclosed viewing deck. From the windows, kids can pick out the Royal Palace, the Almudena Cathedral, the Four Towers, and the Guadarrama mountains. A rail around the deck holds scale models of 51 buildings in view, with facts in Spanish and English.
The national museum of the Americas, with pre-Columbian gold, Inca textiles, and a 2,000-year-old Paracas mummy bundle from Peru, still wearing its gold nose ornament and collar. Rooms move through explorers' maps, daily life, religion, and writing. Look for the Tro-Cortesiano Codex, a painted Maya book, and the Quimbaya Treasure. English audio guides can be played or downloaded on your phone from the museum's website.
