A great city needs a great park, and Madrid is no exception. Just to give you a sense of scale, at…read more300 acres, it's a shade smaller than London's Hyde Park and a little over 1/3 of the size of Central Park. However, El Retiro (as locals call it) is over 200 years older than Central Park, starting as the private royal grounds. Its centerpiece is Estanque Grande (Grand Lake), a huge 17th-century artificial lake covered in rowboats on the weekend (Photo 3). Dominating the lake is the majestic Monument to Alfonso XII built in bronze and marble with an expansive colonnade (Photo 6). Because Madrid's most famous museums stand close to the park's western edge, we walked along the Statue Walk where Spanish monarchs are memorialized (Photo 7). Jamie W and I also visited another smaller lake that features the Art Nouveau-style Palacio de Cristal (Crystal Palace), but unfortunately it was closed. However, we took advantage of the Kiosco Nacional Palacio de Cristal, an open-air terrace cafe that served light lunch fare and coffee drinks (Photo). We couldn't help but indulge in a couple of desserts (Photo 2). Moreover, even though the park was plenty crowded, there was still a sense of bucolic serenity here. It wasn't a challenge to find a peaceful respite amid the overall greenery, especially with the sometimes overwhelming urbania outside the park. RELATED - Exploring Madrid? Here's a collection of places I've visited and reviewed: https://yelp.to/AwA0OI30NX

Retiro Park is an oasis in the center of Madrid. Is a gorgeous, immaculately maintained green space…read morein the heart of the city. There are numerous entrances into the park and walking paths throughout. On a pretty day, it's hard to find a better place to spend the afternoon. The people watching is fantastic, and there are multiple things to see and do inside the park, including the crystal Palace. I love to go sit by the lake and watch the people on the boats. They are often musicians playing, kids riding their bikes, and families enjoying all that Madrid has to offer.

Really, REALLY strange Tourist center…read more.. It's got like, 3 very empty levels. You must follow the stairs and/or elevator and/or escalators to get to the bottom level, just to find someone with directions and maps. TIP: print your own map of Avila, because maps are .50 centimos! WTF? Granted, that's only like, 70 American cents here, but...what tourist center charges for a map?? The girls there will show you where to go on the map, they circle it, they mark it...then they hand it to you and say its price....no thanks. This place is also NOT where museum/attraction tickets are bought (WTF #2)...they point you where to go to buy them...If these are all government-sponsored, what is the point of this??

We booked a full day Segovia and Ávila tour with this company. It was very disappointing. 50 people…read morewith one guide, who was doing the tour in both Spanish and English, which we expected. However, the Spanish commentary was two or three times as long as the English commentary. I do speak some Spanish and I knew that we were not getting all of the same information in English. We spent more time waiting around for the group to assemble then we did actually getting to see things. At every stop, we had to wait for people who were late showing up for the meeting time. They really need to have two guides for a group this size (50 people). I would not use this company again.

Beware Julia Travel - book at your own risk It was a very…read moredistressing and disappointing moment for me. I spent 10 years to save up for a European holiday for my mum. We went to Portugal and Spain - Madrid and Seville. In Seville I booked a walking tour with flamenco show, the details in the itinerary stated the meeting point is for 20:00hrs at main entrance of Alfonso XIII Lucury Hotel, and we are to arrive 15 mins prior to departure at 20:00hrs As our hotel was quite a distance, we took a Bolt to Alfonso hotel. We arrived 20 mins prior to 20:00hrs but already knew something was amiss because we were the only 2 lost looking souls. We waited and about 19,50hrs we approached front desk to check if we are indeed in the correct address 2 San Fernando and they confirmed it. We also approached random groups and asked if they were part of Julia Travel English speaking walking tour, and none were part of this group. One tour guide suggested to call OUR GUIDE but there was no phone number provided. We waited past 20.00hrs and then contacted Klook Customer service and we explained and provided evidence ce of time of arrival, copy of our tour voucher with details of meet up location and also evidence we were in the correct address but Klook could not do much element escalate for further investigation. We left at 20.30hrs very disappointed and distressed on the no show! The next day after fornally writing in with my feedback and submitted the Evidence twice, Klook said the operator Julia Travel had reviewed my case and will not be refunding due to the operator policy. Operator policy is no cancellation and non refundable. My written messages to Julia Travel via an app was also never responded to. So guys, please beware of this. Julia Travel can cheat with a no show because of their non refundable policy which Klook cant do anything about, means you would lose the entirety of the cost of booking the tour. Klook offered a compensation of 30% in Klook Cash which I doubt I'll ever need as this trip was 10 years worth of savings. I am so upset with the dishonesty of Julia Travel. It really marred our otherwise, lovely few days in Seville. Shame on Julia Travel!