For kids who would rather climb than sit: a treetop park in the Guadarrama pines with rope bridges and zip lines, the big woodland park on Madrid's edge, and indoor climbing walls and a kart track for when the weather says no. Here's what we checked, from Cercedilla to Las Rozas.
Aventura Amazonia Cercedilla is one of Europe's biggest treetop adventure parks, in the pine woods of the Fuenfría valley in the Sierra de Guadarrama. Kids clip into a harness, do a short training course, then cross rope bridges and fly down zip lines. Seven circuits run from Kids and Explorador up to X-Trem, with 114 challenges and 33 zip lines; Canopy is all zip lines, over 470 meters.
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 450-meter indoor kart track on two levels, with bridges, a banked curve, a 6-meter-wide racing line and LED safety signals. Kids drive junior karts in 10-minute sessions, with every lap timed live on the scoreboard and saved in the track's app. Adults race the same circuit in their own sessions, and the track also runs driving courses and championships.
A 1,970 m² climbing center inside the X-Madrid mall, with bouldering and roped walls for every level. Kids from 4 can try Clip 'n Climb, a circuit of colorful challenge walls run by an instructor. The climbing school groups kids from 4 to 13 by age and level, a teen group takes 14 to 18, and parents can watch from the café or climb in their own group.
A large climbing gym with about 100 boulder problems reset every week, a 12-meter wall with 22 auto-belays and around 75 routes, and more than 120 roped routes up to 18 meters, including official speed routes. Kids can start at 4 with a guided intro session, join the weekly climbing school (ages 4 to 17), or climb alongside a parent. A bar serves pizza afterward.
A bouldering gym with more than 180 problems over 2,500 m², with new problems set every week, plus 16 auto-belays on 40 short 6-meter routes. Small kids have their own separate family area, where every boulder is set for them. There is also a gym, changing rooms with family bathrooms, and a 350 m² cantina for a meal before or after climbing.
For kids who would rather climb than sit: a treetop park in the Guadarrama pines with rope bridges and zip lines, the big woodland park on Madrid's edge, and indoor climbing walls and a kart track for when the weather says no. Here's what we checked, from Cercedilla to Las Rozas.
Aventura Amazonia Cercedilla is one of Europe's biggest treetop adventure parks, in the pine woods of the Fuenfría valley in the Sierra de Guadarrama. Kids clip into a harness, do a short training course, then cross rope bridges and fly down zip lines. Seven circuits run from Kids and Explorador up to X-Trem, with 114 challenges and 33 zip lines; Canopy is all zip lines, over 470 meters.
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 450-meter indoor kart track on two levels, with bridges, a banked curve, a 6-meter-wide racing line and LED safety signals. Kids drive junior karts in 10-minute sessions, with every lap timed live on the scoreboard and saved in the track's app. Adults race the same circuit in their own sessions, and the track also runs driving courses and championships.
A 1,970 m² climbing center inside the X-Madrid mall, with bouldering and roped walls for every level. Kids from 4 can try Clip 'n Climb, a circuit of colorful challenge walls run by an instructor. The climbing school groups kids from 4 to 13 by age and level, a teen group takes 14 to 18, and parents can watch from the café or climb in their own group.
A large climbing gym with about 100 boulder problems reset every week, a 12-meter wall with 22 auto-belays and around 75 routes, and more than 120 roped routes up to 18 meters, including official speed routes. Kids can start at 4 with a guided intro session, join the weekly climbing school (ages 4 to 17), or climb alongside a parent. A bar serves pizza afterward.
A bouldering gym with more than 180 problems over 2,500 m², with new problems set every week, plus 16 auto-belays on 40 short 6-meter routes. Small kids have their own separate family area, where every boulder is set for them. There is also a gym, changing rooms with family bathrooms, and a 350 m² cantina for a meal before or after climbing.