Barajas is the green northeast corner of Madrid, and its best days out are outdoors: a huge park with a ship playground, a little train, and an 18th-century garden with hidden follies. Good for a long weekend morning with a picnic and room to run.
Spain's biggest horse show is back after a year off. In the main arena, riders compete for three World Cups: show jumping, dressage and carriage driving. The crowd favorites are Pony Turf and the Jump & Drive race.
Next door, the Horse Hall has stands, food and non-stop horse shows. Horse-mad kids could stay all day; others may last a couple of hours.
Madrid's big Christmas fair for kids, run by IFEMA with Productores de Sonrisas. The exhibition halls fill with theater, video games, robotics, traditional games, creative workshops, cooking demos, sports, magic, music and storytelling. Kids try things rather than watch: building with LEGO in one hall, meeting firefighters and police in the other. It suits families looking for a long indoor outing over the holidays.
El Capricho is a duchess's 18th-century garden full of follies: a laurel hedge maze, a small brick fort, a boathouse on a winding canal, temples and fountains. Kids hunt for black swans, ducks and red squirrels and try to get lost in the maze. It is a walking garden, so balls, bikes, scooters, picnics and dogs stay outside.
A small electric train, built to look like an old steam engine, pulls open carriages on a 30-minute loop around Parque Juan Carlos I. The route runs past the ría, the lake, the Estufa Fría greenhouse and the park's long promenades, and an optional recorded commentary tells the park's story along the way. Each train seats 50 and has a space for a wheelchair.
A big wooden pirate ship, with masts, rope rigging and an anchor painted on the bow, is the centerpiece of this play area inside Parque Juan Carlos I. Kids climb onto the deck and across the rope net, then come down a spiral slide or a straight one into the sand. It sits on the park's quieter east side, well away from the busy main entrance.
Parque Juan Carlos I spreads over 160 hectares around a one-kilometer ring, with a 1.9 km ría crossed by footbridges, a lake, an old olive grove and 19 giant outdoor sculptures. Kids get several play areas, including a wooden pirate ship, plus fountains and water jets, a mini train and bike loans, so it suits a whole morning on wheels.
Barajas is the green northeast corner of Madrid, and its best days out are outdoors: a huge park with a ship playground, a little train, and an 18th-century garden with hidden follies. Good for a long weekend morning with a picnic and room to run.
Spain's biggest horse show is back after a year off. In the main arena, riders compete for three World Cups: show jumping, dressage and carriage driving. The crowd favorites are Pony Turf and the Jump & Drive race.
Next door, the Horse Hall has stands, food and non-stop horse shows. Horse-mad kids could stay all day; others may last a couple of hours.
Madrid's big Christmas fair for kids, run by IFEMA with Productores de Sonrisas. The exhibition halls fill with theater, video games, robotics, traditional games, creative workshops, cooking demos, sports, magic, music and storytelling. Kids try things rather than watch: building with LEGO in one hall, meeting firefighters and police in the other. It suits families looking for a long indoor outing over the holidays.
El Capricho is a duchess's 18th-century garden full of follies: a laurel hedge maze, a small brick fort, a boathouse on a winding canal, temples and fountains. Kids hunt for black swans, ducks and red squirrels and try to get lost in the maze. It is a walking garden, so balls, bikes, scooters, picnics and dogs stay outside.
A small electric train, built to look like an old steam engine, pulls open carriages on a 30-minute loop around Parque Juan Carlos I. The route runs past the ría, the lake, the Estufa Fría greenhouse and the park's long promenades, and an optional recorded commentary tells the park's story along the way. Each train seats 50 and has a space for a wheelchair.
A big wooden pirate ship, with masts, rope rigging and an anchor painted on the bow, is the centerpiece of this play area inside Parque Juan Carlos I. Kids climb onto the deck and across the rope net, then come down a spiral slide or a straight one into the sand. It sits on the park's quieter east side, well away from the busy main entrance.
Parque Juan Carlos I spreads over 160 hectares around a one-kilometer ring, with a 1.9 km ría crossed by footbridges, a lake, an old olive grove and 19 giant outdoor sculptures. Kids get several play areas, including a wooden pirate ship, plus fountains and water jets, a mini train and bike loans, so it suits a whole morning on wheels.