Royal Botanic Garden of Madrid

The Real Jardín Botánico is a working research institute of the CSIC, Spain's national research council, that happens to be open to the public. Fernando VI ordered its creation on 17 October 1755, on a site called the Huerta de Migas Calientes beside the Manzanares, stocked with more than 2000 plants that the botanist and surgeon José Quer had gathered on his travels through the Iberian peninsula. From 1774 Carlos III gave instructions to move it to the Paseo del Prado, where it opened in 1781; Sabatini, the king's architect, and Juan de Villanueva, who built the Prado museum next door, took charge of the project.

The collection is spread over three terraces that step down towards the Paseo del Prado, and the walk between them is the shape of a visit. The rose garden occupies the four central squares of the lowest terrace, next to the Puerta del Rey, and holds 296 specimens arranged in the ten sections of the genus Rosa, from wild species and old garden roses through to varieties that mattered in the history of rose breeding. The tree collection runs to nearly 1500 specimens. There is a bonsai collection of more than a hundred trees and shrubs on its own terrace, and an olive collection that includes the individual tree used for the first complete sequencing of the olive genome.

The garden publishes no suggested visit length, so ninety minutes is this guide's own figure rather than the operator's. Eight hectares on three terraces is a small site by botanical garden standards and a large one by central Madrid standards, and ninety minutes is what it takes to walk all three terraces without hurrying, spend ten minutes inside the Castroviejo greenhouse and read a reasonable number of labels. An hour is enough if the aim is the rose garden and the lower terrace only, which is the part nearest the Prado gate.

The garden opens at 10:00 throughout the year, except on 1 January and 25 December, but the closing hour depends on the month. It closes at 18:00 in January, February, November and December; 19:00 in March and October; 20:00 in April and September; and 21:00 from May through August. In October, plan around a 19:00 close, not the summer 21:00 time. Tickets, greenhouses, the bonsai terrace and exhibitions close 30 minutes before the garden, when visitors also begin to leave. These are regular hours, so check the operator's practical guide for a special closure before setting out.

Standard garden admission is €4 without a Villanueva Pavilion exhibition. The operator lists a €1 reduced rate for eligible students aged 18–25, adults in large families and visitors over 65, with proof; under-18s and several other eligible groups enter free with the required evidence. Tuesday entry is free from 10:00 to 13:30. Some temporary exhibitions in the Villanueva Pavilion add €2–€5 even to a garden ticket. The ordinary ticket covers the garden, greenhouses, Cavanilles lecture room and Bonsai Greenhouse exhibition room, but it does not automatically include every pavilion show. Buy at the Murillo gate or the garden's own ticket site and check the exact exhibition you intend to see.

Go to Plaza de Murillo 2, immediately beside the Prado Museum. Visitors enter only through Puerta de Murillo, the gate facing the Prado; the Calle de Claudio Moyano entrance belongs to the research building and is reserved for staff and visiting researchers. This distinction matters if you are arriving from Atocha or pairing the garden with the Prado: navigate to the public gate, not just the garden's map pin. The operator says public transport reaches the area easily but does not prescribe a single route for every starting point. An accessible garden map is available; choose its ramped paths rather than assuming every shortcut between the terraces is step-free.

Treat this as a living plant museum. Stay on the paths, leave planted beds and work areas alone, do not pick plants or feed the animals, and keep food to the café area rather than picnicking on the grounds. Smoking, bicycles, skates and balls are not permitted; only guide dogs may accompany visitors. Children under 14 need an adult. The garden's paths include dirt surfaces that can become muddy or uneven after rain, and some terrace approaches use steps, although alternatives with ramps reach every terrace. If the Villanueva Pavilion is part of your visit, its side ramp requires staff to open that entrance, so ask before following the main stone steps.

Informal personal photographs are allowed in the garden if you protect plants and keep paths clear for staff and other visitors. Photographs are also permitted inside the greenhouses, but tripods and other supports are not. The operator does not permit photography of exhibitions in the Villanueva Pavilion, a rule that is easy to miss when moving indoors from the outdoor beds. Commercial filming and photography need prior arrangement with the garden. For an ordinary visit, the terraces, planted collections and historic buildings give different subjects, but the permission changes by space; check signs at an exhibition entrance before lifting the camera.