Casa de Campo: the lake and the pines
The great western park: the lake terraces, the cable-car arrival, and the city across the water. This is a Claude-drafted route awaiting the editor's walk.

1. El Lago and the terraces
Start at the boating lake, the social heart of the park, ringed with old-school terrace bars. Take a table on the water's edge for a drink and the view back across to the royal palace on its ridge — the postcard everyone gets here, and worth getting. Boats for hire if you want the water.

2. Teleférico arrival
The cable car from Argüelles lands on the hillside above the lake — a 1969 line that drifts over the river and the pines. You don't have to ride it; the arrival platform and its café give you the view down over the whole park. If you do ride, take it on the way in another day.

3. The pine woods
Strike west off the lake into the holm-oak and pine, where the park stops being a garden and becomes something closer to open country. Five times the size of Central Park, and most of it is this. Pick a track and follow it; the paths all loop back.

4. Cerro Garabitas viewpoint
The high ground of the park, the hill the Republican lines held in the Civil War. The climb is gentle and the reward is the city laid out east across the trees. Quiet on a weekday; bring water in summer, there's little shade on top.

5. Paseo del Embarcadero back to the water
Drop back east toward the lake on the broad central avenue, the pines closing overhead. A long, easy descent that gives the legs a rest after the hill. The lake reappears between the trunks ahead.

6. Lakeside to Casa de Campo station
Round the southern shore of the lake to the Casa de Campo metro, where lines 5 and 10 take you back. One last look across the water to the palace before you go underground. The terraces are still busy if you've time for one more drink.

Casa de Campo: the lake and the pines