Madrid is a beautiful city lthe 365 days of the year (366 this 2024), but in Primavera, even more. While in summer people flee, in winter they shelter from the cold and in autumn they live in a constant post-holiday hangover; in the season that befalls us, the terraces are full of people, the parks and squares, of atmosphere – and in the autumn, they are full of people – and in the winter, they live in a constant post-vacation hangover and music– and the fields and gardens, of flowers. And it is precisely the latter that interests us today: flowers.
Seeing flowers in Madrid is not complicated. We can escape to any florist or strolling along Tirso de Molina one silly afternoon. But that is not the point. What we mean is seeing wildflowers or getting lost in a colorful garden. To enjoy sunflowers, poppies or tulips at their best, we need to know when they are in bloom and where we can find them. Two questions to which we fortunately have an answer.
Lavender
When we talk about lavender fields near Madrid, if you’ve been around the world – and on Instagram – in the last few years, the name of Brihuega. This town in the region of La Alcarria, in Guadalajara, has earned the nickname of “the Spanish Provence”. And rightly so.
Dedicated to the production of perfumes, this beautiful lavender field, less than 100 kilometers from Madrid, usually has its purple peak in June, the month in which it is open to the public and in which is celebrated a music festival where all attendees are dressed in white. A patriotic Midsommar but without the creepypart.
Although those of Brihuega are the best known, there is a lavender field in Madrid that is also worth a visit. It is located in Pezuela de Las Torres less than an hour from the capital.
🗓️ During the month of July
Margarita
He loves me. He doesn’t love me. He loves me. He doesn’t love me. He loves me! Daisies are the flowers of love – and heartbreak – and also one of the easiest flowers to find in the city. They are vigorous flowers that withstand very well the lack of water, the different temperatures and the poorest soils.
There are many daisies in Madrid. They can be found in parks such as El Retiro, El Capricho or the West or the length and breadth of Madrid Rio. Their flowering season is from March to September, although it is not unusual to find them all year round. As we say, it is a flower that can withstand anything you throw at it.
🗓️ From March to September
Poppy
In Pelayo Street, in the heart of the neighborhood of Chueca in October, there is a bookstore run by Laura Riñón called Amapolas (Poppies). Its name refers to one of the books written by its owner – buried, by the way, under the tiles of the establishment – but also to a very objective fact: there are poppies in October.
Poppies usually bloom at two times of the year: the first time from early April to May and the second time from September to October. Although where we can see the best and most is around the castles of Polán or Montalbán, in the province of Toledo; in the Community of Madrid we can find poppies -to a lesser extent- on the road from Rivas to Chinchón at the height of Morata de Tajuña or in the Vega del Jarama.
🗓️ From April to May and from September to October
Tulip
If you don’t know what flower to give, give tulips. They are the Beyoncé of flowers, they don’t need Michelle or Kelly, are enough by themselves to succeed in a bouquet. Natural, without the need for vases, although they are more typical of cities like Amsterdam, they can also be seen in Madrid.
Tulips in Madrid can be found mainly at the Royal Botanical Garden East 2024, which has more than 17,000 of these flowers in its flower beds. The center’s first tulips opened on March 19, as reported on their official X account, formerly Twitter, and hopefully, we will be able to enjoy them until the first days of summer.
🗓️ Late March through early June
Sunflower
Sunflowers are a fascinating flower: they move in search of the sun as the day progresses, their seeds are edible, their roots help clean up polluted soils and, to top it off, they dye landscapes the most beautiful yellow in Pantone’s catalog.
Unfortunately for us, there is no large sunflower field in Madrid, but there is one less than two hours from the city that can be reached by car it is well worth a trip. They can be found, for example, in the Altos Campos de Gómara, in the province of Soria, with more than 1,050 hectares, but also in Brihuega (Guadalajara), Campos de Belmonte (Cuenca) or Castillo de Malpica del Tajo (Toledo), among others.
🗓️ Mid-August to early autumn
Rosa
Apples are the protagonist fruit of any self-respecting fiction: Snow White fell into a deep sleep because of them and Buñuel used them as a symbol of eroticism. And roses are to flowers what apples are to fruit: they are every filmmaker’s favorite herb. We see her well protected at Beauty and the Beast and, in petal shower format, at American Beauty. Also at Alice in Wonderland where a complete rose garden appears where the queen of hearts walks around.
In Madrid there is a space similar to this one created by Lewis Carroll and later reinterpreted by Disney and Tim Burton, among others. It is the rose garden of Parque del Oeste, a beautiful garden full of roses that won the Garden Excellence award from the World Federation of Rose Societies in 2006. Undoubtedly, the perfect place to enjoy these flowers without having to leave the city.
🗓️ Depending on the type of rose: in Primavera, in spring and autumn or all year round
Cambroño
The most unknown of the list, the cambroño flower, is also one of the most autochthonous of the community of Madrid. Every year it usually tinges the fields of the Sierra de Guadarrama with yellow and turns them into a spectacle worth seeing.
From April 13 to May 12, takes place in the town of Los Molinos the fourth edition of the Cambroño Festival the park is an ode to the flowering of this great little shrub and offers activities of all kinds: from hiking trails to light aircraft flights and photography workshops. An event to vindicate and take care of a very local flower.
🗓️ From beginning of April to end of May or beginning of June
And many more… at Candlelight Spring
For those who, due to lack of car, time or antihistamines can not afford to travel to fields and gardens to see flowers near Madrid, this spring Candlelight has reinvented itself and has created Candlelight Spring the candlelight concert series is now also surrounded by hundreds of flowers.
A primavera’s beautiful spring plan where you can enjoy the colors of this time of the year while listening to magical tributes to artists such as Hans Zimmer, Coldplay or Taylor Swift.
🗓️ Throughout Primavera