Madrid's biggest park — 1,700 hectares of pine forest, scrub, and trails on the western edge of the city, more than five times the size of Hyde Park. The Casa de Campo was a royal hunting estate from the 16th century until 1931, when the new Republican government opened it to the public. The southern half is still semi-wild, with deer, wild boar, and good walking and cycling.
The park also contains the Madrid Zoo and Aquarium, the Parque de Atracciones amusement park, a large boating lake with rowing boats for hire, the Teleférico de Madrid cable car running from the Parque del Oeste, and a fairground that is the city's main spring fair (Feria de San Isidro). The park is best entered by the Teleférico for the view, by metro Lago, or by walking down from the Templo de Debod and across the Manzanares river.