From Paris to Athens, we pick hidden havens to escape the summer heat and tourist crowds
El Capricho, on the outskirts of Madrid, is one of the city’s lesser-known parks. It was built in 1784 by the Duke and Duchess of Osuna, and visited by 18th-century artists such as Francisco de Goya. Its 17-hectare gardens were designed by Jean Baptiste Mulot, who also worked on the Petit Trianon gardens at the Palace of Versailles. They are in three sections: Italian, French and English landscape. The park also has a small lake, a labyrinth, a bandstand and a mansion. One fascinating feature is an underground bunker, built in 1937 during the Spanish civil war – there are free guided tours at weekends.
Open weekends and public holidays, 9am-9pm, April to September, then 9am-6.30pm, October to March, esmadrid.com
You’re never far from a garden in London: 20% of the city is public green space, including about 3,000 parks, and it became the world’s first National Park City in 2019. As well as eight royal parks and vast areas of greenery such as Hampstead Heath, the city has numerous hidden havens. One of them is the tiny Onion Garden near Victoria Station and St James’s Park. According to the tour guide Jack Chesher, it was a “derelict concrete corner” until late 2021, when it began to be transformed into the “hanging gardens of Westminster”. The pocket park now has more than 200 species of plants – including a fair few onions – and displays artworks such as mosaic wall art and sculptures. There is a cafe and events including singing, craft workshops and poetry recitals.
