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All Spain Madrid Atocha Station Tropical Garden

Atocha Station Tropical Garden

A lush indoor jungle fills this bustling Madrid transportation hub.

Madrid, Spain

Added By
Mictlān Tēcutli
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Jardín Tropical Estación de Atocha.   Daderot/public domain
Jardín Tropical Estación de Atocha.   Daderot/public domain
View of the topical garden.   Daderot/public domain
View of one of the garden paths.   Concepcion AMAT ORTA…/cc by 3.0
Rescued turtles inhabit the gardens pools.   Raúl Ochoa/cc by-sa 2.0
The station jungle.   Daderot/public domain
Atocha station.   Felipe Gabaldón/cc by 2.0
Jardín Tropical Estación de Atocha.   Fred Romero/cc by 2.0
Early morning departure  
Atocha from the inside looking out   mocchiatto / Atlas Obscura User
Atocha Station Tropical Garden   Xavixavir / Atlas Obscura User
  mvives2468 / Atlas Obscura User
  sanprica / Atlas Obscura User
  sanprica / Atlas Obscura User
  sanprica / Atlas Obscura User
  sanprica / Atlas Obscura User
  sanprica / Atlas Obscura User
  sanprica / Atlas Obscura User
  seanjobst / Atlas Obscura User
  seanjobst / Atlas Obscura User
  seanjobst / Atlas Obscura User
  seanjobst / Atlas Obscura User
  seanjobst / Atlas Obscura User
Turtles   tenc49 / Atlas Obscura User
  Luis Morato / Atlas Obscura User
The old station is now a tropical garden   Luis Morato / Atlas Obscura User
Panoramic view   Luis Morato / Atlas Obscura User
  Marco Pagni from Firenze, Italia
  rbenn250 / Atlas Obscura User
Panoramic View   Luis Morato / Atlas Obscura User
  seanjobst / Atlas Obscura User
  seanjobst / Atlas Obscura User
  Luis Morato / Atlas Obscura User
  tenc49 / Atlas Obscura User
  tenc49 / Atlas Obscura User
View of the station jungle   Zarateman
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About

The winding paths and many benches within this garden make it the perfect place to kill time or hunker down with a cup of coffee or a book. The lush greenery is a wonderful escape from the chaos of Madrid. It’s so serene, you’d be forgiven for forgetting you’re in a bustling train station, surrounded by commuters dashing around to catch their trains.

This verdant garden was inaugurated in 1992. It fills an abandoned section of the building that was once the old Atocha train station before the transportation hub was expanded to include its high-speed train links. The sprawling garden contains 7,000 plants from more than 260 species.

In the arboretum section, you’ll find many plants native to tropical forests. Here, you’ll wander among breadfruit and coconut trees from Polynesia, royal palms and mahogany trees from Cuba, rubber trees from Brazil, banana trees from the Philippines, critically endangered palm bottle trees from the islands of the Indian Ocean, and an impressive traveler’s tree from Madagascar.

The plants in the garden's lower section are also originally denizens of the tropics and include African coffee plants, Central American cacao plants, and South American Heliconia flowers. A few stranger plants such as carnivorous plants, the Mexican fruit salad plant, South African bird of paradise flowers, and the endangered Ginkgo biloba plant from Japan can also be found growing here.

The water lily ponds used to be home to numerous North and South American freshwater turtles that were former pets. After the turtles were abandoned by their owners and thrown into the wild, biologists rescued them from Madrid’s waterways. Instead of treating them as invasive species and euthanizing them, the biologists gave the turtles a second shot at life and set them up in a fancy new home within the garden, where they wouldn’t cause any harm to members of the native Iberian ecosystems. However, in the spring of 2018, the turtles were relocated to a nearby wildlife park due to overcrowding and overpopulation of the ponds. 

Related Tags

Trains Transportation Gardens Turtles Plants Flora Tropical

Know Before You Go

Paths to enter the tropical garden are closed, however you can still view this lush wonderland from the sides, and the station's uppermost floors.

Entrance to the station is free. It's open everyday from 5 a.m. to 1 a.m.

Community Contributors

Added By

Monsieur Mictlan

Edited By

poppyoana, ravenina, seanjobst, Luis Morato...

  • poppyoana
  • ravenina
  • seanjobst
  • Luis Morato
  • rbenn250
  • tsmyther
  • tenc49
  • Xavixavir
  • mocchiatto
  • sanprica
  • mvives2468

Published

January 29, 2019

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Sources
  • http://www.madrid-guide-spain.com/madrid-trains.html
  • https://www.esmadrid.com/en/tourist-information/jardin-tropical-estacion-de-atocha
  • https://www.amusingplanet.com/2012/09/botanical-garden-inside-atocha-train.html
  • https://inhabitat.com/madrids-atocha-station-doubles-as-an-indoor-botanical-garden-and-turtle-sanctuary/
  • https://www.thelocal.es/20180119/madrids-atocha-railway-station-is-about-to-lose-its-famous-turtles/amp
Atocha Station Tropical Garden
24B Calle de Méndez Álvaro
Madrid
Spain
40.406781, -3.691206
Get Directions

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