Maria Luisa Park

Maria Luisa Park is the most famous and most visited park in the city. It opened to the public for the first time on April 18, 1914. The park is one of the fundamental lungs of the city and its primary urban park. With 34 hectares in size, it is an ideal corner for local people and guests to rest in the shade of woods, stroll with loved ones on the trails or sit and appreciate the trilling of fowls, the Garden of the Lions, or the beautiful frog fountain.

The Maria Luisa Park was formerly a private garden of the Palace of San Telmo and was donated in 1893 by the Infanta Maria Luisa Fernanda de Borbon (Duchess of Montpensier) to the city. The Parks´ gardens have been designed by the French specialist Jean-Claude Nicolas Forestier, guardian of the Boulogne woodland in Paris, who gave it a sentimental touch.

The squares of Spain and America, built for the Ibero-American Exhibition of 1929, are integrated into the Maria Luisa Park and constitute its main attractions. Certain parts of Maria Luisa Park, such as the Glorieta de Los lotos, the Jardín de Los Leones, the Monument to Bécquer, and the Fuente de las Ranas are very famous all over the world.

If there’s one place that can make you feel you are acting in an Andalusian fairytale play, with the charm of this mystical city condensed into a few hundred square meters, then this is it. It’s no wonder that numerous movies and tv-series, both Spanish and Hollywood productions, have used this park as their backdrop. It is of course better seen and visited in the Spring when all the colors work in symphony to bring out the best of the park but make no mistake, every season agrees with it.