Public transport system

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Madrid’s modern metro (www.metromadrid.es), Europe’s second largest, is a fast, efficient and safe way to navigate Madrid, and generally easier than getting to grips with bus routes.

Buses operated by Empresa Municipal de Transportes de Madrid (EMT; phone 902 507 850; www.emtmadrid.es) travel along most city routes regularly between about 6.30am and 11.30pm.

Madrid transport hubs

The Intercambiador de Autobuses de Moncloa (Plaza de la Moncloa; icon-metromMoncloa) has buses to many villages around the Comunidad de Madrid.
Estación de Atocha is the largest railway station in Madrid. It is the primary station serving commuter trains, regional trains from the south and southeast.
Other important hub are located near the Estación del Arte

Madrid Atocha

Large hub near the train station Atocha. The main stantion is Estación del Arte (formerly Atocha) is a station on Line 1 of the Madrid Metro and is located in Fare Zone A. The station is located beneath Charles V plaza, less than 500 meters from the Madrid Atocha railway station which serves commuter and long-distance trains. It is the nearest Metro station to the Paseo del Prado. It is located between the neighborhoods of Embajadores (Centro), Jerónimos (Retiro) and Atocha (Arganzuela).

Avenida de América

(Avenue of the Americas) is a multimodal station in Madrid, Spain that services Madrid Metro Line 4, Line 6, Line 7, and Line 9, as well as city buses and intercity and long-distance coaches. The station is located below the intersections of Avenida de América and Francisco Silvela and Príncipe de Vergara streets. The station consists of several underground levels, with the bus terminal located in the upper three and the Metro station located in the lower four. It serves the neighborhood of Prosperidad and El Viso in Chamartín district and La Guindalera in Salamanca district. It is about 15 minutes from Madrid Barajas Airport and 10 minutes from the city centre of Madrid.

Plaza de la Cibeles

Buses operated by Empresa Municipal de Transportes de Madrid (EMT; %902 507 850; www.emtmadrid.es) travel along most city routes regularly between about 6.30am and 11.30pm. Twenty-six night-bus búhos (owls) routes operate from 11.45pm to 5.30am, with all routes originating in Plaza de la Cibeles.

Madrid Getting to

Madrid’s Barajas Airport is one of Europe’s busiest and is served by almost 100 airlines. Direct flights – whether with low-cost carriers or other airlines – connect the city with destinations across Europe. A smaller but nonetheless significant number of airlines also fly into Madrid direct from the Americas, Asia and Africa, and there are plenty of domestic flights to Madrid from other Spanish cities. Flight times include less than one hour to Lisbon and around two hours to London, Paris and some Moroccan cities.
Within Spain, Madrid is the hub of the country’s outstanding bus and train network. Bus routes radiate into and out from the Spanish capital to all four corners of the country, and long-haul cross-border services fanning out across Europe, with some also going to Morocco. The ongoing expansion of Spain’s high-speed rail network has dramatically cut travel times between Madrid and the rest of the country. The rail link to Barcelona in particular has also brought Madrid that much closer to the rest of Europe and there are plans for a direct high-speed rail link between Paris and Madrid.

Madrid’s Barajas Airport

Madrid’s Adolfo Suárez Madrid-Barajas airport (phone: 902 404 704; www.aena.es; mAeropuerto T1, T2 & T3, Aeropuerto T4) lies 15km northeast of the city, and it’s Europe’s sixth-busiest hub, with almost 50 million passengers passing through here every year. Barajas has four terminals. Terminal 4 (T4) deals mainly with flights of Iberia and its partners, while the remainder leave from the conjoined T1, T2 and (rarely) T3. To match your airline with a terminal, visit the Adolfo Suárez Madrid-Barajas section of www.aena.es and click on ‘Airlines’. Although all airlines conduct check-in (facturación) at the airport’s departure areas, some also allow check-in at the Nuevos Ministerios metro stop and transport interchange in Madrid itself – ask your airline. There are car rental services, ATMs, money-exchange bureaus, pharmacies, tourist offices, left luggage offices and parking services at T1, T2 and T4.

Metro

One of the easiest ways into town from the airport is line 8 of the metro to the Nuevos Ministerios transport interchange, which connects with lines 10 and 6 and the local overground cercanías (local trains serving suburbs and nearby towns). It operates from 6.05am to 1.30am. A single ticket costs €4.50 including the €3 airport supplement. If you’re charging your public transport card with a 10-ride Metrobús ticket (€12.20), you’ll need to top it up with the €3 supplement if you’re travelling to/from the airport. The journey to Nuevos Ministerios takes around 15 minutes, around 25 minutes from T4.

The Exprés Aeropuerto

The Exprés Aeropuerto (Airport Express; www.emtmadrid.es; per person €5; h24hr; W) runs between Puerta de Atocha train station and the airport. From 11.30pm until 6am, departures are from the Plaza de Cibeles, not the train station. Departures take place every 13 to 20 minutes from the station or at night-time every 35 minutes from Plaza de Cibeles.
Alternatively, from T1, T2 and T3 take bus 200 to/from the Intercambiador de Avenida de América (mAv de América), the transport interchange on Avenida de América. A single ticket costs €4.50 including the €3 airport supplement. The first departures from the airport are at 5.10am (T1, T2 and T3). The last scheduled service from the airport is 11.30pm; buses leave every 12 to 20 minutes.
A free bus service connects all four airport terminals

Minibus

AeroCITY (phone: 91 747 75 70, 902 151654; www.aerocity.com; per person from €18, express service per minibus from €35; h24hr) is a private minibus service that takes you door-to-door between central Madrid and the airport (T1 in front of Arrivals Gate 2, T2 between gates 5 and 6, and T4 arrivals hall). You can reserve a seat or the entire minibus; the latter operates like a taxi. Book by phone or online.

Estación de Atocha

Madrid Atocha (Spanish: Estación de Madrid Atocha, also named Madrid Puerta de Atocha) is the largest railway station in Madrid. It is the primary station serving commuter trains (Cercanías), regional trains from the south and southeast, intercity trains from Navarre, Cádiz and Huelva (Andalusia) and La Rioja, and the AVE high speed trains from Girona, Tarragona and Barcelona (Catalonia), Huesca and Zaragoza (Aragon), Sevilla, Córdoba and Málaga (Andalusia), Valencia, Castellón and Alicante (Levante Region). These train services are run by the Spanish national rail company, Renfe. As of 2019, this station has daily services to Marseille in France.

Empresa Municipal de Transportes de Madrid

Not as easy to decipher as the metro, numerous bus routes (one-way/10-trip ticket €1.50/12.20) pass close to the station. For route maps check the website of the Empresa Municipal de Transportes de Madrid (EMT phone: 902 507 850; www.emtmadrid.es).

Renfe cercanías

The Atocha Renfe metro station (line 1; one-way/10-trip ticket €1.50/12.20), not to be confused with the nearby Atocha station, is inside the Renfe train station. From Atocha Renfe it’s 10 to 15 minutes to Sol station, with connections elsewhere via lines 2 and 3. Buy tickets from machines at the station. While the cercanías suburban rail network mostly services outlying suburbs, it does operate a useful service that connects Atocha Renfe with Sol, Nuevos Ministerios and Estación de Chamartín. If you have a connecting Renfe ticket, travel on the cercanías network is free. Buy your ticket by scanning your Renfe ticket bar code at one of the Renfe cercanías machines close to the platform exit.

Estación de Chamartín

North of the city centre, Estación de Chamartín (phone: 902 432343; Paseo de la Castellana; mChamartín) has numerous long-distance rail services, especially those to/from northern Spain. This is also where long-haul international trains arrive from Paris and Lisbon

Metro

Chamartín station has its own metro station (lines 1 and 10; one-way/10-trip ticket €1.50/12.20). From Chamartín station to Sol takes from 15 to 20 minutes with connections elsewhere via lines 2 and 3. Buy tickets from machines at the station. There’s also the Chamartín–Nuevos Ministerios–Sol–Atocha cercanías service that’s free if you have a connecting Renfe ticket. Again, there are dedicated machines for this service.

Bus

Numerous bus routes (one-way/10-trip ticket €1.50/12.20) pass close to the station. Check www.emtmadrid.es for route maps.

Estación Sur de Autobuses

Estación Sur de Autobuses (phone: 91 468 42 00; Calle de Méndez Álvaro 83; mMéndez Álvaro), just south of the M-30 ring road, is the city’s principal bus station. It serves most destinations to the south and many in other parts of the country. Most bus companies have a ticket office here, even if their buses depart from elsewhere. Avanzabus (phone: 902 020052; www.avanzabus.com) has services to Extremadura (eg Cáceres), Castilla y León (eg Salamanca and Zamora) and Valencia via Cuenca, as well as Lisbon, Portugal. All leave from Estación Sur.

Madrid’s modern metro

The bus station’s metro stop is Méndez Álvaro (line 6; one-way/10-trip ticket €1.50/12.20). To get to the central Sol station, take line 6 to Legazpi station and change to line 3. Buy tickets from machines at the station.