BY AIR
As the capital city, Madrid enjoys the best air connections in Spain, with direct flights to more international destinations than any other Spanish city.
Despite its size, Madrid is served by only one airport, Barajas, which recently added a fourth terminal to cope with the ever-growing number of passengers. Barajas is 15 km from the city centre and is connected to the city by metro line 8. The metro is the quickest form of transport from the airport to the city, taking only about 15 minutes, and there are metro stations in terminals 2 and 4. If you prefer not to take the metro, there are always plenty of taxis on hand outside the terminal buildings. These cost about 25 euros for a journey into the centre of the city. There are also a number of municipal bus routes which service the airport: Number 200 goes from terminals 1 and 2 to the bus station at Avenida de América.

BY TRAIN
Located right in the centre of the Iberian Peninsula, Madrid acts as the hub for all of the Spanish transport networks, and none more so than the train system, which offers fast, frequent services to all parts of mainland Spain. The pride of the railway network is the Ave, the high-speed train which is being rolled out on the major lines, drastically reducing journey times. You can now get from Madrid to Barcelona in 2.5 hours, while the journey to Zaragoza takes an hour and a quarter.
If you are coming into Madrid on the Ave, or most other regional services, you’ll almost certainly arrive at Atocha station, which is situated in the centre of the city. Most international train services, as well as a few regional trains (mainly those to the north of Spain) arrive at the Chamartin station which is in the north of the city. Chamartín is on line 10 of the metro, while Atocha is on line 1.
To travel between the two main stations, use the Renfe Cercanias train service, it’s much quicker than going by metro.

BY COACH
There are many different coach stations in Madrid although the most important is the Estación Sur de Autobuses which is located some distance from the centre, in the southern part of the city. The nearest metro station is Méndez Álvaro (line 6) which is also on the regional train network (Cercanias de RENFE)

BY CAR
If you are arriving by car, be aware that the major routes into Madrid are often affected by some form or other of infrastructure work, meaning lane restrictions and long delays. Even without the road works, there are certain times you’ll want to avoid, particularly 7-8am on weekday mornings or Sunday night, when madrileños return from a weekend away. If you are leaving the city, then clearly the evening rush-hour (7-9) and Friday afternoons (offices often close early on a Friday) are best avoided. In our apartment guides you’ll find details of the nearest car parks.

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