GETTING TO MADRID
Air
Visitors can fly direct from overseas to
Madrid's Barajas International Airport
(MAD). This airport is also Spain's most
important international and domestic getaway
center. Both Iberia Airlines and Spanair have
their principal hub and maintainance base here.
Close to 40 million passengers arrive at this
airport annually, and currently the fourth
terminal and additional 2 runways are being
constructed to enhance the airport's capacity.
The Barajas airport is located 15 km or 9
miles from the city center, and there are plenty
of ground transportations between the two
places. Metered taxis are abundant outside the
terminals with a usual fare into town averaging
around 20
€. Alternatively, you can also take
metro line number 8 from inside terminal 2 to
downtown for 1.15
€ one-way. There are also buses leaving
the airport every 10-15 minutes to Plaza de
Colon in downtown, and they operate from 5.45 am
to 9.30 pm.
Train
The national rail is administered by
RENFE (Red Nacional de Ferrocarriles
Espanoles), and there are several lines that run
to Madrid from other cities on a daily basis.
Its north station, Chamartin (+ 34 91 315 9976)
receive trains arriving from the north whereas
trains from abroad (including the high-speed
AVE) and from the south chug into Atocha (+ 34
91 328 9020) which is the south station. Many
trains stop at both stations.
For train
schedule or online train booking, check out
RENFE's website at
http://horarios.renfe.es/hir/ingles.html.
If you are coming from France, it may be worth
getting a France 'n Spain pass from Eurail which
offers unlimited travel throughout France and
Spain under a specific time period.
Bus
Buses to Madrid pull into the main bus
station Estacion Sur de Autobuses (+34 91
468 4200) which is south of the city center.
Buses are the cheapest form of transportation,
and the Alsa-Entacar bus company which arrives
at Madrid from every direction is part of
Eurolines/National Express which services all of
Europe.
Car
The central location of Madrid makes the
city easy to access by car. There are 6
principal highways entering and leaving the
city. Freeways begin with the letter "A"
whereas the two-lane national routes begine with
the letter "N."
- N-I (Burgos Highway)
This route connects Madrid to Burgos and
Santander, to the cities of the Basque
regions, to France via Irun, and to the
ferries from the British Isles. The highway
is known in another name as "Autovia del
Norte."
- N-II (Barcelona Highway)
This route is a direct highway to
Barcelona and the Costa Brava, via
Guadalajara, Zaragoza, through the Monegros
desert, and Lerida. Also connects to
southern France via Portbou.
- N-III (Valencia Highway)
This route is used from traveling to and
from Murcia, Albacete, Cuenca, and the
following Mediterranean cities/coastal
areas: Alicante, Valencia, and Castellon.
- N-IV (Andalucia Highway)
Used for traveling to and from Ciudad
Real, Cordoba, Seville, Jaen, Malaga,
Granada, Jerez de la Frontera, Tarifa,
Cadiz, the resorts on the Costal del Sol and
the Costa Calida, Gibraltar, and the ferries
to Morocco.
- N-V (Extremadura Highway)
This is a highway to Trujillo, Caceres,
Talavera, Badajoz, Merida, and Lisbon and
southern Portugal. This route can also be
used alternatively to western Andalucia.
- N-VI (A Coruna Highway)
This highway is a route to Avila,
Salamanca, El Escorial, Segovia, Zamora,
Leon, Valladolid, the cities of Galicia and
Asturias, and northern Portugal.
In addition to these 6 highways, there are
also two major ring roads, the inner one is
known as the M30, the outer one known as the
M40. Both of these ring roads surround Madrid
and connect with every major route into the
city. |