Madrid is a large city, but it has the advantage of having most of its monuments, museums and points of interest concentrated within a relatively small central area, meaning you can explore it on foot.
Video 1. How to use the public transportation card (Abono) in Madrid (YouTube link)
Video 2. HOW TO BUY THE METRO TICKET IN MADRID, SPAIN (YouTube link)
How to Get Around[1]
Buses are also a good option. They operate from approximately 6 am to 11:30 pm on Mondays to Fridays and run on special bus lanes in the city's principal streets. Bus routes and their frequency are displayed at the stops. You can travel with rucksacks (as long as they are held in the hand and not on the back), with suitcases (the same size as airline hand luggage) and with folding bicycles. On Saturdays and Sundays they run from approximately 7 am to 11 pm.To get around at night there are special night buses, popularly known as "búhos" ("owls"). They depart from Plaza de Cibeles square and have an 'N' in front of the route number. They run from Sunday to Friday and on public holidays from 11:55 pm to 6 am. On Saturdays and the eve of public holidays they run from 11 pm to 7 am.
Nevertheless, many people prefer the comfort of taxis when travelling at night. They run all day, and are white with a red stripe, and the city's crest and their licence number on the side. They can be hailed in the street when the green light is on. Otherwise they can be found at taxi ranks or you can order them by telephone using the radio taxi service. Tariffs are displayed inside the taxis and comprise the minimum fare, flag-down charge, kilometre charge and other extras such as night service, public holidays, and station or airport service. The total cost is displayed on a meter.
To get to Madrid's suburbs and surrounding areas, you can either take the bus or the train. Renfe Cercanias, the local train service, runs from 5-6 am to around midnight, and offers frequent daily services to places of interest for tourists such as Alcalá de Henares, El Escorial and Aranjuez.
Madrid Metro
The Madrid Metro (Spanish: Metro de Madrid) is a rapid transit system serving the city of Madrid, capital of Spain. Unlike normal Spanish road and rail traffic, which use right hand drive, Madrid Metro trains use left-hand running on all lines because traffic in Madrid drove on the left until 1924, well after the Madrid Metro started operation. The Madrid Metro operates every day from 6:00 am until 1:30 am.
Lines
The Metro network has 302 stations on 13 lines plus one branch line, totalling 294 kilometres (183 mi),of which approximately 96% of stations are underground. The only surface parts are between Empalme and west of Eugenia de Montijo (
); between Lago and north of Casa de Campo (
); and between south of Puerta de Arganda and Arganda del Rey (
), for a total of 8 aboveground stations. Additionally, some 30 km of Metro Ligero (modern tram) lines serve the various regions of the metropolitan area which have been deemed not populated enough to justify the extraordinary spending of new Metro lines. Most of the ML track length is on surface, usually running on platforms separated from normal road traffic. However, ML1 line has some underground stretches and stations.
Nevertheless, many people prefer the comfort of taxis when travelling at night. They run all day, and are white with a red stripe, and the city's crest and their licence number on the side. They can be hailed in the street when the green light is on. Otherwise they can be found at taxi ranks or you can order them by telephone using the radio taxi service. Tariffs are displayed inside the taxis and comprise the minimum fare, flag-down charge, kilometre charge and other extras such as night service, public holidays, and station or airport service. The total cost is displayed on a meter.
To get to Madrid's suburbs and surrounding areas, you can either take the bus or the train. Renfe Cercanias, the local train service, runs from 5-6 am to around midnight, and offers frequent daily services to places of interest for tourists such as Alcalá de Henares, El Escorial and Aranjuez.
Video 3. How to use the Metro in Madrid Spain (YouTube link)
Madrid Metro
The Madrid Metro (Spanish: Metro de Madrid) is a rapid transit system serving the city of Madrid, capital of Spain. Unlike normal Spanish road and rail traffic, which use right hand drive, Madrid Metro trains use left-hand running on all lines because traffic in Madrid drove on the left until 1924, well after the Madrid Metro started operation. The Madrid Metro operates every day from 6:00 am until 1:30 am.
Lines
The Metro network has 302 stations on 13 lines plus one branch line, totalling 294 kilometres (183 mi),of which approximately 96% of stations are underground. The only surface parts are between Empalme and west of Eugenia de Montijo (
); between Lago and north of Casa de Campo (); and between south of Puerta de Arganda and Arganda del Rey (), for a total of 8 aboveground stations. Additionally, some 30 km of Metro Ligero (modern tram) lines serve the various regions of the metropolitan area which have been deemed not populated enough to justify the extraordinary spending of new Metro lines. Most of the ML track length is on surface, usually running on platforms separated from normal road traffic. However, ML1 line has some underground stretches and stations.
Traditionally, the Madrid metro was restricted to the city proper, but today nearly one third of its track length runs outside the border of the Madrid municipality. Today, the Metro network is divided in six regions:[2]
- MetroMadrid (zone A): the core network inside the Madrid city borders, with over two thirds of the overall length. Also includes light rail line 1.
- MetroSur (zones B1 and B2): line 12 and the last two stations of line 10, Joaquín Vilumbrales and Puerta del Sur. Runs through the southern cities of Alcorcón, Leganés, Getafe, Fuenlabrada and Móstoles.
- MetroEste (zone B1): a prolongation of line 7 from Estadio Metropolitano to Hospital de Henares through the municipalities of Coslada and San Fernando de Henares.
- MetroNorte (zone B1): opened in 2007, includes the stretch of line 10 from La Granja to Hospital Infanta Sofía. Services the northern outskirts of Madrid and the towns of Alcobendas and San Sebastián de los Reyes. There is a train interchange inside the line at Tres Olivos station.
- MetrOeste (zones B1 and B2): comprised by light rail lines 2 and 3. Connects the towns of Pozuelo de Alarcón and Boadilla del Monte to line 10 at Colonia Jardín station.
- TFM (zones B1, B2 and B3): a prolongation of line 9 from Puerta de Arganda, the first ever outside the borders of Madrid, services the cities of Rivas-Vacíamadrid and Arganda del Rey.
 |
| Figure 1. Madrid Atocha Cercanias Station (City's Largest Station) |
Cercanías Madrid 
Madrid also has an extensive commuter train (Cercanías) network operated by Renfe, the national rail line, which is intermodal with the metro network. In fact, 22 Cercanías stations have connections to the Metro network, which is indicated on the official map by the Cercanías logo. Many of the new lines since 1999 have been built to link to or end at Cercanías stations, like the ML2 line, which ends at the Aravaca station providing a fast entry into Madrid though the C-7 or C-10 commuter lines and arriving in only one step to the bus and Metro hub Príncipe Pío (
). |
| Figure 2. Cercanías Madrid Map, November 2018 (click to enlarge) |
Lines
Nine lines serve the Cercanías network. There are three kinds of lines:
It can be argued that lines C-2 and C-8 are the same line, as usually the trains who finish C-8 line in Atocha will follow line C-2 to Guadalajara and vice versa; indeed, a C-2 train will be signed El Escorial or Cercedilla rather than Chamartín, and a C-8 train will rather be signed Guadalajara than Atocha.
There is no line C-6 because it was combined with line C-5.
In 2004 construction was begun on a second central line to link Atocha and Chamartín, to relieve the heavy traffic in the old tunnel (built during the 1930s and 1940s, when materials were scarce and poor). Opening on July 9, 2008, it included a new station at Sol of the Metro where trains stop instead of at Recoletos on the old line. The tunnel is now in use by the C-3 and C-4.
There is no line C-6 because it was combined with line C-5.
In 2004 construction was begun on a second central line to link Atocha and Chamartín, to relieve the heavy traffic in the old tunnel (built during the 1930s and 1940s, when materials were scarce and poor). Opening on July 9, 2008, it included a new station at Sol of the Metro where trains stop instead of at Recoletos on the old line. The tunnel is now in use by the C-3 and C-4.
References
- How to Get Around Madrid
- Metro and Light Rail Map
- Centenario Metro. Evolución de la Red de Metro 1919-2019 (pdf)
- How to use the Metro in Madrid Spain (Youtube)
- Metro Route Map
- HOW MUCH DOES TRANSPORT COST? (Important)
- European Travel Skills: Packing (Youtube)
- Carry-on: 9' x 22' x 14'
- European Travel Skills: Money & Safety (Youtube)
- You need roughly €100 per day while travel in Europe
- European Travel Skills: Transportation (Youtube)
- Airport Express Shuttle
- The buses, which pass through terminals, 1, 2 and 4, make three stops in the city: on the corner of O’Donnell and Doctor Esquerdo (metro O’Donnell), on Plaza de Cibeles (the square from which all night buses depart) and next to Atocha train station (only between 6am and 11.30pm).
- MADRID’S BEST PUBLIC BATHROOMS WHEN YOU GOTTA GO
- El Corte Inglés (department tore)
- Markets and city shopping malls
- Museums and Cultural Centers
- FNAC
- Madrid’s huge technology store near Callao and Sol
- They have a nice café too
- Casa del Libro (bookstore)
- McDonald’s
- Hotels
- ATMs at MAD airport
- Línea Exprés (the express bus) (line 203): Atocha railway station - Airport
- Taking an AVE train at Madrid Atocha – from the Cercanias
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