When you go: Madrid practicalities

I've described most of Madrid's main sights in previous posts, so here are some practical tips for folks making the trip.

Madrid-Barajas is the largest airport in Spain, serving as the key link between the country and its former colonies in Latin America. Over fifty million passengers travel through in a year, making it one of Europe's five busiest airports.

Flights from the UK to Madrid are offered by Ryanair, Easyjet, British Airways and Iberia. It also sounds fairly easy and enjoyable to make the trip from the UK by overnight sleeper train.

New terminals and extra runways added in the past few years have helped Madrid-Barajas earn the title 'Best Airport' recently in the Conde Nast Traveller Readers Awards. The size of the place means changing planes or heading into the city can take awhile. For instance, landing at Terminal 1 as we did means a long trek to the closest metro stop (there are only two, near Terminals 2 and 4).

The airport is about 10 miles out of town, linked to the city centre by an ultramodern underground metro system (although I hear there will be a rail link soon leaving from Terminal 4). Ticketing machines are multi-lingual and easy to use. A trip to or from the airport requires a small supplement of €1 on top of the standard fare.

A ticket good for 10 trips on the metro at the time cost €9 and can be shared with other people (the first person through the gate hands it back to the next person wanting to come through the barrier - there are no barriers when leaving stations, except at the airport). The ticket is also good on the local EMT bus network.

The metro system is easy to navigate with clean, comfortable and modern trains that put London's tube to shame. There are an astonishing number of intersecting lines though...

...so most journeys involve a bit of chopping and changing. Distances are short enough in the compact city centre that there is little need to rely on public transport. The same 10-journey ticket lasted the pair of us for our entire 5-day trip.

One of my obsessions when abroad is to stock up on cheap postcards (and good wine). Ever since the euro was introduced the price on tourist essentials has skyrocketed, with most merchants eager to rip off tourists. Ridiculous prices like €1/postcard seem to have become standard. After a little legwork I tracked down this souvenir shop which, by a stroke of marketing genius, is called Madrid Gift & Souvenirs.

Head west from Puerta del Sol down the pedestrianised avenue of Calle del Arenal to number 5 and you will find decent postcards as cheap as 8 for €1.

I make a point of spending as little as possible on postcards because of the cost in posting them overseas (in Spain at the time air mail stamps cost 80 cents each). The most central post office is in the Corte Ingles department store, off Puerta del Sol. You will need to go down an escalator to the basement, out a small door and through the underground carpark, following the trumpet and crown logo along the way.

After paying for food and lodging, the next most expensive part of the budget is sightseeing. Each of the Big Three art galleries charge hefty admission fees which comes as a rude awakening to those of us who are used to the national collections in Britain being free.

Certain people are entitled to free or discounted tickets (youth, students, the unemployed, over 65s, etc).

Admission to the Prado costs €8, although it is free in the evening on Tuesdays to Saturdays from 6-8pm and Sundays 5-8pm. CLOSED Mondays.

Thyssen-Bornemisza's entrance fee is €7, with no free hours that I could find. CLOSED Mondays.

Reina Sofia charges €6 but is free Monday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday evenings from 7-9pm, Saturdays 2.30-9pm and Sunday 10-2.30pm. CLOSED all day Tuesday and Sunday afternoons (so go here if you're in town on a Monday).

The free opening hours attract crowds in high season and you can't expect to spend the entire time in the museum. Rooms will be closed and guards hustle visitors along well before closing time. Regardless, it's a good way to spend extra time looking around if you've already been around the museum once, but I wouldn't recommend it if this is going to be your only visit.

Supposedly you can buy the Tarjeta Paseo del Arte (Paseo del Arte Card) at any one of the museums for a bargain €17.60 which allows one visit to each of the Big Three, but when I enquired about this at the Prado they couldn't sell me one.

Finally, if you fancy a daytrip, there are a number of options close by such as El Escorial, Segovia, Toledo and Avila. Each of these places are easily accessible by train and tickets can be very reasonable. A return journey to El Escorial at the time cost us about €6 each.

At the time of our visit Madrid lacked a truly central mainline train station, but it's only a short hop on the metro to Atocha or Chamartin stations. These are both hubs of the national network of high-speed trains which can take you to Toledo is less than a half hour (or even Barcelona in just over 2.5 hours). Commuter trains now stop at the new station under Puerta del Sol.

Slower regional trains leave from a separate building linked to Atocha station. Follow the logo which looks like a red C, which stands for the suburban Cercanias lines, if you're heading for the desinations that feature on this map (click to enlarge).
Atocha station is worth a look if you're travelling through or heading to Reina Sofia, which is around the corner. The old central hall is now a jungle of exotic trees.

The busy tables lined up next to the rain forest is a good example of how much the people of Madrid enjoy life. That's the number one tip I can give to anyone making the trip: slow down a spell and take it easy, there is always mañana!