British Airways and Iberia are the main carriers to Madrid from London (Heathrow and Gatwick) and Manchester; BA also flies from Birmingham. The best cut-price option is EasyJet, with regular flights from Liverpool and Luton. Flights from the UK take around two hours.
Iberia flies direct to Madrid from New York, Miami and Chicago. Delta Air Lines also fly from the East Coast. Air Europa offers less frequent but cheaper flights from New York. Flights from New York take around seven hours.
All the major European airlines fly to Madrid, including KLM, Air France, Lufthansa and Alitalia.
Madrid’s airport is 16 km (10 miles) east of the city. There are four terminals: Terminal 1 for international flights, Terminal 2 for national flights (except Iberia), Terminal 3 for regional flights and Terminals 4 and 4S for all Iberia and other international flights. T4 is accessible via free shuttle buses that leave from the other terminals. If your departure gate is located in T4S, check-in at T4 and take the automatic train to the T4S building. Facilities include banks, bureaux de change, ATMs, hotel and rail reservation services, pharmacies, tourist information, left-luggage, post office, shops, cafés, restaurants and car hire.
The 200 airport bus departs from terminals T1, T2 and T3 every 9–12 minutes to go to the Avenida de America coach station, as does the 204 from T4. Taxis into the city (road A-2) take at least 30 minutes, depending on traffic. The Barajas metro link (line 8) takes only 12 minutes to Nuevos Ministerios.
You can travel directly to Madrid from France or Portugal. The national Spanish rail operator is RENFE. Madrid’s two main railway stations are Estación de Chamartín in the north and Estación de Atocha in the south. Both are connected via the metro. Obtain tickets from stations, travel agents, or book them over the telephone or the Internet.
Chamartín serves trains from France, Catalonia and northern Spain. Facilities include money exchange, cafés, car hire, post office, tourist information, hotel reservation, and shopping centre.
Atocha serves trains from southern Spain and Portugal. The AVE terminal handles the services from Madrid to Seville, Màlaga, Toledo, Barcelona and Valladolid. The station has exchange facilities and shops.
The main coach station is Estación Sur de Autobuses. Travellers from France, Portugal and Spain’s major cities arrive here.
You
need two days to drive to Madrid from the UK, either via the cross-Channel ferry or the Channel tunnel. A third option is the ferry to northern Spain (Bilbao or Santander), followed by a four-hour drive to Madrid
from Bilbao and five-hour drive from Santander. Road conditions in Spain are
good, but expect heavy traffic on the outskirts of Madrid.
