Mad rush from Madrid Barajas Airport T1 to Madrid train stat

[JonM]

Hello,

My wife and I will arrive at Madrid Barajas Airport T1 at 8:30 in the morning after a lengthy international flight from California. We plan to continue our walk from last year in Astorga.
I doubt we could catch the 9:35 Alsa bus from T4 to Astorga.

Our options are:
1. Wait for the 14:45 Alsa bus from T4 to Astorga or ...

2. Rush through customs and catch the Metro to the Madrid train station for the Renfe 10:40 train to Astorga. If we miss that train, the next one leaves at 17:00.

Option 1 sounds safe and non-stressful. Has anyone tried getting of an international flight at T1 and going to the Madrid train station to catch a train within 2 hours of landing? Sounds crazy but is it possible? In terms of option 2; my wife thinks I have lost my mind. What do you think?

Cheers
Jon

 

[Whalleyranger]

I'd go with option one. In my experience baggage reclaim at Barajas isn't the fastest then you'll have passport control etc. Also the Metro station is a good 15 minutes walk away from T1 and it's always a mission to find a working ticket machine. Take your time when you land, find seats and read a book until the lunchtime bus. You're meant to be relaxing.

Sent from my GT-I9100P using Camino de Santiago Forum mobile app

 

[peregrina2000]

Obviously you can't plan on this, and the odds are really low, but if the stars align correctly, you might even be able to make the 9:35 bus to Astorga. The arrival time for the international flights varies widely, in my experience. I sometimes arrive in Madrid more than an hour early, and this is undoubtedly because the scheduled arrival time has a lot of time built in for delays. If that happens, especially if you aren't checking any luggage (which would be my recommendation for other reasons, but I won't go into that rant right now, ), if the immigration line happens to be short and fast, and if the shuttle to T4 magically appears when you walk out the door of T1, you might just make it.

I remember one year when I was on the bus from T4 to the Avenida de Americas bus station around a half hour after my arrival, so it can happen.

For the train option, since you're arriving in T1 I think that the metro to Chamartin is the best way to go. From T1 it will take you a total of 35-40 minutes. From T4, the Cercanias train is much faster. That train runs only once every half hour but it gets you from the airport to the train station in about 12 minutes. But if you add on your transfer time from T1 you are not going to save much if any time this way. Again, with an early arrival in the airport, you might make the earlier train.

But I think the more realistic possibility is that you will wind up on the 14:45 bus. :?

 

[JonM]

Dear Whalleyranger and Peregrina 2000,

Thank you for the replies, I guess we will wait at the airport for the afternoon bus to Astorga.

Cheers,
Jon