Video -Getting from Madrid (MAD)airport to Renfe AtochaTrain Station + how to purchase a ticket

[DeadFred]

Video .. getting from MAD to Train Station

How to buy a ticket at the Madrid Atocha train station

 

[whariwharangi]

Video 2 is more a lesson in how NOT to buy a ticket. It points to the advantages of having at least some Spanish.

I met people who had similar difficulty in getting an ATM to work ... they couldn't recognize the key needed to get them to a screen in English.

I wonder if the difficulties with the ticket dispenser have to do with the fact of the train to Salamanca leaving from Chamartin ... and so won't sell such a ticket to someone in Atocha.

 

[Holly]

I'm going to be one of those lost souls going from Madrid to SJDP in Sept. O Boy

 

[Phillypilgrim]

At the Madrid airport look for the yellow bus to get to the Atocha train station! It's easy.

 

[Phillypilgrim]

Okay, watched the second video. It is true that once in Atocha train station, you have to get a "number" exactly like standing in an American deli line!
One machine dispenses "numbers" for trains that day, the other machine for tickets in the future. I only figured this out with my translator app! When I was there last September I had a 40 min. wait until my number came up, but I was in no hurry as I was staying the night nearby (for jet lag) and heading for Pamplona the next day. When they call your number,then you buy your train ticket. So plan for this waiting time.