Christian Hiriart
The Camino keeps calling.
- Time of past OR future Camino
- Frances September (2016) St. Jean to Leon
Planning for the next...
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Good info here, thanks guys.
I'm flying back home from Barajas after my Camino, I was wandering how to get from Santiago to Madrid. I was also wanting to stay in Madrid for a day or two as I'm interested in visiting El Prado and if time permits The Escorial, Valle de los Caidos. Any tips would be appreciated.
Chris
Laurie, how much do flights usually cost? I should try that sometime.Hi, Christian,
I usually just fly into Madrid from Santiago early in the morning and make my connection without leaving the airport. But if I want to spend some time in Madrid after walking, I personally like the train option. I've taken the night train (tren hotel, it's called) which gets you to Madrid early in the morning. I then go leave my pack at my hotel and have the whole day ahead of me. You can get really good rates, my most recent trip on this train was probably in 2011 and I think I paid some ridiculous price like 27 € for a bunk in a compartment with three other people (and much to my delight, the bunk compartments are now sex-segregated unless you are a group and want to be together). There are cheap flights on airlines like Easy Jet, Ryan Air, etc. And of course there are buses. So you have a lot of choices.
I would stay in Madrid somewhere near Puerta del Sol so you can then hop on the Cercanías train to get back out to the airport quickly. That also gives you easy walking access to many of the main tourist sites in Madrid.
Buen camino, Laurie
I stayed at Madrid Motion Hostel last time. http://www.motionhostels.com/en/hostel.html It's right between Gran Via and Sol metro stops. I booked it through Booking.com. The good stuff - location, cafe/bar downstairs was not bad, big breakfast with American style coffee, free 3 hr walking tour, comfy bunks, en suite bathrooms, elevator, lockable storage lockers, plus post check out luggage storage and you can choose how many people/bunks in your room. The bad stuff - it was kind of grimy (but you do get freshly laundered sheets at check-in and make your own bed), and the WiFi was non-existent even sitting next to the router. There is a McD's right across Gran Via if you need good WiFi.Good info here, thanks guys.
I'm flying back home from Barajas after my Camino, I was wandering how to get from Santiago to Madrid. I was also wanting to stay in Madrid for a day or two as I'm interested in visiting El Prado and if time permits The Escorial, Valle de los Caidos. Any tips would be appreciated.
Chris
Do not trust Alsa to get you to the airport from Santiago if you take an overnight bus. In November, I bought a ticket from Santiago to Terminal 4 at the airport(I still have the ticket), but the trip terminated at the downtown bus depot, with Alsa not providing any transportation to the airport. It is not difficult to get to the airport from there, but you must allow an hour, as trains run every half an hour and take half an hour. Allow for extra time to get to the airport, wherever your ticket promises to take you.
Check the ALSA schedule to find its itenerary. ALSA provides service from Santiago to various stations in Madrid which may include one or more of Intercambiador de Moncloa, Estacion Sur, and T4 Barajas. Most of the buses providing service from Santiago do not go to T4.
Getting stranded at the wrong place in Madrid would be easy enough for anyone who does not have familiarity with the system.
Madrid Metro connects Moncloa and Estacion Sur (via Mendez Alvaro station) to the Airport. The routing involves several transfers which are easy enough to do but it does take as much as an hour.
I think it is important that people should be aware that Alsa is still selling tickets on on a daily schedule for the 9:30 pm overnight bus from Santiago to Madrid - Barajas T4, supposedly with no transfers. I bought such a ticket, for a particular day. But it did not go there. I could very easily have missed my flight back to Canada if I had not allowed hours of extra time, just in case. This is not a matter of my having got the schedule wrong, as is clear enough on my ticket, since it was a reserved seat for a specific day to terminal 4 at the airport.
Thanks, that is a good tip.... I was at the Prado almost 40 years ago, things have change some since and I really wanted to go back at some point... I was single then and care free, now with a wife I love, 3 kids and 4 grandkids so things have changed some...Remember the Prado has free entry from 6pm. The queues to get in are formidably long but move so quickly you are in within ten minutes once the doors open. We like going every evening we are in Madrid - we do other things during the day, then have a snack as we stand in line under the trees about 5:30, then dinner afterwards.
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