One night in Madrid

[thismortalcoil]

Hello all!
I have just received my travel itinerary for my 6-month stay in Granada.
I will be flying from the USA to London, then London to Madrid. I will arrive in Madrid around noon local time, but to my jet-lagged body, it will be around 6 a.m. and I will have been traveling for around 15 hours! I think my best bet would be to stay that night in Madrid, rest, and then take the train to Granada the next day.

Does anyone have a recommendation of a reasonably-priced hotel where I could stay the night (Friday October 20th)? I will probably just want to rest up and not do much sightseeing, but I will have at least a week to see Madrid at the end of my stay in Spain!

Also, any tips on transportation to the hotel from the airport, then to the train station from the hotel, as well as tips/info on traveling to Andalucia by train would be greatly appreciated.

I am so EXCITED! ;D

Que tenga un buen dia,
Blair

[Marina]

I guess you will be traveling with a bit suitcase so the most convinient thing would be to find somewhere really close to a subway stop. Or even the train station. It would also be convienient to know if you are arriving to terminal 4 or terminal 1.

If you arrive to terminal 4 there is a bus that takes you to "Avenida de America" metro (http://www.metromadrid.es) stop. And from there you can continue in the metro.

If you arrive to terminal 1 you can take the metro straight away, the airport line, no 8, is closed at the moment but hopefully will be opened by the end of September.

Hotels near Atocha station, the one you need to go to Granada, tend to be pricy but I've found this one for a fair price considering that is 4 starts (http://www.bookings.net/hotel/es/agumarmadrid.en.html?aid=303998;label=google_aguma r_madrid) and is withing walking distance, if it is still pricy there is nice hostel up in calle atocha but I can't rememeber the name now (I'll post it later if I remember). For other acommodation options search the fouroms as some foreros have suggested the hostel they've stayed in when in Madrid.

You can travel to Granada by train (http://www.renfe.es/) or by bus (http://www.continental-auto.es/index.do), bus is usually a bit cheaper but the train is much nicer as you get to see more countryside and you can move around, which will be nice after a 15 hour flight.

If you need more help let us know!

[rob]

The Ministerio de Educación y Ciencia is putting me up in the Hotel Convención which is 4 stars and probably not that cheap since its baout 500m from the Retiro from what I have read.

Have you tried searching backpackers sites and for hostels in Madrid using google as they tend to have reviews of the facilities et al so you could find a good hostel thats safe and well kept etc while keeping the price down.

Marina, if you don't mind, could you answer me this question? How easy is it to travel on the Metro with a big suitcase? I need to go from Barajas to near the Goya/O'Donnell metro stations and I was thinking about using the Metro but if its anything like the underground in london I imagine it will be hell. Would you recommend the Metro, Bus or Taxi to do this journey?

[Marina]

Unless the airport bus takes you directly to where you are going to stay, which is not your case, I would discard this option as some bus drivers won't let you go in the bus with a big suitcase.

The metro is completely possible, but take into account that you might have bits without scalators so it would be very handy to have no more than two pieces of lugagge to manage those successfuly.

Taxi is always the easiest option, to go from Barajas to O'Donell, where your hotel is located, shouldn't be more than 23 Euros.

Rob, are you travelling then somewhere else or staying in Madrid?

[rob]

Thanks for the advice

I'm staying in Madrid for 3 days on a course then I'm going to Zaragoza on the AVE hopefully. I could fly but I've never been on a high speed train and its a good way to see a lot of Spain in a short time, even if you are passing through.

[guapo]

I'm staying in Madrid for 3 days on a course then I'm going to Zaragoza on the AVE hopefully. I could fly but I've never been on a high speed train and its a good way to see a lot of Spain in a short time, even if you are passing through.

defintely go for the train it is a lot easier and probably faster. If you are travelling on business go for the first class ticket as it will still be cheaper than an air-line ticket.

Book your tickets on-line before going (http://horarios.renfe.es/hir/ingles.html) as the trains can fill-up and the queue at the station can be long. I seem to remember that you still have to go to the ticket office at the station the first time but they have a separate queue for internet ticket collections that is a lot shorter than the usual queue. After the first time you can pick the tickets up as you board the train which is great.

Have fun.

[thismortalcoil]

Thank you for the tips! I will be dealing with quite a bit of luggage, so I will probably take a taxi and stay somewhere near Atocha.
Thanks again!

[rob]

It would seem that you can't pre-book AVE tickets via the website because of a variety of things. I only have on surname, my postcode is too long and I don't have a DNI.

It could be fun queuing for the AVE :O

Sorry for hijacking your thread thismortalcoil

[guapo]

It would seem that you can't pre-book AVE tickets via the website because of a variety of things. I only have on surname, my postcode is too long and I don't have a DNI.

don't remember how I got around those things but I have it done it a number of times fairly recently so it is possible. Will take another look and see if I can remember what I put.

[guapo]

just checked how I am registered and I put a "-" for the first name and my surname for the second name. I have my passport number as the ID card number and for the post code I have "12345" ;)