Getting to Madrid by Train

como_llegar_en_tren.jpg

Madrid is the main geographical hub for rail travel in Spain. Thanks to its central location, Madrid is the hub for most of the railway services that connect the peninsula. The two main stations are Atocha and Madrid - Chamartín - Clara Campoamor, with Mid-Distance, Long Distance, High Speed and Regional trains. Renfe, a public entity that reports to the Ministry of Transport, Mobility and Urban Agenda, is the main railway operator in Spain, although the rail network has been deregulated in recent years and several private companies (OUIGO and IRYO) also offer services.

High-speed and long-distance services

Spain boasts an advanced high-speed network, amounting to almost 4,000 km, linking forty cities by AVE train, which travels at an average speed of 222 km/h (a further 18 cities are connected with Alvia trains -which combine high-speed sections with other slower sections-)

The main high-speed rail services travelling to or from Madrid are:

Madrid - Zaragoza - Lleida – Tarragona – Barcelona – Girona - Figueras // Around 1 hour and 20 minutes to Zaragoza, 2 hours and 10 minutes to Lleida, 2 hours 40 minutes to Tarragona and around 3 hours to Barcelona.
Madrid - Cuenca – Albacete - Villena - Alicante // Alicante in 2h20min
Madrid – Cuenca – Requena – Valencia // Around 50 minutes to Cuenca, 1 hour and 15 minutes to Requena and1 hour and 35 minutes to Valencia.
Madrid – Cordoba – Antequera - Granada // Around 3 hours and 20 minutes to Granada
Madrid – Cordoba – Antequera - Málaga // Around 1 hour and 50 minutes to Córdoba and 2 hours and 30 minutes to Málaga.
Madrid – Ciudad Real – Cordoba – Seville // Around 1 hour to Ciudad Real, 2 hours to Córdoba and 2 hours and 40 minutes to Seville.
Madrid – Segovia – Valladolid – Palencia – Leon // Around 26 minutes to Segovia, 1 hour to Valladolid, 1 hour 20 minutes to Palencia and 2 hours to Leon
Madrid – Zamora - Ourense // Around 2 hours and 15 minutes to Ourense

Map of Ave and Long Distance Lines

Mid-Distance

Mid-Distance services enable passengers to reach the city from anywhere in Spain. Regional lines connect different provinces within the same autonomous community, as well as to adjacent ones.

Lines departing from or arriving in Madrid are:

Madrid – Ciudad Real – Puertollano
Madrid – Toledo
Madrid - Segovia – Valladolid
Madrid - Cuenca
Madrid – Avila
Madrid – Segovia
Madrid – Soria
Madrid – Zaragoza
Madrid - Salamanca
Madrid – Valladolid - Leon
Madrid – Cuenca – Valencia
Madrid – Alcazar – Albacete – Valencia
Madrid – Ciudad Real – Jaen
Madrid – Ciudad Real – Badajoz
Madrid – Caceres – Badajoz

Download the Map of the Mid-Distance network

IRYO

Leading private Spanish operator made up of Trenitalia, Air Nostrum and Globalvía, which operates on the 5 main high-speed corridors with 70 daily connections, whereby it is the second Spanish high-speed operator. Iryo high-speed trains run the following services:

Madrid-Zaragoza-Barcelona
Madrid-Cuenca-Valencia
Madrid-Cuenca-Albacete-Alicante
Madrid-Cordoba-Seville
Madrid-Cordoba-Málaga

AVLO TRAIN

Renfe low-cost train that enables passengers to travel at the best price with all of the convenience. More than 400 places with reclining seats, sockets in each seat, a reading light, spaces for luggage and toilets for people with reduced mobility. It runs high-speed services between Barcelona, Calatayud, Camp de Tarragona, Figueres, Girona, Guadalajara, Lleida, Madrid and Zaragoza from € 7.

OUIGO

Low cost high speed trains to Madrid, Barcelona, Zaragoza, Valencia, Tarragona, Alicante and Albacete on rapid and pleasant journeys. Soon, there will be trains to Cordoba, Seville and Malaga.

International destinations

Madrid (Puerta de Atocha) – Marseilles (San Carlos): a high-speed AVE train by Renfe, departing every day on a 7-hour journey that stops at other French cities: Perpignan, Narbonne, Béziers, Montpellier, Nîmes, Avignon and Aix-en-Provence.