Hi

Have a few questions.

I'd be taking overnight train from Barcelona to Madrid. The train will stop at Chamartin.

Train Schedule state it will arrive at Charmartin at 7.00 am.

Upon arrival at Chamartin, I would be taking the Metro to Conde de Casal, to catch the AutoRes Bus to Cuenca. I think there's a bus at 8.00 am.
Or maybe catch the train at Atocha.

My Qns are :
- Whether the RENFE trains are mostly on time ?

- How long does it take from Charmartin to reach downtown Metro Stns Atocha or Conde de Casal ?

- Would I be able to get the bus tickets to Cuenca if I just arrive minutes before the departure ?

Thanks people for all your help...

You may already have the Auto-res web address. If you speak Spanish, you could even reserve a ticket. You can find metro travel times on their web. From Charmartin to Atocha Renfe the estimate for a weekday at 7:00 is 30 minutes; 28 minutes to Conde de Casal. The frequent commuter trains between Charmartin and Atocha take 13 minutes. The train to Cuenca leaves Atocha at 8:50 a.m. daily, costs 9,15 €.

Hi,

my question is sort of related to this original post.

I will also be going to Cuenca from Barcelona. What is the fastest way? Is it from Barcelona to Madrid to Cuenca OR Barcelona to Valencia to Cuenca? We will be taking the trains.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

According to RENFE Website, these are the available connections from Barcelona to Cuenca (some of them through Valencia and some others through Madrid): http://horarios.renfe.es/hir/hjhir050.js...p;SF=3&ID=i

As the system requested me a specific date, I used Mar 31 2004. If you want to change it, just change the parameters AF=2004, MF=03 and DF=31 in the URL at your convenience. Be aware that, AFAIK, RENFE only have their schedule available on line until late June 2004. For further dates, you'll have to wait until May.

There's a bus between Barcelona and Cuenca too, Autocares Samas. Here's the schedule. (What's "Fin de Puentes?")

Here's something important too: you'll notice in the web page in Torrales post above that it doesn't show Chiyo's 7:00 arrival at Charmartin on the Costa Brava, and the possibility of the 8:50 Regional from Atocha to Cuenca. It only shows the direct connections through Atocha. So it's good to not only use the Renfe connections search ("to change"), but to pull up both legs independently, and see what is possible, for example Barcelona-Madrid , and Madrid-Cuenca.

In Spain, we call a "puente" (i.e. "bridge") a period of holidays that include a weekend and another public holiday. It can be a 3-days "puente" (public holiday is on Fri or Mon), or 4-days (public holiday is on Tue or Thu), or exceptionally a 5-days "puente" like it happens some years in Dec as the 6th and the 8th are public holidays, or in Madrid in May, as 1st and 2nd are holidays, too. In the 4 and 5 days case, people who can, take a day off.

The bus schedule referring to "fin de puente" means that if a weekday is the last day of a "puente", then the schedule is the same as if it were Sun.

Hey People !!!

THANKS for ALL ur Great help.

I didn't know that I can go from Barcelona, thr' Valencia, then to Cuenca. The journey is so much shorter than from what I had initially planned

With this arrangement, I can maybe even afford a short 1 day stay's at Valencia..

Time to do some real last min research...

Gracias, Torrales, for the explanation of "Fin de Puentes."

If you decide to stay one day in Valencia, visit the Ciudad de las Artes y las Ciencias (City of Arts and Sciences). Amazing architecture by Santiago Calatrava, the one who's going to build the new Transit Hub at the Ground Zero in New York. In the C.A.C. you are going to find, apart of zillions of places to take wonderful pictures, an Imax theatre, a Museum of Sciences, and an awesome aquarium (L'océanografic). The "Arts" part of the complex is still under construction and consists in a Palace of Arts, an enormous theatre with a shape that reminds that of an astronaut's helmet.

If you want to take a look at their Website (in English): http://www.cac.es/home.php?idioma=i

Hi everyone,

Thanks for all the replies! I love this website, everyone is so nice and helpful!