Off to Madrid in a couple of weeks' time and we fly in at about 10pm.

I've checked out MadridMan's transport page and see that the bus still runs at this time of night...but does the Metro still go that late??

Or would you just recommend a taxi or perhaps that AeroCity service he mentions?

Thanks.

Hi again, burgher! According to the official website for Madrid's metro @ http://www.metromadrid.es (DO NOT accidentally insert a .com in place of the .es -- which is what *I* just did! YIKES! :o ), the metro schedule from Barajas/AEROPUERTO (line #8) can be found
HERE , but if I were you, I'd go through the website to get the full scope of the above link.

In short, the average frequency between trains at the AEROPUERTO metro stop is as follows:

6:05 to 24:00 Every 4.5-7.5 minutes
24:00 to 02:00 Every 15 minutes

That NEW Madrid Metro website is REALLY great and in English too. NOTE: at the welcome screen, if you have a 15" monitor or smaller you WILL NOT be able to see the ENGLISH flag at the top right. If you fall into this category, hit your TAB key on your keyboard until you find it - hitting TAB jumps from clickable field to clickable field on any HTML webpage.

At your 10pm hour there would be few people on the metro so taking luggage shouldn't be a problem. However, I can't guess the safety of the metro stop where you'll have to get off and get on another connecting metro however. Should be fine, but..... it takes roughly an hour by metro to go from Barajas to Sol for example.

You might very well might want to consider the AeroCity shuttle service, but I'm not even sure how late they operate. Check their website for more info.

And remember, as you might have read on my Transportation , taxi drivers are authorized to charge 500 pesetas for airport pickups/dropoffs and there's also a per-luggage item charge as well as a "late night" charge (not sure if 11pm, the time you're likely to leave the airport from you 10pm arrival time, would apply or not) so, I'm not sure, you might pay 3,500-4,000 pesetas total.

Saludos, MadridMan

[ 05-07-2001: Message edited by: MadridMan ]

With an estimated arrival of 10 pm I would also recommend the Aerocity service.

Burgher -
I landed in Madrid early morning and used the Aerocity service - you can't beat it for efficiency, price and ease! Strongly recommend checking out the site or emailing them for information ... Cynthia's English is excellent if that is any concern when you (and if) you contact Aerocity. Have a great trip!

Can you make a reservation on Aerocity upon arriving at the airport, or is it necessary to make a reservation before?

You really should contact AeroCITY before arriving so they'll be sure to have space for you on their passenger van and so they can plan the route. If you've made a reservation and arrive late, you should call them on their toll free number (see their website) from the airport and they'll come to get you as soon as possible. Good luck! I used them last October and thought their service was excellent and so cheap!

Saludos, MadridMan

A few comments on Madridman's post:

• Madrid's subway website is not new. It's been around for a few years (since 1997 according to the home page). I remember visiting this page when I was in England two years ago.
• I do use a 15" monitor and I can see perfectly both flags. I guess people who can't see it are using a different resolution in their screens (the one recommend it as best viewed on the Metro website is 800x600 which incidentally, is the one I use).
• "Late night" charges are a bit different from what they used to be. Now, the meter runs faster from 10pm - 6am, but there is no additional fixed "night" supplement. For more information about taxi fares, have a look at this information from my site.

Regards,

Antonio

Thanks heaps for your recommendations ... think I will contact Aerocity in the near future. Your help is most welcome!

A few comments on Antonio's comments of my earlier post:

• Madrid's subway website IS new in that it's finally fully functional after so many years. Sure, it's been online a lonnnnng time, but with a "Under Construction" and with limited features and Spanish Only pages. For example, I would call THIS version of the message board NEW compared to the old version.
• Yes, you must have your pixels-per-inch settings different from mine at work which tells me that others probably have the same settings as mine and can't see all the screen. Mine is the best I can get due to inferior quality of monitor (I guess)
• And.... um.... So there! :p hehehe..

Kindest regards, MadridMan :p

I just booked a reservation for AeroCity thanks to your guys' recomendations on this site. I don't think I'd enjoy taking the metro with my two bags and multiple changes of metro lines. Seems that the shuttle will be quicker and easier. Then I can spend time getting to know the metro without my bags. Thanks.