Helllp! I am a neurotic Montana Mom trying to figure out how to get my son from the Madrid Barajas Airport to the bus that will transport him to Oviedo.

Hi katblu! Welcome to our message board!

I've got your answers right here but first a question to you: How much luggage will your son be "lugging"? If a lot, he may want to take a taxi from the airport. But if not much to LUG, he can take the metro (web: http://www.metromadrid.es - English version available) directly from the airport to the bus station.

The bus station from which he'll depart would be the Estación Sur de Autobuses (web: http://www.estaciondeautobuses.com/ - English version available) which is at the Méndez Alvaro METRO station/stop - there's a metro stop UNDER the bus station. It is from THIS station, on the south side of Madrid, that the bus company Alsa-Enactar (web: http://www.alsa.es - English version available ) will take your son to Oviedo.

Really, by metro and taxi are the only options to go to the Estación Sur de Autobuses from the airport.

Best of luck to you and your son. Hope he has a pleasant visit.

Saludos, MadridMan

Actually, there's another option that combines metro and commuter train and it's faster and more suitable carrying big luggage that metro only, because both the Metro L8 and the Cercanias trains have places to fit the bags. And at Mendez Alvaro, if the metro station is UNDER the bus station, the train station is just OVER it

The trip would be this way:
- Metro line 8 from Airport to Nuevos Ministerios (12 min., trains every 5 minutes)
- Transfer to Cercanias Renfe (the commuter train system). Both Cercanias and Metro even share a platform separated by turnstiles, so the transfer is pretty easy.
- Take any train of the C7 or C10 lines Southbound to Mendez Alvaro (12 min., trains every 15 minutes)

Total cost of the trip: 1.35 EUR for a single trip Metro ticket plus 1.00 EUR for a single Cercanias ticket.

Hello Katblu!!! I grew up 100 miles north of you on a ranch near Grass Range. We bought our groceries once a month in Billings.

Don't worry about your son. It is easy to do the whole thing using the metro. If that worries you then hire Aerocity . It costs more but they will deliver him directly to the bus station.

I have done both and prefer using the metro. I buy the 10 pass card because we always end our trips in Madrid and it is easy to have. Tickets are easy to buy and the metro is easy to find. The only catch is if he has more luggage than he can easily carry. If that is the case then he should use Aerocity.

Feel free to email me or call if you need to talk about it.

By the way, I would probably NOT use a taxi because their pricing can be a bit sketchy. Metro pricing is set and Aerocity will give you a firm price which you pay in Euros once you get to the bus station.

Is your son going to attend school in Spain?