Personally when every I fly I take Areocity shuttle, with a dog, baggage backpack taking the metro just isn't an option. At 16 eruros (upt to 2 people) its a good deal.

Be aware of more closures coming soon this summer. Check out the map here .

For those who don't read Spanish, in a nutshell.

Half of line 7 (Avenida de América - Las Musas) will close down starting June 24, with free bus service which goes along that route. In September, for the entire month, ALL of line 7 will shut down. The purpose is to change the electrical general, which, I think, is old.

Palooka,

Those buses take you back to Avenida de América and from there, you have lines 4,6,7 and 9.

It's not bad, considering you won't get ripped off, probably, by a taxi driver and you pay a small fee.

Shawn

I arrived in Madrid on June 13. Took the Metro from Barajas to city center and had no problems. Did have to change at Mar de Cristal. Total cost .61 euros. What a great deal.

breibach, 0.61 Euros??? Could you elaborate please? I thought a one-pass metro ticket was ONE Euro.

Aaahhh.. Wait. NOW I get it. 0.61 Euros is ONE-TENTH the cost of a 10-trip METROBUS pass (6.15 Euros).

What was your total travel-time, briebach?

Saludos, MadridMan

I just found out that Pepecar is closing (temporarily?) closing their rental desk in Barajas (near the airport). All the reservations have been transfered to the Arturo Soria ofc. So can I still take the Metro to Mar de Cristal then change to Line 4 over to Arturo Soria? About how long would this take. We're a family of four about 3 suitcases plus carry-ons. If this is too much hassle, am also considering booking Aerocity for an express trip. What's recommended here?

Regarding my trip from the airport to Madrid the trip took about 50-60 minutes total. That was about 10 minute walk through the airport to metro station, perhaps 5 minute wait at the station, then 10 minutes to Mar de Cristal, perhaps another 6 minute walk to change lines, then a 20 minute ride to Diego de Leon, another switch of about 5 minutes, then a final ride of about 3 minutes to our destination at Nunez de Balboa. There were some places where the escalator did not work and we had to use stairs. This can be difficult with alot of luggage but we managed.

I'm with MM's previous post: take a cab! They're plentiful, to my travel mind not that expensive (about 18-20 euros, depending upon your desination) and each and every time I've done it had a lovely conversation with the driver. For me, it's always been worth a few extra euros to jump-start my spanish and not have to deal with dragging luggage up, down and everywhere. Perhaps I've never felt ripped off because I know the city and I speak the language, but I know of other first-time visitors who ended up with similar fares and positive experiences. But however you get to where you're going, ENJOY the lovely Spain that awaits you!

I would do the Metro thing.

First, because the summer closures of Metro don't affect you at all (just take line 8 from Aeropuerto to Mar de Cristal, change to line 4 until Arturo Soria, 6 stations total).

Second, because a taxi driver could get angry to drive you such a short distance. I know, he shouldn't care about the customer's destination, simply put the taximeter on and drive. But the fact is that they wait for long in the airport queues and, thus, expect to do a long drive that pays for the time they were waiting. So, if he discovers (and has no choice) that the route is short, in many cases the situation could be embarrassing.

As you are a family of four, what about two of you going to Pepecar by Metro while the other two keep the luggage in one of the Airport cafeterias while wait to be picked up?

I think we will probably do the metro thing. What's the best online place to figure out how to get from the Arturo Soria ofc back to M40 (once I'm there I can find the way....) My other 2 family members are kids so we're not spliting them up.