That points out one major flaw in the transportation net here. They are not wheel chair or stroller friendly. You see very few parents with strollers on the metro as it's soooo much work carrying them up and down all the stairs.

You would better do:
Airport to Nuevos Ministerios (line 8, pink)
NM to Alonso Martinez (line 10, navy blue)
AM to Callao (line 5, light green)

This way, you:
* save 3 stations (from Colombia to AM, your route is 6 stations long, mine 3)
* avoid transfer in Nuñez de Balboa that is a looooooooooong one.

All the stations built since mid-90's are totally accessible for persons of reduced mobility, as long as many others refurbished in that period (the full line 3, for instance). That makes more than 50% of the total network accessible. It is far more accessible than New York's or London's or Paris' to put examples of comparable cities and networks sizes and ages.

And I see parents with strollers in the Metro daily. Maybe the problem is that there are few childs born...

Thank you Torrales!

Looks great.

I have to go from Carabanchal (linea 11, metro stop San Francisco) to T4 at Barajas. however, my flight leaves at 6am. I know the metro closes at 1:30am, so does anyone have any advice on how I should get myself to the airport on a sunday?
thanks!!

There are buses that go overnight from Avenida de America (in the small hours they leave from a stop on the main street above the station)

Once the metro closes (around 2am), there is no public transportation to the airport other than taxi until the buses and metro start to operate the morning after around 6am. The night buses mentioned by other co-forumer don't get to any of the airport terminals.

That's not quite the case... There is a night bus (N4) that runs all night from Cibeles to Barajas (pueblo) (and passes Avenida de América). They run every 30-5 minutes during the week and every 20 minutes or so on the weekend.

http://www.emtmadrid.es/data/rlines/LINEAN4A.PDF
http://www.emtmadrid.es/data/rlines/LINEAN4B.PDF

You can see the map of the route here:

http://www.emtmadrid.es/emt/verlinea/...

Edit: This bus goes to the town of Barajas--closest to the terminal T3. Depending on the hour that you get there, there are shuttles from the town to the airport and between the terminals... It's probably not worth it if you are lugging a lot of stuff, but if you are going to meet someone before the metro opens, it's doable.

This is not the case of the original poster. I know the N4 bus, I already referenced it two months ago in this thread

I insist: in practical terms for a traveller, there is no public transportation to the airport other than taxi between 1:30a and 6a. None of the night buses (called owls) go to or pass by any of the airport terminals.

I don't want to be misunderstood, the reason I want to emphasize this is not because I want to be right and the others don't, but to avoid a flight loss to someone who could rely in those unexistant night buses.

True it isn't door to door. But if you are close to the route and don't have a lot of stuff to lug, it can save you a lot of money. I posted the info more for people who live here than for those passing through. A lot of us have to go to the airport to meet people arriving on international flights at the crack of dawn.

If someone didn't have the 30 euros for a taxi, then they could take the buho to Barajas village and get a much cheaper cab to the airport. It's feasible (though I can't say that I would do it if I were visiting Madrid). If I have to go meet people early arriving in the morning at the airport, I don't take a taxi. It's possible to get there by walking from where the N4 lets you off, then there is a shuttle that runs 24 hours between the terminals (though I'm not sure if it goes to T4...).