I am in Madrid and walked past Atocha station. You cannot enter from the front entrance (barricaded). You can only use the side entrances on the two sides of the station. This means adding 3 minutes to your trip from your hotel to the train platform. Please note.
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3 posts
Thank you, my family will be there in a couple weeks, but arriving first so we can at least check it out for ourselves :)
Posted by
Huntington Beach CA
1162 posts
We arrived there last April with the construction going on. It took us forever to figure out how to find the right exit to the taxi stand! So definitely allow for extra time.
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Citizen of the World
2014 posts
Atocha is unrecognizable today. While it previously was easy to get your bearings at the station and fairly simple to get where you wanted to go— the construction blocks any chance of seeing beyond the section of the train station you’re already in. It’s as though you’re walking through a tunnel without knowing what is up ahead and without much signage giving you directions. It is very disorienting. Be sure to give yourself at least 30 minutes to find your train platform once you arrive outside the station or inside by Metro or Cercanias train. There are helpful train station employees in bright uniforms who are multi-lingual and they can help direct you to your train.
Madrid’s Chamartin-Clara-Campoamor train station is also a mess undergoing a major multi-billion euro reconstruction to modernize it and relocate the train station underground.
Give yourself extra time at both of these train stations so you are able to make your train on time.