Hello, My wife and i will be arriving on a Wednesday morning to Madrid airport at 8:30, the first week of February . I have looked and it appears the best way to get to Toledo that day would be by train thru Atocha station. Not knowing how long it will take to clear customs(no checked baggage) i am hesitant to secure tickets ahead of time. On the other hand i am concerned about the trains being booked and not available. Any helpful advise or thoughts would be appreciated. Thank you in advance .
Posted by
Washington DC
27187 posts
What I'd do in this situation is check renfe.com to see whether trains that morning are selling out. Start looking about a week before your travel date. If you see trains continuing to be available as the days go on, and up to the day before your trip, you'll be reasonably sure there will be no problem. I'd think a Wednesday morning at 10-11 AM (just my guess of when you might get to Atocha) will be no issue at all.
There's a train station at Atocha. They'll sell you a ticket or tickets into the city and on to Toledo. Let them know if for some reason you want extra time at Atocha Station (to buy food, for example). The Madrid-Toledo fare doesn't change, so you won't pay more than necessary by buying the ticket right before you travel.
In the event of some highly unexpected issue, there are also buses between Madrid and Toledo. They are quite a bit slower but perfectly serviceable. It's just that you have to get to the bus station at Plaza Eliptica. The Metro goes to Plaza Eliptica. From the Metro diagram, it appears you'd take Line 8 from the airport to Nuevos Ministerios, then change to Line 6. Line 6 is circular; I think traveling in the clockwise direction would be fastest, but it won't matter much. I've used the Madrid Metro and taken the bus to Toledo; neither was difficult. The bus is cheaper than the train, and the bus station in Toledo is a bit closer to the historic center. Because of the outdoor escalators in Toledo, I was able to get to my hotel, with luggage, on foot. Toledo also has city buses, of course, and I'm sure there are stops near both the bus station and the train station. I'm nearly 100% certain you won't need to take a bus, though.
Posted by
425 posts
We arrived in Madrid around 8AM October 17. We went directly to the renfe office in the airport. We were able to get our tickets to into town and onward to Toledo. A couple of earlier trains from Atocha were sold out but not a problem, we were in Toledo by 1PM. We waited to get tickets until we arrived so that we could get our Targeta Dorada card. I had similar concerns about sold out trains but it turned out to be a non issue. We arrived on a Friday which is a busy day. Wednesday in early February will be no problemo. There are buses to Toledo as a backup.
Brad
Posted by
OP
Florida
26 posts
Great information Acraven and Brad, thanks