Planning our end of Sept Spain trip by reading RS 2013 book. If I have it right, we take the yellow Expres Aeropuerto from the Madrid airport to the Atocha train station and take the AVE (Avant?) train to Toledo (we arrive, if on time, at 15:45). My confusion is where to buy the train ticket. Is it better to try to get a train ticket at the airport from the RENFE office, or a travel agent there, or at the train station itself? I hear tickets sell out for early and late trains. Since it may take us 1-2 hours to get to Atocha depending on when we land and get on public transport, is 17:45 the late train from Madrid to Toledo? I also hear you can't go online to get a ticket until 22 days before--but if we do that and our flight is delayed, we will lose the ticket price. Any suggestions? Also, if we are leaving Toledo for Avila, do we buy our return ticket at the same time? Thanks for any help you can offer.
Posted by
Whittington
984 posts
'we take the yellow Expres Aeropuerto from the Madrid airport to the Atocha train station' - Yes, that is the most efficient, next to taxi. AVANT to Toledo. You could pre-purchase with several hours window (you can always eat or drink if too early) which you should be able to do 60 odd days ahead. I have no idea where you have 22 days from and there is no advantage price wise, at any stage. There is no doubt early and late Monday to Friday, this journey is a commuter run but I have no comment other than - who knows how many might turn up from Salem ;-) or wherever 'on spec' and sell out the journey. 'if we do that and our flight is delayed, we will lose the ticket price. Any suggestions?' - Apart from stay in Madrid overnight, which is what I would do, no. Does this cover all?
Posted by
Atlanta
3262 posts
We waited to purchase our train tickets to Toledo when we arrived at Atocha station from the airport and found it to be chaotic. Tickets were sold out for the times that were optimal for us. We decided to take the bus to Toledo rather than the train. We used the advice in Rick's Spain book and took the Metro to Plaza Eliptica where the bus station is located. It worked well for us - just another option if the train doesn't work out for you. From the bus station in Toledo, we took a taxi to our hotel. We returned to Madrid by bus as well. You should be able to check bus schedules online. One more option (if you have time) is to spend your first night in Madrid and go to Toledo the next day at a more relaxed pace.
Posted by
Pacific Northwest
2679 posts
I planned a trip for my daughter for last summer using this exact transfer. They arrived in Madrid at 11:10 am and they were going straight to Toledo. I did not want them to have to mess with figuring out the train tickets at the station when they would be so tired, so I pre-bought the train tickets. They took the Express bus from the airport and I had purchased seats on a 2pm train, which worked out just fine. They had plenty of transfer time and had a little bit of extra time to get a drink and explore the train station.
Posted by
OP
Salem, Oregon, USA
3 posts
Your replies were all great. Thank you so much for the input. It helps to have someone who has tried the different options!