Metro (subway), Madrid

Madrid Metro offers a safe , fast, clean, comfortable way to get around the city. If you are going to be in Madrid for awhile, you might consider the 7 day Metro travel card, you can ride almost anywhere in Madrid using the Metro or buses. All stops are anounced and there are overhead digital destination signs located in each car or in the bus. There is also an announcement made for each station, but only in Spainish. Riding the Metro is fun, you will enjoy it.

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metro of madrid is easy and extensive, the distances might seen long with a huge network you are all over within minutes.nice to use while tired of walking Madrid.
the price from T4 to nuevos ministerios is 4,70€ however, once inside Madrid it cost only 1,50€ to 1,70€ with an additional euro fee if goes into the B zone areas.

the city of Madrid is in Zone A. The reason the airport to city is more expensive is that as in many other cities the airport is not in Madrid limits but actually in the town of Barajas also on line 8. You have two stops one for terminals 1,2,3 and other one for T4, the satellite T4S can be access by an automated train for free.

once in madrid the metro is really easy,and well posted, with the end station as a guide,and the color coded lines. There are machines that takes credit cards, money bills and coins. They also have cashier and information offices to guide you if needed. Over 1000 security cameras protect the public,as well as many security personnel, really a nice safe feeling.

I am not for trains or metros, subways etc, if you read the forums, but the metro in a large city is the best fastest method.

Our hotel was near the airport so we used the Metro to get to the city center while visiting Madrid (except for the one morning we caught the free hotel shuttle). Only a 10-minute walk from our hotel and we had the freedom to go just about anywhere in the city.

We purchased a discounted ten pack of tickets, which was actually just one ticket that you could use ten times. Because there were two of us and we actually used the Metro five times while there, it worked out perfectly. As one went through the gate, we simply handed the ticket to the other person for their turn through. This was quite legit as the Metro guard showed us how to do it. And this way we saved several euros over the course of the weekend, not to mention we didn’t have to purchase tickets each time we got to the station.

Overall, I found the Metro to be clean and fast. Rarely did we wait more than three minutes for a train and the connections were very well marked as well as the stations themselves so we knew where to exit to get to which street above.

During the busy times and especially in the middle of the city, the trains get very crowded. People using the Metro need to use common sense precautions to protect their valuables – keep your valuables hidden and keep you purse or other bags in front of you and always in your sight.

Bring a book with you on the Metro! I was pleasantly surprised to see how many people read books while passing the time traveling. Our journey from near the airport to the city center took about 45 minutes, including changing trains once.

The best way to reach Madrid Airport from the city is to use metro. However, the metro ticket that I mentioned in my earlier transportation tip is not good enough. You also need to get a supplement ticket which costs 3 Euros. This way you can reach the airport easily and conveniently.

You can get a day pass, 2 day pass, 3 day pass, 4 day pass etc. We purchased a three day pass for 13 Euros and found it great value as we could hop on and off the metro as often as we liked. Individual metro journeys are 1 Euro 50 cents. to the airport it is 2 Euros 50 cents. Tickets and passes can be bought from the machines in the metro station. Instructions can be found in English on the machines. Machines take notes and coins.

Just like many European cities, Madrid is no exception with there excellent metro system. The metro gets you to just about all the sites you need to see. And the metro is cheap. The cost of individual rides is only 1 euro, or you can buy a 10 ticket pack for 8 euro's. From the Airport it cost 2 euro's to get into town and a 1 euro supplement to get to anywhere from the final stop on the airport line. The metro is easy to navigate and it's clean and safe. This is the way to get around Madrid.

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Since moving inside Madrid its easy to do, the best way is to buy or the Viajes Metrobus for 10 times use , or, and that the better option is to buy a ticket that you can use between one day or one week, depend the price.
Ask for the Abono Transporters Turisticos. Costs 5.20euros a day, 8.80euros tow days, 11.60euros theww days and 23.60euros for a week.
11 different lines in differents color are in Metro of Madrid, and its active from 06:00AM till 02:00AM

There was a Metro strike in Madrid during the week of June 28, 2010. The first three days were a total strike with no trains to the airport on two days, followed by Thursday and Friday with a 50% work schedule (trains running but very crowded). At the Atocha train station, I was able to get a taxis to my hotel. The wait in line was about 25 minutes. Surprizingly, the line moved fast, considering there were over 100 travellers in line.

This is a very nice system.
I hear it is the second largest subway system in Europe after Paris, so that is impressive.
It was quick and pretty easy to follow for the most part.
I felt safe, although obvious safety should be followed.

The Madrid metro is clean, easy to navigate, and inexpensive (€1 or US$1.50, a fraction of the London underground or Paris metro). As others have noted, every station has system maps and the lines are color-coded with marks that indicate transfer points – but without the fine electronic routing instructions of the Paris metro.

A minor annoyance is the odor that permeates most stations. It suggests a too-close relationship between the metro and Madrid’s sewers.

More serious is the issue of getting to and from the tracks. Some stations have escalators that take passengers all the way down (and up). Others have escalators for part of the way, stairs for the rest. And a few have only stairs. At busy Callao, for example, there are two (2) escalators for part of the ascent (and descent), but five (5) stairways with a total of more than 40 steps for the rest. People traveling with luggage will find that a considerable hassle.