I’ve not done this trip, but was just with co-workers this week who do this trip 3-4 times per year. They say train. Of course when you need to travel, how far advance you purchase, and if anyone’s having a sale, will strongly influence the actual airfare: http://www.skyscanne… — Air Europa and Vueling seem to have good prices for July, for example, $51-$61 one/way total with taxes.

Quickest option in my opinion is by train, can take about 2 and 3/4 hour’s, not sure about cost. A flight would probably work out longer when adding in various factors, depending on day it will work out about 40 Euro.

From memory Madrid airport is connected by the metro to the centre, takes roughly 30 minutes I think? Cant help on Barca airport i am afraid.

The train from Barcelona airport to one of the main train stations (Sants) takes about 20 minutes. Depending on where in Madrid you’re going I’d say allow 25-50 minutes (you may have to change Metro lines, etc.).

oops, wrong thread .

Thanks All

Great responses ! We are hinging on train , as will be a bit more easy , by not having to shuttle between airport and city ! Think have decided to go with AVE from Barcelona to Madrid.

One last advise – should we go with train even if the air is working cheaper ?

Personally I would go with the train on a trip like that since your going from the city center to city center. When your flying you have to factor in the time going to/from the airport plus the hassle of security.
Cheers
Howie

All depends how cheaper, if allot cheaper then yeah go by air. If it only works out slightly dearer to go by train, I would still recommend it.

Thanks guys !

Davy – love the Mark Twain bit

By the way , which airline should I take if we have to fly from Madrid to Paris ? I looked at Ryan Air – is that fine ? Was getting a decent deal , but I heard they charge for everything – even to take a pee !

Can someone please throw some light on this ?

Thanks !

Skyscanner is a great site for comparing the best airline. Ryanair does have allot of charges but there not the only one’s. They still generally work out rather cheap, just don’t be fooled by the 1 euro advertised price.

Davy makes a good point that most of the low-cost airlines have fees that are tacked on after the fare price. For this route easyJet & Ryanair are very close in price. I would go with easyJet for two reasons. First, Ryanair flies into Beauvais which is further from the city center than Charles de Gaulle, where easyJet flies. Second, easyJet has a morning flight so you can leave Madrid at 7:25, land in Paris at 9:35, and have almost an entire day in Paris. If you fly Ryanair or Vueling, you’ll have to wait until 13:00 or 14:00 to leave Madrid and will lose most of a day.

Great – thanks for the advise !

will try booking easyjet for this one

cheers

BD

if u make fly u have < chance of being robbed by gipsy. If you make train, i can make no garantee.

You can also get robbed going to/from the airport!

I helped my younger son figure this one out last year.
He ended up taking the train from Barcelona to Madrid, though that Spanish train site was not the easiest to figure out. Then he took Vueling from Madrid to Paris. Everything was fine.