I believe you can take the metro from the airport in Madrid to the city center. It was on strike the day I arrived in Madrid, so we took a bus. Very easy.

Check out a guidebook or google search for sites in Madrid to see what you want to see, but I loved the Royal Palace and the Reina Sofia Museum (spent 3+ hours there). Definitely go to Retiro Park, it’s huge and a great way to relax for an afternoon during siesta. You can rent rowboats on the lake for a reasonable price, too. The Prado Museum is very highly regarded, but I was underwhelmed. Still worthwhile to check out, but go when it’s free- from 6-8pm (get there a little early so you get in right away, but 90 mins was plenty for me).

http://www.therearep… here are some of the places that you would like to see on your two day stay at Madrid, also their directions given so that you won’t get in trouble finding any of the places. Traveling via either metro or a rental car would be best as per your needs but if you want to cover more then rental car would be best for you.

Thanks so much Dreaming and Adventdelmore. Those are great tips! We are so excited about our trip, and your input will help make it even better!
Rick

Rick,

Like any European city, you don’t need a car to get around. Public transit systems are very good in most European cities, especially Madrid, and almost all European cities are dense and walkable. In fact I highly discourage renting a car while you’re staying in a major city, because traffic and parking will be a huge bitch, and gasoline/petrol is expensive.

And…like almost all European cities, Madrid’s Barajas International airport can be reached by urban rail. The Madrid Metro serves the airport. There are two stops on Line 8 that serve the airport: one stop serves Terminals 1, 2, and 3, and the other serves Terminal 4. In-between these two stops is a stop named “Barajas” which is for the actual suburb of Barajas, so don’t let that confuse you. If you are arriving in Madrid with Iberia, you will be in Terminal 4. Other OneWorld carriers, like British Airways or American Airlines, also use T4. Non-OneWorld carriers use terminals 1, 2, 3.

My advice for the Madrid Metro is to make sure you have a copy of the system map with you at all times. In every other urban rail system I’ve used (such as Barcelona, New York, Chicago, Washington DC, Athens, Rome, Paris, Rio de Janeiro, Buenos Aires) there are system maps posted throughout the stations and often times on the trains themselves; and in the trains, there are individual maps (for the line you’re currently on) posted above the train doors.

But unlike other cities, the signage in Madrid Metro is confusing, at least the last time I was in Madrid in May 2010: I could not find any system maps in the system, and every train [regardless of which line you were on] had individual maps of every line in the system (making it easy for an out-of-towner to forget which line you’re on); and the map of the line you’re actually on may be located on the other end of the train car, which is inconvenient during rush-hour crowds. You either need to have your path memorized before entering the system [which line(s) to take, in which directions, and which stations to transfer at]…or just carry a system map with you which is much much easier than memorization.

Madrid has wonderful, clean, beautiful system, but the signage was terribly-designed. Barcelona Metro has normal signage, like you’d expect in any other city.

Renting a car outside of major cities:

It’s very easy to get around Spain by rail. There’s also ferries for cross-water trips to the Balaeric Islands, for example, and domestic flights of course, as well as intercity buses for shorter distances. You really won’t need to rent a car for most of your stay in Spain. In fact, for most of the time, having a car will be a hassle and a waste of money….however, there are times that will justify having a car. Like say, if you would like to explore several small towns in a day or two, or do a nice scenic drive in the countryside or along the coast for a day or two, then renting a car can be truly rewarding. But don’t rely on cars for intercity trips or for transportation within major cities.

Thanks luv. Those are some great tips! We will definitely do our homework on the Madrid Metro.
Thanks again
Rick

While in Spain and Portugal, we will have a rental car part of the time. Do we need a gps to help find our destinations? If we do, should we get it from the rental car company, or download maps onto our own gps that we currently have?
Thanks
Rick

I think that, no matter where you are in the world, either a GPS or a roadmap can certainly be helpful. Personally, I prefer both a road map and a GPS, because each has its limitations.

Keep in mind that downloading a map of Spain, Portugal, Spain/Portugal, or Europe (depending on what brand GPS you have and how they partition the world), will cost you anywhere from $50-$150 US. If you know for sure that your car rental agency rents out GPS devices, then that’s certainly a good option. Because you won’t have to spend $50-100 on something you’ll only use once. Or you can spend a bit more, and download a Europe-wide map, if you know for sure you’ll use it again.

I checked the Garmin website for the device that I have (Garmin Nuvi 255W), and there’s a Spain/Portugal map that costs $70 to download. That’s not too bad I guess (it used to cost $100 at least a year ago). I might just download the Europe-wide one instead for $100.

Of course, before GPS, people did perfectly well with road maps. Road maps are cheap, and you can certainly find one online or at a major book store like Border’s (in the US). But personally, I prefer GPS + roadmap. But I recommend at least having one of the two.

Do you have an iphone or blackberry (or other smartphone) with the google maps app? We used that when we rented a car and we didn’t get lost once. This was in Croatia, so I can’t speak for Spain, but I would imagine directions would be accurate as well.

But that would require a data plan in Europe. Dreaming, did you get a local sim card, or did you use an international plan from your povider (and wasn’t that expensive?). Plus, doesn’t the GPS function drain your smartphone’s battery? Of course, if you don’t need it to be precise, you don’t need the GPS function. But how did you use your smartphone?

Personally, I hate relying too much on my smartphone, I prefer the GPS device if I’ll need directions for a long-distance drive, since you can just mount it on the windshield, and the screen is nice and big and you can easily interact with it.

Thanks for the tips luv and dreaming. The other couple traveling with us, has just found someone with a gps with Spain and Portugal maps on it. We will be carrying it with us.
We will be leaving Tuesday. I will let you know how the trip turns out when we get back.
Thanks again for sharing!

I’m glad you worked it out! Have a great trip!

Luv, it wasn’t my phone so I may be off on the exact details- my 2 friends each brought their smartphone, and I didn’t have one at the time I just used theirs to call home periodically. They both got international calling plans, which wasn’t much more than the usual monthly plan, just had some limits on calls/texts/data (which was fine, as we weren’t using the phones much, just to say “hey parents we arrived safely in Madrid, blah blah, talk to you soon). And since the phones were charged (nearly) each night, we never had a problem with losing battery. I dunno, I’m sure a GPS is very useful but since we already had the phones, it was easier and convenient just to use google maps.