Madrid Barajas Airport

Introduction

Terminal 4 at Madrid Airport

© Herr Bert

Madrid Barajas Airport (MAD) handles more than 40 million passengers a year between Spain's attractive capital city and hundreds of domestic and international destinations. On the global scale it is the 11th biggest airport, and in Europe it's the number 4, measured by the number of passengers that use the airport per year.

It is located 13 kilometres northeast of central Madrid. The airport has 5 terminals. Terminals 1, 2 and 3 are the old terminals, while Terminals 4 and 4S are the new and modern terminals that opened only a couple of years ago.

For more information about other airports throughout the world, also see the list of airports.

Getting there and away

Metro

No matter which of the two metro stations you use to ge to the city, the most logical route to take into the center of Madrid is to take the number 8 line (pink) until Nuevos Ministerios, change to the number 10 line (dark blue) Depending on where you need to go you can stop at:

• Alonso Martinez - A change to the number 5 line (green) can take you to Chueca, Gran Via and Callao in the center of the city. you can also head a bit further to the east, to Ruben Dario, Nuñez de Balboa, Diego de Leon or Ventas. At Alonso Martinez, you can also enter the number 6 line (grey), which is a circular line circling the city.
  

  Madrid, Metrostation Plaza de España

  © Herr Bert

• Tribunal - Just north of the city centre. A change to the number 1 line (light blue), will get you to Gran Via, Sol and if you need to take a train out of Madrid, to the Atocha railway station (metro: Atocha-Renfe). The estimated time you need to get from the city to the airport is about 1 hour. If you stay
• Plaza de España - At the western end of the centre. You can change to the number 3 line (yellow), to get to Callao, Sol and Lavapiés.

In May 2007 the metro station at Barajas Terminal 4 was opened, this means reducing the time you need to get to Terminal 4 and 4S (in general: flights carried out by Iberia and Vueling (T4), and intercontinental flights (T4-S) by approximately half an hour. There are still busses running between Terminal 1, 2 and 3 and the new terminals for people who have a connecting flight.

When using one of the two stations at the airport you have to pay a €1 fee. This can be done, by purchasing an extra (separate) €2 ticket (€ 1 normal ride price + the €1 supplement) at one of the vendor machines, or you can buy a 10-ride ticket, with the extra connection fare on it. You choose the normal 10-ride tickets, and enter the number of extra fares you need. (normally one) If you also leave the city at the airport, know that you can buy a ticket with only the supplementary fee on it before leaving the metrostation, so there is no need for already buying the extra supplement upon arrival.

If you have to leave Madrid in the early morning than be aware that the Metrosystem shut's down from 1:30am until 6:00am. This means that you need to take one of thee busses leaving at Plaza de Colon, or a taxi to reach the airport.

Bus

For transfering between the different Terminals you can take one of the busses that run between T1, T2 and T4. This comes in handy when you have a connecting flight and need to change between the older terminals (T1, T2 and T3) and the new terminals. Note that you can not go directly to T4S. For this you need to head over to T4 first, where you can take an underground train.

During the day there are plenty of buslines that can take you from the city to the airport.

Busline 200 leaves at the busstation at Avenida de America, makes one more stop at the junction with Arturio Soria and a third stop at the metro/busstation of Canillejas (line 5), and then head to the different airport Terminals, and after that back to the city.

Line 527 leaves from Plaza de Cibeles stops one more time in the city at Calle O' Donell, and then heads directly to the different terminals, and after that back to the city.

Line 203 (Express Aeropuerto) has the same stops than line 527, but also adds a stop at the Main trainstation of Atocha. For these busses (Yellow ones) you will pay an extra euro, as you would do for the metro. This line continues during the night, although with bigger intervals than during the day, but it does not make a stop at Atocha Station between 11:30pm and 06:00am. If you arrive late at night in the city, you can take a nightbus from Cibeles, as this is the focal point of the nightbus network.

There is also a direct busservice between the airport and the busstation under Plaza de Colón, which comes in handy in the night, when metro transport is suspended from 1:30am until 6:00am.

Taxi

A journey by taxi to the centre of Madrid can be made in under 30 minutes, depending on traffic. It should cost you around €20.

Train

In September 2011 the long awaited train connection between Terminal 4 and the city opened, reducing the time to get to the city dramastically. Atocha trainstation in the south of the city can be reached in 25 minutes, Chamartin in just 11 minutes, and Principe Pio in the west of the city in 38 minutes. The connection at the airport is part of the C-1 line of the Cercanias which also connects to the main busstation of Mendez Alvaro. Trains run between 06.00 in the morning until 11:00pm (last departure is already at 10:30pm)

Getting around

Madrid - Barajas Airport Terminal 2

© Herr Bert

Getting around is pretty easy. Terminals 1,2 and 3 are connected with eachother, and one can say it's actualy the same building. Terminal 4 and 4S are huge terminals, so take a good look at your watch to don't be late for boarding. The rectancular shape of these buildings make it easy to get around in, although the letters of the gates, don't make to many sense for first-time visitors.

Between T4 and T4S there is a trainconnection for people needing to make a stopover, and for people that need to get to and from the metrostation that is located at Terminal 4. After checking in at Terminal 4, you can follow the signs to your gate (if this gate is at Terminal 4S, you will be guided to the trains.) When arriving note that the luggageclaim is at Terminal 4. You can just follow the signs, and you will be directed to the trains, that will take you to Terminal 4, where you can pick up your luggage.

There are shuttlebuses (24 hours a day, free of charge) connecting the different Terminals, which comes in handy, when you need to get from the older terminals T1,T2 and T3 to T4 and T4S.

More information about getting around between the different Terminals you can find here.

Airlines, Destinations and Terminals

There are 5 terminals at Madrid Barajas Airport.

The number 4 is exclusively for Iberia and Vueling, while 4S is used for all intercontinental flights (no matter the company). For flights within Europe, and when not flying with either Iberia or Vueling, you are likely to end up using one of the older terminals. There are however also smaller companies that take care of intercontinental flights, that still operate from T1, T2 or T3.

• Adria Airways - Ljubljana
• Aegean Airlines - Athens
• Aerlingus - Dublin, Washington-Dulles
• Aeroflot - Moscow-Sheremetyevo
• Aerolíneas Argentinas - Buenos Aires-Ezeiza
• Aeroméxico - Mexico City
• Aerosur - Santa Cruz de la Sierra
• Air Algerie - Algiers
• AirBaltic - Riga
• Air Berlin - Palma de Mallorca
• Air Canada - Toronto-Pearson
• Air China - Beijing-Capital, São Paulo-Guarulhos
• Air Europa - Buenos Aires-Ezeiza, Cancun, Caracas, Dakar, Havana, Lima, Marrakech, Miami, Montego Bay, New York–JFK, Punta Cana, Santo Domingo, Tunis, Athens, Asturias, Barcelona, Fuerteventura, Ibiza, Lanzarote, Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, Lisbon, London-Gatwick, Palma de Mallorca, Paris-Orly, Rome-Fiumicino, Tenerife-North, Tenerife-South, Venice-Marco Polo, Vigo
• Air France - Paris-Charles de Gaulle
• Air Moldova - Chisinau
• Air Nostrum - Almería, Badajoz, Bologna, Bordeaux, Cagliari, Catania, Corfu, Genoa, Hassi Messaoud, Huesca, Ibiza, Kraków, Leon, Logroño, Lyon, Malta, Marseille, Melilla, Minorca, Montpellier, Murcia, Nantes, Naples, Nice, Olbia, Pamplona, Pisa, Porto, San Sebastián, Santander, Strasbourg, Toulouse, Turin, Valencia, Vitoria, Zaragoza
• Air Transat - Montréal-Trudeau, Toronto-Pearson, Vancouver
• Alitalia - Milan-Linate, Rome-Fiumicino
• American Airlines - Dallas/Fort Worth, Los Angeles, Miami, New York–JFK
• Atlas Blue - Marrakech
• Avianca - Bogotá, Cali, Medellín
• Blue Air - Bucharest-Baneasa, Sibiu
• British Airways - London-Heathrow
• Brussels Airlines - Brussels
• Bulgaria Air - Sofia
• Cityflyer Express - London
• Continental Airlines - Newark
• CSA Czech Airlines - Prague
• Cubana Airlines - Havana, Santiago de Cuba
• Delta Airlines - Atlanta, New York–JFK
• Easy Jet - Amsterdam, Berlin-Schönefeld, Bristol, Bucharest-Henri Coanda, Casablanca, Edinburgh, Fuerteventura, Ibiza, Lanzarote, Lisbon, Liverpool, London-Gatwick, London-Luton, Lyon, Marrakech, Milan-Malpensa, Paris-Charles de Gaulle, Rome-Fiumicino, Sofia, Tangier, Toulouse
• Easy Jet Switzerland - Basel/Mulhouse, Geneva
• Egypt Air - Cairo, Luxor
• El Al- Israel Airlines - Tel Aviv
• Emirates - Dubai
• Finnair - Helsinki
• Germanwings - Cologne/Bonn, Stuttgart
• Iberia - A Coruña, Algiers, Alicante, Amman, Amsterdam, Asturias, Athens, Barcelona, Berlin-Tegel, Bilbao, Bogotá, Bologna, Boston, Brussels, Bucharest-Henri Coanda, Buenos Aires-Ezeiza, Cairo, Caracas, Casablanca, Chicago-O'Hare, Copenhagen, Córdoba, Dakar, Damascus, Dublin, Dubrovnik, Düsseldorf, Frankfurt, Fuerteventura, Geneva, Granada, Guatemala City, Guayaquil, Havana, Istanbul-Atatürk, Jerez de la Frontera, Johannesburg, Lagos, Lanzarote, Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, Lima, Lisbon, London-Heathrow, Malabo, Malaga, Marrakech, Mexico City, Miami, Milan-Linate, Milan-Malpensa, Montevideo, Moscow-Domodedovo, Munich, New York–JFK, Oran Es Sénia, Palma de Mallorca, Pamplona, Panama City, Paris-Orly, Prague, Quito, Rio de Janeiro-Galeão, Rome-Fiumicino, St Petersburg, San José de Costa Rica, San Juan, San Salvador, San Sebastián, Santa Cruz de la Palma, Santiago de Chile, Santiago de Compostela, Santo Domingo, São Paulo-Guarulhos, Seville, Stockholm-Arlanda, Tangier, Tel Aviv, Tenerife-North, Tenerife-South, Valencia, Venice-Marco Polo, Vienna, Vigo, Warsaw, Washington-Dulles, Zagreb, Zürich
• Iberworld - Aswan, Cancun, Fuerteventura, Havana, Lanzarote, Luxor, Malta, Montego Bay, Punta Cana, Salvador de Baía
• Icelandair - Reykjavik-Keflavik
• KLM - Amsterdam
• Korean Air - Amsterdam, Seoul-Incheon
• Lan Chile - Frankfurt, Paris-Charles de Gaulle, Santiago de Chile
• Lan Ecuador - Guayaquil, Quito
• Lan Perú - Lima
• Libyan Arab Airlines - Tripoli
• LOT-Polskie - Warsaw
• Lufthansa - Frankfurt, Hamburg, Milan-Malpensa, Munich
• Lufthansa CityLine - Düsseldorf, Munich
• Luxair - Luxembourg
• Malev Hungarian Airlines - Budapest
• Meridiana Fly - Florence
• Mexicana de Aviación - Mexico City
• Onur Air - Istanbul-Atatürk, İzmir
• Portugalia Airlines - Lisbon, Porto
• Qatar Airways - Doha
• Royal Air Maroc - Casablanca
• Royal Jordanian Airlines - Amman
• Ryanair - Alghero, Alicante, Almería, Bologna, Brussels South-Charleroi, Cagliari, Dublin, Eindhoven, Faro, Fez, Girona, Hahn, Jerez de la Frontera, Lanzarote, Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, London-Gatwick, London-Stansted, Malta, Marrakech, Marseille, Milan-Orio al Serio, Nador, Oslo-Rygge, Palma de Mallorca, Paris-Beauvais, Pisa, Porto, Rome-Ciampino, Santander, Santiago de Compostela, Tangier, Tenerife-South, Trapani, Turin, Valencia, Weeze
• S7 Airlines - Moscow-Domodedovo
• Santa Bárbara Airlines - Caracas
• SAS (Scandinavian Airlines System) - Copenhagen
• Sata Internacional - Terceira
• Saudi Arabien Airlines - Jeddah, Riyadh
• Spanair - A Coruña, Alicante, Barcelona, Belgrade, Bilbao, Copenhagen, Dubrovnik, Frankfurt, Fuerteventura, Ibiza, Lanzarote, Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, Málaga, Minorca, Palma de Mallorca, Santiago de Compostela, Tenerife-North, Tenerife-South, Valencia
• Swiss International Air Lines - Zürich
• Syrian Arab Airlines - Damascus
• TAM Airlines - São Paulo-Guarulhos
• TAP Portugal - Funchal, Lisbon
• Tarom - Bucharest-Henri Coanda, Cluj-Napoca
• Thai Airways International - Bangkok-Suvarnabhumi
• Tunisair - Tozeur, Tunis
• Turkish Airlines - Istanbul-Atatürk
• Ukraine International - Kiev-Boryspil, Lviv
• US Airways - Philadelphia
• Uzbekistan Airways - Geneva, Tashkent
• Vueling Airlines - Barcelona, Ibiza, Lisbon, Malta, Minorca, Paris-Charles de Gaulle, Rome-Fiumicino, Venice-Marco Polo
• Wizz Air - Bucharest-Băneasa, Budapest, Cluj-Napoca, Katowice, Prague, Sofia, Timişoara, Warsaw

Do

Just like most of the airports, the only things to do is to go shopping (at high prices) or to go for something to eat and to drink.

Eat

Madrid Airport

© Herr Bert

In the old Terminals there is not that much choice to go for a bite. The only a bit decend restaurant is located between Terminals 1 and 2.

In the new terminal 4 there are plenty of shops, and also restaurants to be found.

Keeping connected

There are a couple of Wifi zones at the airport.