Madrid Puerta de Atocha:  Location map

It's one of my favourite stations, a beautiful historic trainshed now a tropical garden, next to a modern terminus for high-speed trains to Barcelona, Cordoba, Seville, Malaga, Cadiz, Algeciras & Granada.  There's been a station here since 1851, although the old trainshed dates from 1892.

Overview

You can think of Madrid Atocha in three parts: (1) A historic trainshed with a tropical garden, but now no tracks.  (2) 15 terminus platforms for high-speed trains in a vast modern trainshed, known as Madrid Puerta de Atocha.  (3) 10 underground through platforms alongside the main station used by cross-Madrid suburban trains and the occasional cross-Madrid mainline train, known as Madrid Atocha Cercanias.  Photographed from the breakfast room of the Hotel Only YOU Atocha

The historic trainshed

Madrid Atocha's beautiful original train shed opened in 1892.  A hundred years later, in 1992 it had its tracks removed and is now a lovely tropical garden.  There are several bars & restaurants with outside tables, making this a great place to wait for your train.

Exterior of the old 1892 trainshed.  Photo courtesy of Simon Andersen

The old trainshed of 1892 with cafes, bars & tropical garden.  Panorama photo of Madrid Atocha old hall.  Courtesy of DiscoverByRail.com.

A wider shot, showing the ramps up to the first-floor departures area.

Arriving at Madrid Atocha

If you arrive in the Puerta de Atocha terminus platforms on an AVE, Avlo, Ouigo or Iryo, you can simply walk through the doors beyond the front of the train, through the ground floor departures area into the concourse beyond and (if you like) straight ahead of you into the old trainshed with the tropical garden.

Alternatively, if you're at the back of the train you can go up the travelators onto the arrivals footbridge, through the long arrivals passageway to the arrivals exit.  From there you can find the taxi rank or walk round to the main concourse and the tropical garden in the old trainshed.

A handful of mainline trains cross Madrid between places such as Almeria or Murcia and northern Spain. These use platforms 5 & 6 at Madrid Atocha-Cercanias, from here you walk up the escalators at the northern end of the platform and through the ticket barriers onto the main concourse.  Turn left to reach the historic trainshed with the tropical gardens.

Changing trains at Madrid Atocha

Some journeys involve an easy same-station change at Madrid Atocha, such as Barcelona to Cadiz or Algeciras.  Unfortunately, you can't just arrive on one platform, walk to another and get on your onward train as you can elsewhere in Europe.

You normally need to follow the other passengers up the travelators from the platform (level 0) into the long passageway to the arrivals hall on level 1.  In the left hand corner of the arrivals hall, there's an inconspicuous exit marked Salidas / Departures.  This takes you directly into the level 1 departures hall without having to go downstairs into the tropical garden and back up through the normal departures entrance.

The interchange passage has its own X-ray baggage control at the entrance to the departures hall, usually without any queues.  When boarding starts, you go down the travelators onto the platform with all the other departing passengers.  I'd allow at least half an hour between trains.

However, Renfe sell some through journeys with guaranteed connections of as little as 18 minutes at Madrid Atocha (for example, Barcelona-Madrid-Malaga) and in such cases you may be met by a member of staff holding a board saying (in this example) Enlace Cordoba Malaga, (Enlace = connection) and they'll show passengers directly to the onward train without going through departure screening again.  There's no easy way to know beforehand if this arrangement will apply, just be on the lookout!

Boarding a train from the Planta Baja

Some trains are shown on the departure screens as boarding from the PLANTA BAJA, which means ground floor departures area.  This usually includes high-speed AVE trains to Valencia, Avant services to Toledo and some Alvia or AV City trains.

1. Head for ground floor departures.  From the tropical garden, follow the arrow in the photo below onto the concourse, turn left and look for the baggage control into the ground floor departures area, a little way along on your right, see the photo below.  Photo courtesy of Willy Kaemena.

2. Put your bags through the X-ray luggage scanners, this only takes a few minutes.  There are no metal detectors, it's nothing like an airport.  Security staff at each scanner have a metal-detector 'wand' but on a recent trip the wand was used once in 8 trips and even then they failed to find the corkscrew in my left pocket or iPhone in my right one, it's basically security theatre.  Tip:  Put any Swiss Army knives or corkscrews in your pocket to avoid arguments if they see them in the scanner.

3.  Wait in the departures area.  Inside the departures area there's a cafe, toilets and a Sala Club lounge.

4. Boarding.  When boarding starts 10-20 minutes before departure, go to the door onto the relevant platform, staff will check your ticket as you walk onto the platform.  Doors close 2 minutes before departure.

Boarding a train from the Planta Primera

Some trains are shown on the departure screens as boarding from PLTA.PRIMERA (planta primera) which means the upper level departure hall.  This usually includes AVE trains to Barcelona, Zaragoza, Figueres, Girona, Cordoba, Seville, Malaga, Perpignan, Avignon, Marseille, and Intercity trains to Ronda, Algeciras, Jerez or Cadiz.  It also includes Iryo & Ouigo trains.

1. Head up to first floor departures.  From the old trainshed with the tropical garden, go up the travelators to the first-floor luggage control, as shown by the white arrows in the photo below.  Photo courtesy of Willy Kaemena.

2. Put your bags through the X-ray bag scanners, this only takes a few minutes.  There are no metal detectors so it's nothing like an airport.  Security staff at each scanner have a metal-detecting 'wand' but on a recent trip the wand was used once in 8 trips and even then they failed to find the corkscrew in my left pocket or iPhone in my right one, it's basically security theatre.  Tip:  Put any Swiss Army knives or corkscrews in your pocket to avoid arguments if they see them in the scanner.

3. Wait in the departures area with shops, a cafe, seating.  The Sala Club lounge for AVE premium passengers is in the corner to your right. 

4.  Boarding.  When your train is ready for boarding 10-20 minutes before departure, staff will check your ticket and let you descend the travelator to the platform.  They close the gate 2 minutes before departure.

Boarding a train from Madrid-Atocha Cercanias:

On the east side of the high-speed station there is a vast suburban concourse serving 10 below-ground through platforms.  This is Madrid Atocha-Cercanías.

These platforms are used by suburban trains (cercanias) passing through Madrid between the southern suburbs and the northern suburbs through tunnels under the city.  They're also used by Media Distancia trains to Merida, Badajoz & Jaen plus a handful of mainline trains on cross-country routes such as Alicante-Santander.

If your train is shown on your ticket or online as leaving from Madrid-Atocha Cercanías, (Madrid A.C.) follow the signs to Atocha-Cercanías.

If you're catching a suburban train you simply go through automatic ticket gates at ground level and down the escalators to the platforms.

If you're catching a Media Distancia or Longa Distancia train, find a ticket gate with a barcode scanner, the QR code on your mainline ticket will operate the gates starting 30 minutes before your train or find the staffed entrance (it may take a little finding) which will let you into a waiting area from an hour before your train.

Atocha-Cercanías platforms are numbered 1 to 10 from left to right as you look south.  Trains northwards to Santander or Gijon usually use platform 5.  Trains heading south to Merida, Badajoz, Jaen, Murcia, Cartagena or Alicante usually use platform 6.  But always check the departure screens.

Cercanias concourse & ticket gates, below the above-ground rotunda.  The escalators down to the Cercanias platforms are on the left.  The way to the high-speed station is in the background.

Madrid Atocha Cercanias platforms, seen from the foot of the escalators.

Tickets & reservations

The main Renfe ticket office is on one side of the historic trainshed (below right), for tickets and passholder reservations.  Iryo have a ticket office and customer service centre in the historic trainshed (below left).

Left luggage

There used to be luggage lockers (consigna) in the northeast corner of the old trainshed, but these have closed.  To leave bags, check sites such as Radicalstorage.com for nearby locations.

Sala Club lounge

If you buy a Renfe Premium ticket for an AVE you can use the Sala Club lounge for up to 90 minutes before your train leaves.  You cannot use the lounge with an Elige ticket, even if it's Comfort class.

The main Sala Club at Madrid Atocha is open 05:15-21:30 Mondays-Saturdays, 06:00-21:30 Saturdays & Sundays, with complimentary tea, coffee, snacks & beer.  It's inside the departures area on the first floor.  There's another lounge for ground floor departures with different opening times, check opening hours at www.renfe.com.

Sala Club, inside the 1st floor departures area at Madrid Atocha.

Hotels near Madrid Atocha

The Hotel Medioda is across the road from the station's magnificent facade with great reviews. It's relatively affordable, the only downside is that it's popular and at busy times it won't offer free cancellation only non-refundable rooms, and I never book any hotel without free cancellation.

The NH Hotel Atocha is in a similar price range, across the road from the station's east side exit.  It usually offers free cancellation.

The Hotel Only YOU Atocha is more expensive, also across the road from the station's east side exit, with superb reviews.

At the budget end of the scale near the station with good reviews, try the Pensión Mollo or Hostal Residencia Fernandez.

Room & funky lobby at the Hotel Only YOU Atocha

Getting to/from the city centre

Walking

You can walk between Atocha station and the Puerta del Sol in the heart of Madrid in around 26 minutes.  See walking map.

Metro

Madrid's modern air-conditioned metro links Madrid Atocha with all parts of Madrid, see www.metromadrid.es.

Metro line 1 (coloured light blue on maps) connects Atocha Renfe metro station with Sol (the Puerta del Sol in the heart of central Madrid) and Chamartin (for Renfe trains to Lisbon & northern Spain).

You can buy a ticket from the touch-screen machines (which have an English-language facility) for a couple of euros and hop on the next train.

Taxi

There's a taxi rank on the top level, on part of the roof of the modern terminus easily reached up travelators from the arrivals hall when arriving by high-speed train.  There's another taxi rank at ground level, just outside a west-side exit from the tropical garden in the old trainshed.

A taxi to Puerta del Sol costs around €9, to Chamartin station around €25.  Taxi fare calculator.

How to transfer to/from Chamartin

Trains to/from northern Spain usually use Madrid Chamartin station in the north of the city.  The trains south to Seville, Granada, Malaga leave from Madrid Atocha station, although most trains to Alicante now use Madrid Chamartin.  Metro line 1 links these two stations, but it's easier and quicker to transfer between stations by frequent suburban train - and it's free if you have a mainline ticket.  The Spanish for suburban train is Cercanias, look for the orange and white 'C' logo.

Atocha ► Chamartin

• Step 1, buy a suburban ticket to Chamartin from the self-service machines, they can be switched to English.  It's one zone, the fare is around €2, the machines accept euro notes & coins.

  However, if you have an AVE, Alvia, Iryo or other long-distance train ticket, you're entitled to a free suburban journey within 4 hours of arrival or 3 hours of departure, see the Combinado Cercanias advice here.

• Step 2, follow the signs to the Cercanias part of Madrid Atocha and go through the ticket gates.  If you have a long-distance Renfe or Iryo ticket, the ticket QR code will operate the gates, look for one of the gates with a red-glowing barcode scanner on the front.

• Step 3, to keep it simple with no chance of going wrong, look for a train to Aeropuerto T4, these run every 15 minutes and all go to Chamartin, just 3 stops taking 10-15 minutes, route C1 or C10.  They usually go from platforms 1 & 2, but not always, so look at the screens. It'll say Aeropuerto on the side of the train, see the photo below.

  There are many other trains that go to Chamartin, it doesn't matter which you get on as long as it's going north.  Every northbound Cercanias (suburban) train from Atocha goes to Chamartin, including Cercanias routes C1, C2, C4, C7, C8, C10.  But looking for Aeropuerto is easiest!

Chamartin ► Atocha

• Step 1, buy a suburban ticket to Atocha from the self-service machines, they can be switched to English.  It's one zone, the fare is around €2, the machines accept euro notes & coins.

  However, if you have an AVE, Alvia, Iryo or other long-distance train ticket, you're entitled to a free suburban journey within 4 hours of arrival or 3 hours of departure, see the Combinado Cercanias advice here.

• Step 2, look at the Next train to... screen on the left-hand wall (as you walk into the main entrance) near the Renfe ticket office to see what platform the next train to Atocha goes from.  Head for that platform. 

• Step 3, take a train to Atocha, they run  every 3-9 minutes, it's just 3 stops taking 10-15 minutes.

  It doesn't in fact matter which train you get on as long as it's a Cercanias going south, as every southbound Cercanias (suburban) train from Chamartin goes to Atocha, including routes C1, C2, C4, C7, C8 & C10.

  On arrival at Puerta de Atocha Cercanias platforms, follow the Salida (way out) signs then Grandes Lineas (main lines) signs to the mainline concourse.  The QR code on your long distance ticket will operate the ticket gates, look for a gate equipped with a glowing red barcode scanner. 

Double-deck suburban train to Chamartin & Madrid airport on platform 1 at Madrid Atocha Cercanias.

Back to home page