Getting from Barcelona to Madrid and Madrid to London

Hi everyone!

We will be sailing on the Brilliance in April and we are looking at a post-cruise stay in Madrid, as we're doing a pre-cruise stay in Barcelona.

What are the options for getting from Barcelona to Madrid? We're worried about luggage restrictions with low-fare carriers, we'll likely have one large and one small suitcase each, plus carry on. The train would be great, if it's not too expensive. If someone could point me in the right direction with regard to train and airline sites that would be great!!

Also, once we're finished our stay in Madrid we'll be heading back to London for the flight home. How do people usually tackle this route? Train or plane? And which carriers are best?

Thanks for your help :)

http://www.renfe.es/horarios/english/index.html is the English language page for the Spanish rail company.. Enter the to/from and date and the schedule and prices are displayed (in Spanish, but it is easy enough to understand even if your Spanish is non-existent).

A train would be my choice.

You could get from Madrid to London via rail: overnight train to Paris; metro between stations; Eurostar to London. It would take a long time and not be cheap. Unless you are a train buff, an airplane makes more sense. The luggage is going to cost you extra, though.

For BA, flying back of plane, the limit on checked luggage is one bag each with a 23 kg max. You get an extra bag or two for the higher prices spreads. I don't think any other airlines is more generous (some are certain less).

I assume there is a reason you have purchased or will purchase air to/from London.

I did the train from Madrid to Barcelona and it was a pretty long ride but if you consider the time it takes to get to the airport in Madrid, wait time, etc. It might be just as fast to do the train.

The scenery was pretty forgettable.

I did the train from Madrid to Barcelona and it was a pretty long ride but if you consider the time it takes to get to the airport in Madrid, wait time, etc. It might be just as fast to do the train.

 

The scenery was pretty forgettable.

I don't know when you did this, but now they have the AVE fast train, which takes between 2:45-3:00 hrs. That would be my recommendation.

If you fly coach between Madrid and London, say in Iberia, you will be limited for check in bagagge to 20 kgs per person, plus a carryon (I think 10 kgs) PP. I would just adjust my lugagge to meet those requirements.

If you buy your train tickets at http://WWW.renfe.es starting at 62 days before the trip, you can book web fares that are very discounted.

As cruiseluv says .. the AVE trains are fast and comfortable. It took a long time to lay the new rails and railbed. Before they did, it was indeed a LONG train trip. In fact, before the AVE service started, the number air passengers between Madrid and Barcelona were, for awhile, the largest in the world -- or so I've been told .. there certainly were LOTS of flights.. more than DC and NYC, for example.

With the current service, I think you will find it faster door to door to/from the city centers to take the train.

I do agree with rebeccalouise regarding the scenery or lack of same.

With 2 suitcases each, you will either have to pay for an extra suitcase or fly business class between Madrid and London.

Also, to consider when catching a train is that the on board luggage space isn't huge and you will need to be able to handle all of your luggage yourself.

Here is a website which gives some good information about the Barcelona/Madrid AVE (pronounced ARBAY) train

http://www.gomadrid.com/transport/madrid-barcelona.html

As you will see it is possible to get reduced, online, fares but they are limited. You would be best to budget around €100-120 and then think of any reduced fare as being a bonus. The non-stop train takes around 2 ¾ hours and the stopping train about 3 ½ hours.

They claim that if your train is more than 15 minutes late you get a full refund of your fare.

The flight would be around the same price and take about 1 ¼ hours.

The total travel time (city centre to city centre) and cost is therefore about the same.

With regard to luggage. In my opinion if you have more luggage than would be included in the air fare then it would probably be more than you would comfortably want to take on the train.

To me, one advantage of the train journey is to travel on one of the fastest and most advanced trains in the world at speeds up to 300 Km/h (190 mph).

My father booked it and I don't know what type of train we were on. It took us about 4-5 hours. I did see that there is an AVE train. Don't know if they were available when we traveled.

My father booked it and I don't know what type of train we were on. It took us about 4-5 hours. I did see that there is an AVE train. Don't know if they were available when we traveled.

The AVE from Barcelona to Madrid started in Feb 2008.

My father booked it and I don't know what type of train we were on. It took us about 4-5 hours. I did see that there is an AVE train. Don't know if they were available when we traveled.

The Ave between Barcelona and Madrid started in Feb or March of 2008.

I've been reading this thread with interest because we will be in Barcelona for 5 days in May and know someone who lives in Madrid and have thought about taking the train there for a long day.

To English in Spain...I looked at the web site you provided. I would be interested in trying to book the reduced fare on the fast train. I'm ashamed to admit that I speak only English and the site for booking the ticket is, of course, in Spanish. Do you know if I can get that booking site anywhere in English??

Donyb,

You can buy tickets directly from the Spanish train company http://www.renfe.es

At the bottom, left hand side , there is a drop down menu that says "seleccione su idioma". Click on that for a drop down menu, and then pick English.

Good Luck

Editing to add: I would never do this as a day trip!! It is a fast train, but still is a 3 hrs train ride.

Thanks for your help. I'll also take your suggestion about timing into account when we make our plans.

You can buy tickets directly from the Spanish train company www.renfe.es

At the bottom, left hand side , there is a drop down menu that says "seleccione su idioma". Click on that for a drop down menu, and then pick English.

Unfortunately the RENFE English page is notorious and does not always work and you might find it goes back to Spanish when you get to the actual booking and paying.

It is also difficult to pay with a non-Spanish credit card.

You may want to give it a try but may be better using an agency although you may not get the internet special deals. And, as I have already said it is not easy to find these discounted fares.

Thank you for your suggestions everyone! :)

I do find the Renfe site does convert back to Spanish when you go into the booking area. Alas, the cheapest thing they are showing me right now is €109 pp, which which is more than I expected it to be. I have found a flight on EasyJet from Madrid to London (Gatwick) for €54 total, taxes in, including the fee for an extra bag, so we may go this route for the second leg. Still trying to figure out a cheaper way to get from BCN to Madrid...

I've often heard from friends and acquaintances and also friends living in Europe, of how cheap it is to get around Europe :confused: I wish I could believe this. I suppose it is, to a degree, cheaper than traveling around North America, for example, but we are finding the costs, due to the poor exchange rate, to be quite high. I wish our dollar was stronger, but that's all you can do I suppose!

We also found a hotel recommendation on TripAdvisor in Madrid that looks promising. It's called the Hotel Liabeny (http://www.liabeny.com/index.html) seems to be in a good location at a decent cost. Has anyone stayed here before??

 

 

Unfortunately the RENFE English page is notorious and does not always work and you might find it goes back to Spanish when you get to the actual booking and paying.

 

It is also difficult to pay with a non-Spanish credit card.

 

You may want to give it a try but may be better using an agency although you may not get the internet special deals. And, as I have already said it is not easy to find these discounted fares.

A few days ago it was reported by several people in Fodors message boards that the Renfe site is now back to accepting american CC.

A few days ago it was reported by several people in Fodors message boards that the Renfe site is now back to accepting american CC.

I think the working or lack of same is related to result of Real Madrid's last match. It does seem to come and go with no apparent reason.