Traveling on the Madrid Metro

By Damian Corrigan, About.com Guide

Buying your ticket

Image: Damian Corrigan

See More About

transportation in spain

The Madrid metro is indispensible to the tourist in Madrid - the perfect way to avoid the city's endless traffic congestion. On your first day in the city, I'd recommend using a Hop-On-Hop-Off Sightseeing Tour Bus, but after that the metro should be your preferred mode of transport. It runs until 1am, after which night buses run along the same routes as the metro.

See also: 100 Things to Do in Madrid

There are a several ticket types available, be sure to buy the right one. Change the display at the machine into English and you'll see a number of options. Most of them pertain to areas of the Metro you are unlikely to use, so ignore them.

Read on for details of how Madrid tickets work or save yourself the hassle buy a tourist pass in advance: Buy Madrid Metro Tickets (buy direct)

Standard Madrid Metro Tickets

The two types of ticket you are most likely use are:

Single (Price 1.50€). The simplest ticket, but more expensive than the many money-saving options available to you. Only buy this on your final day when you won't be using the metro much more.
Ten-Journey Metrobus (Price 9.30€) No longer the good value it used to be (it used to cut the price of a journey in half). But it will still save you standing in line every time and it can be used over several days and shared between people too.

Note: The ticket is a little more expensive from the airport. When buying the ten-journey ticket (which, remember, can be shared), you will be asked how many passengers will be traveling from the airport and will add the right fare accordingly.

Madrid Metro Tourist Tickets

There are also a number of tourist tickets available. The tickets available are:

Tourist Ticket 1 Day (Price 5.20€) Much better value than the Barcelona Metro equivalent, but you still need to be making at least six journeys a day for it to work out cheaper than the 10 Journeys ticket. Work out your itinerary for the day and decide for yourself.
Tourist Ticket 2 Days (Price 8.80€) Virtually the same price as the 10 Journeys ticket. If you'll be making more than 10 journeys over two days, this is the ticket to buy.
Tourist Ticket 3/5/7 Days (Price 11.60/17.60/23.60€). In my opinion these tickets are less valuable than the others as you need to be using the metro a lot over a number of days.
If you don't want to deal with the Madrid Metro ticket machines in Spain, you can conveniently buy the tickets before you arrive: Buy Madrid Metro Tickets (buy direct)

Other Ways of Getting Around Madrid

Though the Madrid metro is an excellent way to get around Madrid, if you spend all your time underground you'll never realise just how close together many of these sights actually are (ignore the Madrid metro map for judging these distances - they aren't to scale).

I strongly recommend a Madrid sightseeing tour bus or a walking tour (or both) to help you get your bearings before you rely too much on the Madrid metro.

Madrid Sightseeing Bus (buy direct)
Madrid Walking Tour (buy direct)