Buying train tickets for El Escorial

Old Jul 26th, 2013, 06:31 PM
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Buying train tickets for El Escorial

Hi:

I spent a lot of time with no useful results trying to locate a reliable train schedule from Madrid (Atocha) to El Escorial for a day trip for September 6. I looked at:
- www.renfe.es
- www.ctm-madrid.es
- www.sanlorenzoturismo.org
- http://www.renfe.com/EN/viajeros/cer...rid/index.html
- http://reiseauskunft.bahn.de
- www.petrabax.com

Schedules are either not available or do not have the last update date and are contradicting each other. Is there any place that has reliable schedules for this date and a way to easily purchase them on line? I wanted to buy them ahead of time as I do not speak Spanish and I read in a few places that many RENFE employees do not speak English.

Any advice would be appreciated.
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Old Jul 26th, 2013, 06:53 PM
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Hmmmm... It sits in my mind we went by bus... Bought a same day ticket... Easy trip.
No Spanish, no problem.
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Old Jul 26th, 2013, 06:58 PM
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You can check all day, but there are no trains to El Escorial. You can take a city bus if you'd like, the 664 or the 661 bus from Moncloa Bus Station.
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Old Jul 26th, 2013, 09:01 PM
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I guess things have changed as the guide I looked at talks about taking the train and some of the sites I referenced show a train schedule. One cannot be careful enough when using websites for Spain....Thanks.
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Old Jul 27th, 2013, 04:17 PM
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Since I don't like buses particularly when it's hot, I kept looking.I found the following site where lines C3 and C8 are for trains from/to El Escorial:
http://en.redtransporte.com/madrid/cercanias-renfe/

I do not know how reliable this is but I will figure it out when I am there. Unfortunately information on many sites is dated and one can find contradictory info even within the same website.
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Old Jul 27th, 2013, 04:37 PM
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Cercania has a schedule posted until the end of August.
Give it a week or so and check again.
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Old Jul 27th, 2013, 05:02 PM
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ther are trains every half hour... The trip is a bit over an hour.
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Old Jul 27th, 2013, 05:52 PM
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Sorry, depends on the time of the day...could be each hour.
I don't think you can purchase a ticket on line..it is really a commuter train.
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Old Jul 27th, 2013, 07:37 PM
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The Cercanias is a commuter rail line, and one has to know what they are looking for. You have to go onto the Renfe site and select Madrid Cercanías as the departure station and El Escorial as the destination. Note that the commuter line is always busy, which is why I would take the bus.
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Old Jul 27th, 2013, 07:38 PM
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The line is the C3.
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Old Jul 27th, 2013, 08:30 PM
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The usual tourist destination is San Lorenzo (de El Escorial), which has Real Monasterio de San Lorenzo. El Escorial is a mere common village spreads the bottom of the San Lorenzo hill. The bus goes to the center of San Lorenzo, almost the same altitude of the Monastery, while the train goes the bottom village El Escorial. So, I recommend to take a green bus from Moncloa in Madrid, otherwise you have to take a taxi at El Escorial or have to climb up the hill on foot in a hot weather.
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Old Jul 27th, 2013, 10:11 PM
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Thanks for the additional information. Is the bus air conditioned? Can one buy the tickets from the driver? I could not find the cost of the bus ticket or the schedule for the green bus, I assume 664 or 661. If you know where this info is available, I'd appreciate it.
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Old Jul 28th, 2013, 05:21 AM
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http://www.sanlorenzoturismo.org/loc...rarios_661.htm
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Old Jul 28th, 2013, 05:38 AM
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this one is from. 2009

http://www.ctm-madrid.es/pdf/661.pdf

the schedule can be changed.....
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Old Jul 28th, 2013, 06:05 AM
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This is the web page of the bus company
If you take the train the bus from the station to the top is little over a one euro.
http://www.autocaresherranz.com/servicios-regulares.php
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Old Jul 28th, 2013, 08:08 AM
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Thanks, danon. Since it appears that buses run every 15 minutes and probably tickets can be purchased in the bus, this sounds OK.

I still do not know if these buses have air conditioning or not and if one can assume a seat (they do not take more people than seats ??) as the trip takes an hour. If this is not the case, then the train might still be a better option for us.
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Old Jul 28th, 2013, 08:18 AM
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As far as I can remember, Spain entered the 1st world some time ago, so yes, the commercial and public buses are modern, clean, quite comfortable and have A/C. And yes, seats are reserved on all but city buses. You won't be hanging off the side or sitting on the roof.
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Old Jul 28th, 2013, 08:38 AM
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I just did that last October, I took the bus. YOu can buy it on the bus, it's easy and very cheap. Buy a roundtrip one as long as you are at it. Nobody was standing on the bus I was on, but I don't really know their policies. I would presume they don't sell more tickets than seats. I just wouldn't get there at the last minute, I always try to get places with plenty of time to figure things out and do things, but there are buses all the time, anyway--take bus 664 or 661.
http://hepexp.ft.uam.es/imfp06/Bus-6...M-Escorial.gif
http://hepexp.ft.uam.es/imfp06/Bus-6...M-Escorial.gif

It doesn't run exactly every 15 minutes, but often, and I think the 661 doesn't run as often some days. I think the train and bus tickets cost about the same (around 3-4 euro each way).

You won't need to take another bus upon arrival at the train station if you take the bus, as its station is very close to the monastery (a couple hundred meters). But the train station is about 1 km outside of town, so then you have to take a shuttle bus from the train station to the monastery.

I think the bus is just more convenient and saves time as you don't need to buy tickets ahead of time at a window (you will for the train, of course it can be the same day) and you are closer to the monastery. Cost is about the same. I don't know about the AC, though, it wasn't an issue when I was there, maybe someone else knows.
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Old Jul 28th, 2013, 09:15 AM
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Thanks for the many helpful answers. Now I have all the needed info, ready for El Escorial. If you could just ask for warm but not hot weather for the first half of September
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Old Jul 28th, 2013, 10:17 AM
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I didn't see Robert's post when I wrote mine -- the seats were not reserved on the buses I took, which I presume means you were assigned a particular seat. It was just open seating, so if you were at the front of the line you got a better choice of seat.
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