Fly or RENFE from Madrid to Murcia
 

Hello again, I am trying to decide whether to fly from Madrid to Murcia or take the train. I arrive @ 7:40 AM in Madrid from USA on 1/28/11. There is a 9:40 AM RENFE to Murcia (I can't figure out the name or location of the station). Is 2 hrs. enough, at rush hour, to get through customs and get to the train? I can lay over for 6 hrs. and get a plane to Murcia and get into Murcia around 3 PM. If I catch the 9:40 AM RENFE, I'll get to Murcia @ about the same time. If I miss the RENFE and have to catch the 12:34 PM train I'll get to Murcia approx. @ 5 PM. Wondering what to do, what will be the most stress free for me? Any thoughts are appreciated. Thanks.

'Is 2 hrs. enough, at rush hour, to get through customs and get to the train?' - I think you already know it is not. You have not factored in ticket purchase (and do you know Atocha?).

Murcia airport is 40k from Murcia!

'If I miss the RENFE and have to catch the 12:34 PM train I'll get to Murcia approx. @ 5 PM.- - Tranquillo, man. Take this option.

Best wishes.

I agree, two hours is not enough time. I just returned from Spain and had a similar question. I found out that if you buy a train ticket in advance for a later train, 12:34 in your case, you can exchange it at no cost if you get to the station early. However, if you get a ticket to an early train & miss it, you lose your money. So I advise buying the later train ticket. Also, I find the train much more relaxing than a plane ride.

OK, we made it to Atocha in the two-hour window BUT we landed on a Saturday morning. We ran from the plane, our taxi driver was a whiz, and we had our tickets in hand.

I would certainly take the later train.

Thank you all.........the later train it is!

Moraben:

If you do take the later train, there are RENFE ticket offices in Terminal 4 and Terminal 1. We used the one in
Terminal 1 which opened at 9:00 am and bought our train tickets for our entire trip. In our case, we bought senior citizens cards (Tarjeta Dorada)first so that we could get a discount on the fare. I was too frustrated to use the Renfe ticket online purchase. It is much easier to have your ticket in hand when entering the train station.

Have fun!

Pat