From the maps I've seen, it looks like the train line from Madrid Atocha to Toledo puts Toledo staion out in the middle of nowhere and several miles east of town. People have described getting from Madrid to Toledo as "easy", but I've never seen in any of the tourbooks that I've read exactly what "easy" entails. I know it's a 30-minute AVE ride from Atocha to Toledo. But then what?

1. Is the station location true? Is it out in the middle of nowhere, or is there some spur line that the AVE takes that gets you closer to town?

2. If this is true, how do you get from the train station to the plaza mayor (or another similar large landmark such as the Alcazar)? What bus should I take? How much is a taxi?

(I'm writing this from work, so I don't have my maps or tourbooks handy to pick a good reference point for me to try and get to from the station. Yes, before you ask, it's lunchtime. 8-) )

Related question: for November 26th, how far in advance should I buy train tickets? I've heard that the Madrid-Toledo route is very popular, but I assumed that that only applied in the spring, summer, and early fall, not late November in the middle of the week.

According to the Rick Steves 2005 guidebook the train station is a 20 minute walk, E3 cab ride or E.8 on bus #5 or #6 from Plaza Zocodover, which is very near the Alcazar.

You can certainly take regional trains to the old station that is, like rick Steves says, right at the foot of the hill this wondrous old town is draped over.

But the Q is do the AVE trains also serve this station, or a newer station farther out of town.

I am curious to know myself.

I assume the old regional trains still run and may be much cheaper and do not require reservations?

The AVANT only serves the newer station. You have to take the bus or a taxi up to the city.

The Regional train no longer serves Toledo.

So that gorgeous faux-Mudejar small old Toledo train station is no longer a station? Not even for buses? To bad.

Maybe the new TGV station is similarly in a Neo-Mudejar mode?

Robert2533 - Where is the new Toledo train station? And when did it open?

When I visited Toledo in Feb 08, the AVE train still stops at the Mudejar-style train station at the foot of the hill. Plenty of buses go up into the old town, stopping at Plaza Zocodover. I walked from the old town back to the train station, and it took 20 mins tops (but definitely would take longer going the other direction because of the steep hill).

I did this last year.

The AVE station at Toledo is across the river. So I wouldn't say it is middle of nowhere, but you are not there yet.

I took a bus from the AVE station. The bus station was on a road in front of the station towards the river. Since practically all the tourists on the train do this, I just followed everyone else. The bus came within few minutes of the train arrival. I had two choices of stops; either get off at the long distance bus depot and take the escalator to enter Toledo from the other side or stay on the bus and get off at the main square. I did the latter. Going back to the station is doing the reverse.

Once inside the city walls, I walked to everywhere.

Do NOT wait until the day of the trip to buy tickets. According to the digital display at the station, Most of the AVE trains leaving Atocha in the morning indicated SOLD OUT. I bought my ticket about a week ahead.

tdyls,
There is no new station in Toledo for the AVANT trains. As yk says, all AVANT (regional AVE-media distancia) go to the neo-mudejar station, which is a work of art in itself.

The new AVE-Guiomar station in Segovia, not Toledo, was built in the middle of a field, 4 km. outside of town.

To go from the Toledo station into town buses L5 or L6 will take you to the Plaza Zocodover, as jeff says, which is the center of historic Toledo, and from there you can walk to all the monuments. I would take the bus up, certainly, as I wouldn't want to make the steep uphill walk.

And as greg says, do buy your tickets in advance, because Toledo has become a commuting city to Madrid, and the morning trains often sell out, as do the late afternoon return trains to Madrid. On a recent trip, when we arrived at Atocha station (with our Web purchased and printed tixs in hand), all the morning trains were full-not a single seat left. When we returned to Toledo's station in the afternoon, only the very late afternoon train and evening ones had seats still available.

tdyls,
Forgot-a few days in advance should be enough for your purchase of Toledo train tickets, but I always purchase mine online as soon as the fares are loaded into the Renfe system (which as many of us know, sometimes takes forever, especially around the holidays and in the beginning of the summer). I like to purchase them online so as to print them out, saving me a wait in line at the station or having to use the ticket dispensing machines.

In THEORY, Renfe tickets can be purchased online 62 days in advance, but lately that hasn't been the case. Some Dec. fares to different cities still haven't been loaded on to the system.
The total round trip Madrid-Toledo AVANT fare is 14.40 (20% discount for r.t.). It's one class of service only-no business class or club car, since it's a very, very short ride.

For other Toledo tourist info, see their newly designed Turismo web:
www.toledo-turismo.com

My mistake... It's not a new station, just the old one with the AVANT service. It looked new when I was there in the spring since I hadn't ventured to Toledo by train for quite some time.

<i>It looked new when I was there in the spring </i>

The mudejar-style train station Toledo is only 100 years old. I guess it looks new when compared to the Toledo old town. It's all relative, right?

BTW, tdyls, when I took the bus from the train station up to the old town of Toledo, it wasn't too obvious which stop is Plaza Zocodover. Anyway, just so you know, the Plaza is on the Right hand side of the bus stop, and it's kind of triangular in shape. There is a McD's at the Plaza as well. Should be easy for you to figure it out with this info.

Maribel, you haven't seen the AVE station at Antequera, it is some 14-15 km away from the city. The projected station for Ronda will be at La Indiana, several kms away too.