S.O.S.--ATMs in Madrid airport
 

I am flying into Madrid next week and plan to get euros at the airport when I arrive. If any of you have been there recently, did you have any problems using the ATM machines in the airport?

No problems. We use them all the time, coming out of door 1 in Terminal 1, just take a right and you'll run into them. Don't know exactly where they're located in the new terminal 4, but ATMs are there.

They were working fine in Terminal 4 a couple of weeks ago.

However, if you are arriving late at night I suggest you bring enough Euros with you for the taxi fare. I have had problems before in several airports where the machines were empty of cash; e.g. my last trip to Dublin only ONE cash machine out of the five in the airport was working and the line-up was very long. Once in Nice, arrivig after mid-night, I had to get the taxi driver to stop along the way to the hotel to get cash.

Thank you Maribel and OReilly for your help! We have heard that you can't go wrong foodwise--does anybody have any special restaurants they would recommend in Madrid and Barcelona for lunches and dinners?

I have a list of my favorites in all price ranges in Madrid and Bcn that you're welcome to download, pdf files, at www.maribelsguides.com

Hi HAR, I have a friend here in CA that goes almost every year to Spain as she was born and raised in Seville and her family is still there. They fly into Madrid and stay there for a few days before picking up a rental car to drive to Seville.

She works for a credit union and she always brings some euro's with her as she too has had problems getting money from the ATM's at the airport in Madrid (I don't know if that has been late evening or what time of the day) so she wants to be sure they have euro's for a taxi etc. So going on her experiences I would bring some euro with me.

I will second the idea of arriving with come Euros. I needed to use an ATM for the first time in Rome on a Monday morning. The first THREE ATMs I encountered were out of cash!

Make sure you check with your bank regarding using your ATM card in Spain. Mine is not allowing the use. Apparently there have been problems in certain countries. More the Middle Eastern ones. No problems with Italy, Ireland and many others. Just check with your local bank. I saw a notice on my banks website when I was signing in for online banking. Also make sure you let your bank know that you will be using your card outside the country. Do that with your credit cards as well.

Thanks for all your suggestions. We are coming into Terminal 4--I assume there are plenty of ATMs there according to this site, arriving Wednesday mid-morning, so I hope there will be cash available. Maribel, I tried to download your info, but encountered a technical problem. I will try again--I wanted to print it to take with me. Thanks to all of you for all the help you provide!

Sorry! If you want to send an email to [email protected], he'll pass it on to me and I can send you a Word file.

Thanks, Maribel. I have sent an e mail to Webmaster per your suggestion and look forward to receiving your guides for Madrid and Barcelona. We leave next Tuesday for Madrid.

Maribel, thanks so much for the wealth of information!

Has anyone used the ATMs in the new terminal 4? Are we likely to have any problems such as running out of money arriving about 10 AM Wednesday? We have heard about people arriving on early flights or weekends who have run into that problem.

Again, this forum is so helpful in every way--thank you all for sharing your experiences and being so helpful.

The excitement mounts!