Should I avoid arriving in Spain on May 1st?
 

Is May 1st a difficult day to arrive in Spain by air, and then take a train to my destination (Andalucia)?

Just stay away from the Puerta del Sol where there may be demonstrations.

Not IMO if you plan the train trip in advance by buying tickets. Cannot understand why you think there might be an airport arrival problem.

Dukey1, I am not imagining demonstrations shutting down an airport, but I did want to check whether demonstrations might make ground or train transportation a challenge after touching down.

I can't speak for Spain, but in Bordeaux, France, the local tram was not running on May Day 2016.

The trains were not affected so I dare say you'll be OK. Delay is the only other thing I can think of.

Please report back about this.

It is a major holiday in many countries, but not many cities close public transportation for any major holiday, as that isn't very useful to the citizens. I'm surprised Bordeaux did, but that was still in the city, not major trains across the country. London does, which I regard as unusual (Christmas), closing the tube. Madrid runs the metro every day, even if sometimes reduced hours on some holidays (like Christmas eve).

Demonstrations in Madrid tend to focus around govt buildings (which are over towards the Prado), not train stations or airports, or Puerta del Sol as the center or the Gran Via. I as there once for some demonstration and it was around the Parliament building, or Plaza de las Cortes. I suppose if you plan to take a taxi into the center, it could possibly affect the route depending on how the driver goes.

I presume you are going to Atocha and you can get there without going through the center of Madrid easily, just take highway E5 then A3, which comes down from the airport outside Madrid then to the station from the south/east. There wouldn't be any reason to suspect Workers Day protests would affect those major highways, they never do that kind of thing, they want visibility in the center.

Great, thanks for the specific information. Very helpful!

I was in Antwerp on May 1 a few years back. We couldn't even buy an umbrella in the pouring rain, there was almost nothing open other than a couple smaller cafes.

(By the way, here's how we solved the umbrella problem at one cafe we found: "Pardon me, I think I left my black umbrella here. Do you have a lost and found?")

In googling, Congreso de los Diputados, was the closest thing I found near Prado in Madrid, Christina. It is much closer to Thyssen-Bornemisza Museum. Is the big city hall on the Plaza de Cibeles? That too is closer to Thyssen.

I was in Madrid Easter week and got stuck across the street from my hotel waiting for the Procession to end. Because I was concentrating on the art museums, I didn't explore municipal buildings so I'm depending on maps on this post.

Puerta del Sol, mentioned by bedar above is closer to Plaza Mayor. The distances are great enough that you should be OK, aparente001.

Again, please share info about your experience!