gidlaurie

Hi Fodorites,
I was trying to figure this out on my own and realized that the only logical choice was to ask the Fodor experts!!!!!!!
We are flying through Madrid Barajas with a 5 hour layover, from 11 am until flight out at 4:30pm. I am traveling with my three teenagers. Two want to see Real Madrid football stadium ("from the outside"), and one wants to see the Guernica which is apparently now at the Reina Sophia museum.
Any possibility of doing this? I thought of taking a cab / maybe Aerocity / maybe pay for "express". But I don't know where the stadium is in relation to the museum? What do you think?
Thanks!
The Herman Family

lincasanova

leve kids at stadium. take cab to reina sophia. go back and pick up kids at stadium or café across the street ( been there, done that) and then taxi back to airport. if you have your boarding passes should be no problem if you arrive on time and do not dilly dally getting out of airport. I'd take same cab to stadium, have him wait a minute, get kids in line for tour and take him back to reina sofia.

Then you can catch a cab on opposite side of street when you leave reina sofia to be going right direction. The stadium is on the same street but a couple miles down the road with good airport access.

If you have extra time you can get a snack at that café where the boys will be waiting for you.

lincasanova

Is your Barajas flight out domestic/european or international to the USA?

gidlaurie

Thank you for your fast reply! We fly in and out of terminal 4S. I think that is International (coming from Israel, flying to New York). The idea of leaving them or some of them for the stadium tour is a great one! They are 16 so I think they would be fine with that! I am so excited that the 2 places they want to see are at least close to the airport and to each other. It must be a good sign! Thanks again.
Do you think I should arrange a cab in advance to take us from the airport, or arrange it when we arrive? Also, do you know approximately what the cab should cost in each direction?
Thank you

lincasanova

go straight out the exit doors to cab stand and line.. might take awhile.. and they will put you in first cab. Taxi might cost 30 euros to stadium? and 8-10 to museum from there?. just grab a cab when you leave museum but cross the street and get going correct direction back to stadium so they don´t have to go around a roundabout in wrong direction, or get them AT the roundabout so they can quickly turn around. The museum is on a busy corner so you should NOT have a problem grabbing a taxi. when you get to stadium, if you want to continue on to airport then tell him "un momento".. and go find the kids if you have not been able to cell phone them out to the street from the café.

If time is pressing you might be able to one of the the objectives.. museum visit is more controllable.

If the kids can´t get into the TOUR for some reason, they can pay to go into the stadium coffee shop /restaurant and they get back some of their entrance money for a refreshment or something like that. I did that part of this with my nephew.. and it was actually fun. He took the tour later and I went off and came back and waited for him at the café.

I think he was in there about 45 minutes or so.

These places aren't "close" to the airport but well connected on the "right side" of the city. Maybe 20 minutes to get back to T4 if traffic is not bad.

I would want to be inside T4 at 90 minutes from take off with b.passes in hand.

lincasanova

tour tickets sold at window 10.. then around the corner is the entrance .. very easy.

gidlaurie

(I'm reposting this because I forgot to "tag" it as "Spain" - sorry for any confusion!)

gidlaurie

Thanks Lincasanova - your guidance is just what I needed!

lincasanova

you could ask the editors to tag THIS post as spain and eliminate the other one completely. Or you never know if you will get some other ideas on that one! Let us know how it goes.

senozkadir

Another solution to avoid the traffic might be taking the metro first and then taking a taxi.
Metro Line 8 (pink line) connects the airport with the city. It takes about 25 minutes to get from Aeropuerto Station T4 to Nuevos Ministerios.Santiago Barnabeu Stadium is 1 km from Nuevos ministerios so you can take a cab from NM to SB,drop 2 kids at the stadium for the tour and continue in the same cab to Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofia to see the Guernica and get another cab back to the stadium and take the metro back to T4.

lincasanova

see.. another good idea. The traffic should not be bad at that time, just FYI. But the metro would be much cheaper.

The stadium office says to allow about 1 hr 15 mins. for the tour.

senozkadir

exactly so!
It took us 1,5 hours at a slow pace.

lincasanova

Please watch your belongings and pay attention to those around you when boarding. The thieves work in groups and try to block the door when you get on or off to rummage through your pocket/purse, etc and are QUITE successful.

That metro ( and most others) has a resident group of thieves that they catch occasionally and ban form taking public transportation.. so just be careful.. I've never had anything happen to ME, but have been next to people who DID.

BAckpack in front.. purse across chest.. etc.. you know.. the typical warnings.

lreynold1

One other option would be to see if the RENFE Cercanias line C1 (which leaves from T4) is leaving close to the time you get there. It leaves T4 at 28 and 58 past every hour. It's a 26 minute train ride to Atocha Station, which is about a 5 minute walk to the Reina Sofia.

The same train also stops at Chamartin Station (only a 12 minute ride), which is about 2 kms from Bernabeu.

So, on rethinking this, it's not likely to make sense for you to use Cercanias all the way to Atocha, since your two kids would have get out on their own at Chamartin, but if you are tempted to take public transportation, consider Cercanias instead of the metro. It's much quicker, no pickpockets that I've ever seen, and very reliable. You would take the Cercanias to Chamartin, then hop in a cab, drop the kids at Bernabeu and continue on down to Reina Sofia. Sounds like a fun way to spend your layover!