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Adolfo Suárez Madrid-Barajas Airport (MAD)

Last verified: October 2026 · Confirmed by travelers this month: 0

The answer
Take Metro line 8 — €1.50 to €2.00 for the Zone A single plus a flat €3.00 airport supplement, 12 minutes to Nuevos Ministerios and about 20 to T4, every few minutes from 06:00 to 01:30.
Line 8 is the only transport that reaches every terminal and runs from early morning to well past midnight, and although the airport supplement doubles the headline price it is still far cheaper than the €33 flat taxi fare.
Heavy bags or a late landing? The yellow Exprés Aeropuerto 203 bus costs €5.00 and runs 24 hours with luggage racks.
Landing at T4? The Renfe C1 train is €2.60 with no airport supplement at all.

🚇 Every way out — real prices

Metro line 8 BEST FOR MOST
€4.50–5.00
12 min from Nuevos Ministerios to Aeropuerto T1-T2-T3 and about 20 min to Aeropuerto T4, every few minutes, 06:00 to 01:30 every day of the year. The Zone A single is €1.50 to €2.00 depending on how far you ride, plus the mandatory €3.00 airport supplement. Both have to be loaded on a Tarjeta Multi (€2.50, reusable for ten years) because Madrid metro no longer accepts paper tickets.
Cercanías C1 train
€2.60
Renfe's C1 runs Príncipe Pío–Atocha–Chamartín–Aeropuerto T4 in about 25 min, with no airport supplement — the four-zone single is €2.60 and is valid for two hours. It is free for passengers holding an AVE ticket connecting to a flight. The catch is that the C1 only serves Terminal 4, and it runs roughly 05:40 to 23:00.
Exprés Aeropuerto bus 203
€5.00
Yellow bus from all terminals to Plaza de Cibeles and Atocha, running 24 hours a day, every 15–20 min by day and 30–45 min overnight. Flat €5.00 paid to the driver (maximum change €20), with proper luggage racks — it does not use metro or bus tickets, and at night it terminates at Cibeles because Atocha is closed.
EMT buses 200 and 101
€1.50
Line 200 runs Avenida de América to the airport from 05:50 to 23:30 and line 101 from Canillejas from 06:05 to 23:45, both at the ordinary Zone A fare of €1.50 on a Tarjeta Multi. Slow but the cheapest way in, and the 200 connects with metro lines 4, 6, 7 and 9 at Avenida de América. No airport supplement on EMT buses.
Taxi (Tarifa 4, flat rate)
€33
A flat €33 between any terminal and anywhere inside the M-30 ring, 24 hours a day all year, and Tarifa 4 admits no supplements of any kind — not for luggage, not for night, not even the pre-contracted charge. 15–25 min to the centre. Outside the M-30 the meter switches to Tarifa 3, which applies a minimum charge for trips under 9 km before the ordinary tariff takes over.
Uber / Cabify (VTC)
App-quoted
App cars are legal at Barajas and must be pre-booked. You collect them at dedicated VTC pick-up points, not at the kerb: at Terminal 1 Uber's point is on level 1 of car park P1, 3 to 6 minutes from baggage reclaim, and Cabify has its own bays at T1 and T2. Madrid sets a fixed-price regime for pre-contracted services, so the app shows your price before you accept — compare it with the €33 flat taxi fare.
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⚠️ The traps (walk past these)

The €3 airport supplement nobody mentions

Madrid adds a flat €3.00 supplement every time you enter or leave a metro station at Barajas, on top of the Zone A single and on top of a 10-trip ticket as well. So the metro to the city is €4.50 to €5.00, not the €1.50 advertised on the map. The supplement is charged per airport trip, so a return costs it twice, and it is not charged on the Cercanías train. Tourist travel cards include it.

Do this: budget €4.50–5.00 for the metro, or take the C1 train from T4 which has no supplement
There are no paper metro tickets — you need a €2.50 Tarjeta Multi

Madrid metro has gone contactless: every single and 10-trip metro or EMT bus ticket has to be loaded on a Tarjeta Multi, a red card that costs €2.50 and is reusable for ten years. It is free if you buy a tourist travel card. Machines at the airport sell it, but the queues at the T1-T2-T3 station are long at peak, and the card is the reason a €1.50 fare turns into a €4.00 first trip.

Do this: buy the Tarjeta Multi at the first machine and keep it for the whole stay — it is not a deposit you get back
The C1 train only goes to Terminal 4

Renfe's airport train stops at Aeropuerto T4 and nowhere else — there is no station at T1, T2 or T3. Land at any of those and the Cercanías is not an option: you take the metro, or you ride Aena's free inter-terminal bus across to T4 first, which adds 15 to 20 minutes before your train even leaves. Airlines routinely sell "train to Madrid" as if the airport had one station.

Do this: check your arrival terminal before planning on the train, and use the free Aena shuttle if you land at T1-T2-T3
The €33 flat fare only exists inside the M-30

Tarifa 4 is a flat €33 between the airport and anywhere inside the M-30 ring, 24 hours a day, with no supplements allowed — a driver who adds a night charge, a luggage charge or a pre-booking fee inside the ring is wrong. Beyond the M-30 the meter runs on Tarifa 3, which applies a minimum charge for trips under 9 km before switching to the ordinary tariff, so Pozuelo, Alcobendas or San Sebastián de los Reyes cost roughly €45 to €55.

Do this: confirm your hotel is inside the M-30 before quoting €33, and refuse any supplement inside it
App cars do not come to the kerb

Uber and Cabify are legal at Barajas but must collect from dedicated VTC pick-up points — at Terminal 1 that is level 1 of car park P1, three to six minutes' walk from baggage reclaim, and Cabify has its own bays at T1 and T2. They are not allowed at the taxi rank or the terminal kerb, and the app walks you to the point. Anyone inside the arrivals hall offering to be "your Uber" or "your taxi" is not a licensed VTC car or a rank taxi.

Do this: follow the VTC signs in the app, and take taxis only from the signposted rank

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