I went to Madring for the Spanish F1 Grand Prix last year in Madrid.
I flew to Madrid from the UK, and then used various forms of public transport to get from my accommodation in the centre of Madrid to the circuit.
These are my top tips on the best ways to get to and from the circuit for the race weekend, based on my experiences.
Know your zone
First and foremost, before you plan your travel to Madring for the F1, you need to check which zone your tickets are for.
Your tickets only get you access to your specific zone. You cannot access any other zones.
This caught me out initially because I used public transport to arrive at one side of the circuit but I couldn’t actually get in there. So I had to walk about 45 minutes on the streets to get to the correct entrance for my zone.
So check your tickets first. The best way to do this is in the Madring app, where it will say which Access point (gate) to use, which grandstand you’re in, and which Fan Zone you have access to:
Entrance gates
At the Madrid F1 race, make sure you aim for the entrance gate listed on your ticket. That’s the only one you’ll have access to.
For the tickets above, I initially tried to enter via Gate C1 rather than gate C2. Even though they give access to the same fan zone, the guys on the gate would not let me enter, so I had a very long walk around the outside of the track to get to C2 which was super frustrating. Here’s me being frustrated on that long walk:
Tickets - Madring F1
I bought my tickets to the Spanish Grand Prix at the Madring on the ViaGoGo ticket platform, and managed to get them for about half the official price.
I bought them quite late, around 1 week before the race, but that’s when prices seem to be lower, and ViaGoGo will always have a great selection of tickets for sale right up until the race weekend is over, even when they are sold out elsewhere.
They also have single day tickets available which are generally cheaper. They’re worth considering if you’re only going for one day. If you’re going for multiple days then you could get different single-day tickets to try out different grandstands / views each day.
I’ve bought tickets through ViaGoGo loads of times over the past few F1 seasons, including for the Madrid, Silverstone and Montreal Grand Prix. I’ve never had a problem using them, and I will happily buy tickets through them again next time.
Public transport
Public transport is definitely the best way to get to the track, regardless of where you’re coming from. I used the metro, trains and the bike systems – below is my guide to each.
Metro
Madrid has a great Metro system that serves the city itself, plus has a number of different stops which you can use to get to the circuit.
Again, the metro station you should aim for depends on what access gate your ticket says. And remember, the circuit is split in to two halves – Madring Norte (North) and Madring Sur (South). You can’t go from to the other, they are not linked.
Below I’ve summarised which station is closest to the different gates:
| Access / Gate | Best Station | Line(s) |
|---|---|---|
| Access A / Gates A (Madring Sur) | Feria de Madrid | Metro Line 8 |
| Access B / Gates B (Madring Sur) | Feria de Madrid | Metro Line 8 |
| Access C1 / Gate C1 (Madring Sur) | Feria de Madrid | Metro Line 8 |
| Access C2 / Gate C2 (Madring Sur) | Mar de Cristal | Metro Lines 8 and 4 |
| Access D / Gates D (Madring Norte) | Valdebebas transport hub or San Lorenzo |
Cercanías C1 Metro Line 4 |
| Access E / Gates E (Madring Norte) | Valdebebas transport hub | Cercanías C1 |
And on this map you can see roughly where these stations are in relation to the zones / gates around the circuit:
All of the metro station turnstiles have contactless card readers, so I just tapped my card / phone each time I entered or exited a station. Each journey was around 2.00 Euros.
The stations that are near the circuit are all on Line 8 or Line 4 of the Metro system, which is the same line that goes to the airport. It’s the pink line on the North-East part of the Madrid Metro map below:
I mistakenly decided to get off at the Feria de Madrid metro station when arriving at the track which was close to gates A, B and C1 (which I thought I could enter by). But as I couldn’t get in through C1, I had to walk for around 45 minutes on the streets to get to C2. Looking at the maps and table above, I should have got off at the Mar de Cristal metro station which was much closer to C2.
The metro was busy in the morning going to the track, but nothing too rediculous. The journey was pretty short and comfortable, so no complaints there. Around Madrid there are loads of metro stations, so it was easy getting around and connecting to get to Line 8 and Line 4.
Getting home is a bit more chaotic as everyone tends to leave the track at the same time. Leaving Madrid Sur (A, B and C1 gates), there was a big queue to get back in to the Feria de Madrid station, with people reporting waits of over an hour to get on a metro train. One way to avoid that would be to walk for 20 minutes to the Canillas metro station which was much less busy.
Train - Valdebebas Station
The most annoying thing about trying to get to Madring Norte (D and E gates) is that the Valdebebas station is not part of the metro sytem, instead it’s part of the Cercanías train system. To get to Valdebebas you need to take line C-1 of the Cercanías train system.
To get there, you can use the metro system to get to the Chemartin station where you can change to the train line and get on line C-1 towards the airport. The map below shows this:
Now the thing with using Valdebebas is that it’s quite busy but manageable in the morning on the way to the track.
However at the end of the day, when the F1 was over, it was chaos trying to get in to the station. Literally most people from the North part of the Madring circuit left via the E gates and tried to get in to Valdebebas whih means tens of thousands of people queing.
The video below gives you an hint of how many people were trying to get in to the Valdebebas station at the end of the day. And this was filmed on Friday – Saturday and Sunday were worse.
So how is the best way to leave Madring Norte at the end of the day if you don’t want to wait for hours at Valdebebas? Well what I did was walk to the San Lorenzo metro station. This was 30 minutes walk from the E gates, but it w.as a lovely evening, and I stopped at a supermarket on the way to get some supplies.
When I got there, there was no queue at all and I got straight on the first train and was back in the city in about 15 minutes. Even with the 30 minute walk, this was way quicker than waiting at the train station
Bus
The metro is definitely the best way to get to the circuit. But another option are the local EMT buses.
These have contactless card readers which you tap when you get on, and each ride is 1.50 Euros.
I didn’t use these myself, but saw LOADS of people trying to get on them at the end of the day near Valdebebas. There were a lot of buses running, but it looked very chaotic which is why I decided to walk to San Lorenzo metro instead.
There’s a load of different bus routes and stops you can use around the circuit, again depending on which gates you’re heading for. I’ve summarised these below:
| Zone | Bus Stops | Access Gates | Bus Routes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Madring Norte | 1 - 4 | D, E | BR1, 171, 174, SE709, N28 |
| Madring Sur | 5 – 14 | A, B, C1, C2 | 73, 87, 104, 112, 120, 122, 125, 153, 171, 172, 172SF, T11 |
Bikes - Bicimad
Madrid has a great public bicycle system called Bicimad. You’ll see the blue bikes parked up in docks and being ridden all over the city.
With the weather being so nice this was a lovely way to explore Madrid the day before the F1. I planned on using the bikes quite a bit, so I downloaded the Bicimad app and signed up for a month pass for just 10 Euros, and for that you get unlimited rides up to 30 minutes. If you go over 30 minutes, you then pay an additional 50 Euro Cents for the next 30 minutes, then 3.00 Euros for every 30 minutes after that
A couple of occasions I was riding for close to 30 minutes, so I just found a dock, checked my bike in, then checked it straight back out again to reset the clock for the next 30 minutes.
I did think about riding a bike to the circuit instead of taking the metro. But this would have been around a 40 minute ride, which would have been fine because they’re E-bikes, but when I looked at the Bicimad app all of the bike docking stations near the circuit were already full, so there would have been nowhere to leave it.
Grabbing one of these bikes to ride home at the end of the day was my initial plan to avoid the chaos of getting in to a nearby train / metro station.
However, as I left the circuit a little while after the last F1 session had finished, by the time I got to the nearby bike docks they’d all been taken. So to get one, you’d have to leave very early. So definitely don’t rely on the Bicimad bikes as a way to get to your accommodation after the F1 has finished in Madrid.
Parking
The Madrid F1 organisers say you should avoid driving and parking if you’re coming to the Madring for the Grand Prix weekend, and I could see why. A lot of the local roads were shut off and traffic around some of the busier parts of the track was pretty chaotic.
The only actual parking at the track itself is for VIP ticket holders or circuit / F1 staff.
If you insist on driving, the organisers provide two places where you can park. Both of these have a free shuttle service that takes you to the track.
Riyadh Air Metropolitano Stadium is one parking option. Prices are around 75 Euros / day, and have to be booked in advance through the Madring official website. There’s a free shuttle bus that goes from here to both Madring North and South.
Mowiz parking near the circuit is another option, and is walkable to the track for those in Madring Norte (but not recommended for those in Madring Sur). It has a very limited number of spaces. Tickets have to be booked in advance here.
If I wanted to drive to the F1 in Madrid, I’d aim to find a car park in the city near a metro station, then use the metro to get to the track. The best way would be to find parking near a metro station on Line 8.
One option would be to use Parking Indigo Madrid Dominicana Republica which is right next to the Colombia metro station on Line 8. You could get on the Metro there and go straight to the circuit without changing. You can pre-book parking tickets for this car park here.
Shuttle buses
The organisers put on free shuttle buses from two metro stations around the city to get to the circuit.
For Madring Sur (gates A, B and C1) the free shuttle bus departed from the Cannilejas metro station (Line 5).
For Madring Norte (gates D and E) the free shuttle bus departed from the Plaza de Castilla metro station.
Taxis and Ubers
There are dedicated drop off / pick up points for taxis and ride-share cabs at Madring. Using these to get to the circuit is not a bad idea, but using them to get back to your accommodation at the end of the day will take a long time.
I walked past a line of people waiting for taxis at Madring Norte at the end of the Friday. There were hundreds of people waiting, and it was taking a long time for any cabs to arrive because of the traffic. Plus if you’re trying to use a ride-share app then surge pricing will be in effect, and you’ll be competiting with thousands of other people to try and get one. So expect a delay.
The image below shows less than half the full length of the queue for the taxi rank near Valdebebas station close to the D and E gates:
These are the locations the organisers provide for the Taxi / ride-share drop off and pickup points. The links go to Google Maps locations:
- Gates A, B, C1 and C2: Avenida de los Andes which is about 15 minutes’ walk from gates A, B and C1 but about 35 minutes from C2.
- Gates D and E: Avenida de las Fuerzas Armadas, about a 10 minute walk from D or E gates. This is the pickup point in the picture above.
I feel like this was a massive oversight from the organisers, as that massive yellow Pirelli bridge basically rendered half of the Pelouse area useless because you couldn’t see anything at all from there. I hope they’ll change it for the next race, but you never know.
Getting from the Airport
I was staying in central Madrid, so had the choice of either getting a taxi or taking a train to get to my accommodation once I landed at Madrid-Bajaras airport (MAD).
The airport is on Line 8 of the Metro system (one stop away from the Feria de Madrid metro station at Madring South) and Line C-1 of the Cercanías train network (one stop from Valdebebas station at Madring North).
There’s also a bus that takes you straight in to the city, so it’s easy to get in to Madrid once you land using public transport.
In the end the Uber was cheap and meant I’d see more of the city than being underground on the metro, so I went for that, which was super easy.
Accommodation
I was staying in central Madrid near to the Goya metro station, close to the Retiro parking. Using a metro to get to the track was easy – I got on at Goya (Line 4) and took the metro from there all the way to Mar de Cristal where I changed to Line 8 to get to Feria de Madrid for the A, B and C1 entrance gates. It was easy, and the whole journey took around 30 minutes in the morning.
To help you find accommodation options, the map below shows the location of the Madring circuit itself (the blue pin) and lists all of the places to stay nearby. Have a look around the map to see the different options.
