Madrid Chamartin Station

About Madrid Chamartín Station

Chamartín, officially Madrid-Chamartín-Clara Campoamor, is Madrid’s main station for AVE and long-distance services running north and north-east of the capital. It opened in 1967 to take pressure off Atocha and now handles AVE routes to Valladolid, Burgos, León, Palencia, Oviedo and connections to the French border at Hendaye. Several international Trenhotel night services historically ran from here, and the station remains the northern anchor of the Spanish high-speed network.

Chamartín sits in the northern Chamartín district, about 6 km from Puerta del Sol. The Cuatro Torres business cluster, the IFEMA exhibition complex and the new Castellana commercial corridor are all nearby. Metro lines 1 and 10, plus Cercanías commuter services, share the station.

Getting from Madrid Chamartín to Madrid

The drive into the historic centre runs down the Paseo de la Castellana, with typical journey times of 15 to 30 minutes. Hotels in Salamanca and Chamberí are within 10 to 20 minutes; Puerta del Sol and Letras add a few minutes more. Peak-hour traffic on the Castellana between 08:00 and 09:30 lengthens the journey.

For onward travel to Madrid-Barajas, Chamartín is the closest mainline station to the airport, with the M-11 covering the 9 km in 15 to 25 minutes outside peak. This makes Chamartín a popular start point for travellers who arrive from northern Spain and connect to a Barajas departure the same day.

Pickup points

Pre-booked drivers wait at the main station entrance on Calle de Agustín de Foxá with a name sign. The pickup lane for private transfers is separate from the metered taxi rank, which can fill quickly when AVE arrivals from Valladolid and Burgos overlap.

For metro connections, the entrance to lines 1 and 10 is inside the station; confirm the direction and platform if you have a tight inter-station connection to Atocha.

Common transfer routes from Madrid Chamartín

• Chamartín to Puerta del Sol: 6 km, 15–25 minutes
• Chamartín to Madrid-Barajas Airport (MAD): 9 km, 15–25 minutes
• Chamartín to Atocha Station: 8 km, 20–35 minutes
• Chamartín to IFEMA: 5 km, 10–20 minutes
• Chamartín to Cuatro Torres business cluster: 1 km, 5–10 minutes
• Chamartín to Segovia: 95 km, 75–95 minutes

Booking your Madrid Chamartín transfer

Chamartín handles a different traveller mix from Atocha: more business travellers in suits, more inter-station connections to Barajas, more late-evening arrivals from northern Spain. The metered taxi rank can run a queue at the standard AVE arrival peaks, and the inter-station transfer to Atocha or onward run to Barajas is exactly the kind of trip where a fixed price and a known driver remove friction.

The fare is fixed at checkout, free cancellation applies up to 24 hours before pickup and the first 60 minutes of waiting are included. Payment is online via Visa, Mastercard, Amex, Apple Pay, Google Pay, Alipay, iDEAL, Wero or PayPal.