Getting from Barajas to Atocha Station and Queen Sophia Museum

When you arrive in the Barajas Airport in Madrid, finding your way to the city is actually pretty easy, if you know how to ask for directions. There's a bus that will take you straight to the Atocha Station where you can board most of the trains that connect you to the rest of the Iberian peninsula. We had to get there to take our AVE train to our final destination: Seville.

When you arrive to Barajas, depending on what terminal you end up landing, you may have to take an underground train with just one stop to get out of the airport. Once out I asked someone about the bus bound to Atocha. That's the magic word: Atocha [ah-toc-chah] It’s a yellow bus that stops in front of the terminal 1. No need for cash because these buses are equipped with a little machine that reads your credit card. It costs 5 euros.

We jumped happily on the bus and arrived at Atocha with three hours to spare. Right in front of Atocha you will find the Reina Sofía Museum. It's a medium size museum that you can visit in one or two hours depending on how long you like to stare at art. Arguably, the most famous piece of art there is Picasso's Guernica, which we loved to see.

Twenty minutes in the museum, my husband suggested going for a snack to the restaurant that is right across the street from the museum. To confirm that we could get back to the museum with the same tickets I asked one of the ushers. “You can’t do that today because we are closing in five minutes”, she said.

We couldn't believe it! They had charged us full entrance and we were allowed to see the museum for only twenty minutes. Nobody warned us about closing early that day. So be aware! Before purchasing tickets to Reina Sofía Museum, ask what is the closing time, no matter what it says on the signs everywhere!