Madrid - Best site for visiting the city?

[KeithM]

We will be heading Bilbao - Madrid in early March and I am researching into what sites are available within a reasonable radius. The CC guide mentions Osuna (8km north of Madrid) and Alpha (13km south). From the descriptions, neither sound particularly attractive. Further afield are El Escorial and Arco Iris (both on the Eurocampings/ACSI web site).

My question - we wish to have access to central Madrid for the purposes of general touristic activities, without spending too much time on travelling in/out of the city - which site would you recommend and why??? (OK that's two questions!).

Keith (M)

 

[Graham_374228415]

We stayed at Osuna last year, it is close to a tube station and cost one euro to get into the city. I cannot recall the price but we do remember that we thought it expensive.

San. facilities were okay but a lot of the pitches were on the small side. There was a lot of Irish tarmacing teams staying on the site getting collected in white vans to go to work in the morning and returned at night.

 

[hymerman1]

We were stranded at La Cabrera (north of Madrid) one year and observed several Dutch parties catching the bus into Madrid.

We could not partake ourselves as we were accumulating the cash to pay for our car repairs, the repairers would not take plastic.

Felt a bit apprehensive when we went into Southern Madrid (wher the repairers were located) with 3000 odd euros!!

 

[KeithM]

Thanks for the feedback so far.

Hymerman - was the site Camping Pico de la Miel? That is the only one I can find mention of when searching on 'La Cabrera'. Looking on the map it is a fair old stretch N of Madrid - any idea how long the bus journey is?

At the moment I favour Osuna as it sounds like easy and low-cost access to Madrid centre. As long as the site facilities are clean and we can squeeze our Bailey Oklahoma onto a pitch, that's fine - after all, the intention is to spend time exploring Madrid rather than on-site.

Keith (M)

 

[Graham_374228415]

Hi Keith

I have a link to Osuna here, it is under Madrid

www.gandm.eu/2006Holidays.aspx

Hope this helps.

 

[hymerman1]

Thanks for the feedback so far.

Hymerman - was the site Camping Pico de la Miel? That is the only one I can find mention of when searching on 'La Cabrera'. Looking on the map it is a fair old stretch N of Madrid - any idea how long the bus journey is?

At the moment I favour Osuna as it sounds like easy and low-cost access to Madrid centre. As long as the site facilities are clean and we can squeeze our Bailey Oklahoma onto a pitch, that's fine - after all, the intention is to spend time exploring Madrid rather than on-site.

Keith (M)

Hi Keith

Yes it was Pico de la Miel, can't say how long the bus takes, only observed the Dutch going. The bus stop is only about 15 mins stroll from the site. Pico de la Miel is a very popular stop over site, I have a feeling that the ones closer to Madrid have itinerants.

 

[rob_jax]

Hi Keith,

Just spent two days in Madrid (EU standards meeting in the stunning Repsol headquarters) and:

Osuna is 2 or 3 km from Barajas airport - but not in the flightpath, so I doubt if you could even hear the planes.

The excellent metro system charges Euro 1 for any single journey, any length, in the central zone (zone 1) - and if that's not cheap enough then a ten journey "Metrobus" ticket costs Euro 6 and can be shared between two people - that's 60 cents a journey - and can be used over any number of days. The unlimited tourist tickets - 1 day for Euro 3,50 - is worse value unless you do more than six single journeys a day.

Ate out one night in central Madrid - "El Viejo Madrid" is a very famous Madrid restaurant, located in Calle Cava Baja 32 - and close to metro station La Latina. Like most Madrid restaurants, opens from 1300 to 1600 and 2100 to 0200. As a veggie, I had the marinated red peppers followed by huevos revueltos "broken eggs" - just great and good value at around Euro 20 - but the carnivores happily munched their way through the suckling pig or tuna steaks.

Driving - don't drive into central Madrid - parking and the driving are equally bad - use the Metro or the much more expensive taxis (white cars with red stripe)

Robert

 

[KeithM]

Hi Rob,

Thanks for the very useful information, particularly regarding the Metro. My only previous visit to Madrid was a short business trip. I had dinner with my Spanish colleagues at 23.00 and (having left home at 04.00 to drive to Heathrow), was a bit taken aback at comments about how early it was to be having dinner!

I received information today that the bus ride from La Cabrera to the Madrid central bus station takes 75 minutes. Osuna is still looking favourite.

Keith (M)

 

[rob_jax]

Hi Keith,

Exactly - I too left home in Buckinghamshire at 0400 for a Gatwick flight to Madrid - used the Metro from the airport to the city centre and then to the southwest - arriving at 12:30 for the meeting

No food on the flight, but that's OK - the meeting started at 13:00 - then stopped for what everyone assumed would be a coffee break at 14:30 - nope it was lunchtime - just as well because I was feeling a bit peckish.

If you look for a metro map on the internet - make sure you download one that is post 2005 - the metro network has been seriously expanded in the past five years - and there are plenty of official maps out on the internet that are now sadly outdated.

Robert