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Atocha Station in Madrid: Trains, buses, subways and... turtles

Atocha Station in Madrid: Trains, Buses, Subways and... Turtles

Next time you’re headed off on a day trip from the Atocha train station make sure you arrive early enough in order to enjoy all that this historic Madrid landmark has to offer. Yes, really...

Atocha Station

by Jolijn Van der Zanden

Next time you’re headed off on a day trip from the Atocha train station make sure you arrive early enough in order to enjoy all that this historic Madrid landmark has to offer. Yes, really.

One hour before departure

The landmark building of Atocha is actually a part that is not used as a station anymore. It opened in 1892, after fire had destroyed the previous station and the French education of architect Alberto de Palacio y Elissague is more than obvious. The iron, the glass: it all looks very Parisian.You might notice similarities to the Crystal Palace and the Velazquez building in Retiro, since all three buildings were designed by the same man. When the old station closed in 1992 and passengers were forced to carry their suitcases to the architectually rather dull but definitely more practical new section, the site was appropriately turned into a railway museum with old steam locomotives on display. The hall now houses an immense tropical garden. The steam remains, but now only to protect the palm trees that may otherwise not survive in Madrid’s dry climate. Turtles, fish and birds enjoy their little slice of Eden in the midst of this Modern Madrid . Naturally, as good Spanish traditions go, you are only a short stroll away from a coffee or a caña.

Forty minutes before departure

Get you bearings. Walking around might cause severe disorientation: there is a subway station, a Cercanías station (regional trains), the intercity train station and one for the AVE, the high velocity trains. Entrances for all these stations are carefully hidden by what seems to be hundreds of shops (exactly HOW many sweet shops can one station contain?) The bustle, the people, the chaos and the lost tourists; and you thought Barajas airport was a busy place on the Friday before Christmas!

Twenty-five minutes before departure

Pay your respects. Try to find both memorials for the victims of the 2004 train bombings. Two trains were hit at Atocha: one exploded inside the Cercanías station, one just outside, close to Calle Tellez. Two other trains were hit in stations in El Pozo and Santa Eugenia. You can leave your personal message close to the Cercanías station or you can read the victim’s names and see the glass sculpture that is closer to the subway station.

Ten minutes before departure

Submit to inspection. Now would be the time that police and security guards will summon you to stop taking pictures from the station’s interior and will kindly ask you to delete them from your camera. You will also be busy putting your luggage through a scan before boarding your train. Madrid seems to have gotten over the bombings quickly but in Atocha you can tell that the scars run deep.

One minute before departure

Run.

Come back again

Party like a rock star? Stop in on your way back into town for a visit to Ananda, a club (and why not?) located in Atocha, not far from the car park. Its open from 23:00 hours to 05:00 and is a quirky Arabic/white design/lounge mix. It has a terrace, a disco, and is considered to be a good spot to be seen during summer. Atocha (the mullet of train stations) may be business in the front, but it’s all party in the back.