Estación de Atocha

This is a train station so in that respect it was a good train station the trains were there. The staff had something to be desired in that they were not overly personal or attentive and some were even rude. This was the staff in the ticket sales office only. The staff and most of the shops or restaurants were pleasant easy to work with.
It’s easy to navigate through the train station and it’s pretty neat inside they have a mini botanical garden with a pond with about a million or so turtles, well actually more like probably 30 or 40 it was pretty neat though and a good way to pass the time. You can also store your bags and some lockers which is nice and it’s reasonable we were able to fit a couple of roll-​aboard bags and a duffle bag in about a medium sized Locker.

very cool train station. you can get about anywhere from here. Buy your ticket and jump on board. It was easy in and out for us.

I took a train from my connection from Madrid to Barcelona. I got a little annoyed as they did not tell me why I had to wait on the side while everyone else got on before us (I was first in line.)
Overall, train was good, clean and fast ride. I enjoyed it. Customer service experience sucked as about half of staff did not speak or even try to understand my Spanglish.

All aboard the 9.05 to anywhere you desire where you’re just a bullet train away from idyllic sandy beaches, awe-​inspiring mountain ranges and sleepy picturesque towns.
Puerta de Atocha is the main station in Madrid providing access to every part of mainland Spain, with most via high speed trains. Some regions such as the North West of Spain are still awaiting their upgraded service but can still be accessed via commuter or sleeper trains.
The station itself is a grand, impressive building which was originally opened in 1892 but has recently undergone extensive refurbishment which perfectly compliments modern architecture whilst holding onto the old charm of the original building.
There are many shops, restaurants, bars and cafés to choose from ranging from the familiar chain options to quirky independent retailers. Perfect for killing some time before you hop on your train.
The defining feature of this beautiful building is in the main concourse in the form of a stunning 4,000m covered tropical botanical garden that houses 7,200 tropical and subtropical plants from 260 species as well as a pond home to 22 species of fish and turtles.
This is a nice place to relax whilst waiting for your train as you can sip on a coffee and munch on some jamon whilst shooting the breeze with a turtle.
The signage and layout of both the railway and metro parts of the station make it easy to get around and find where you need to be. In the case that you find it a bit difficult, there are always a few happy faces around glad to help.
All in all, i’m always happy to pass through here onto my next adventure!

A rather straight forward train station. Very well connected and a nice interior garden that actually looks like it should be outdoors.

They have a restaurant. The menu for breakfast is pretty pitiful but it will do in a pinch.

this is one of two main train stations in madrid, the second being the chamartin train station. i had the pleasure of setting foot in this beautiful city upon arrival at atocha station via the high speed renfe train. having been to four other cities in spain, and four other train stations, prior to arrival in madrid, i can say that this was probably the biggest station, next to the main train station in barcelona. there were multiple tracks, too many to count, and a plethora of shoppes, cafes, and sit down restaurants for visitors to enjoy during their stay here. this train station connects to both the metro de madrid, i.e. the underground train/​tube, and the cercanias renfe, i.e. the suburban railway, used for day commuters to madrid’s city centre. this station is very centrally located, close to the buen park retiro and prado museum.

Very busy urban train station. Nothing difficult and very easy to maneuver and figure things out. Took the train between Madrid and Barcelona on two separate trips. Efficient, clean & comfortable.

Atocha Train Station is one of the most unique train stations I’ve visited to date. One of the cool things about Atocha is that it has a pond filled with cute turtles that a lot of people go to to take photos of. Never seen a train station showcasing animals of any nature like that before! I’ve been here a few times, and each time I always snap photos of these awesome invertebrates.
Atocha is the main train station in Madrid, with connections to local and far distance trains to almost every corner of Spain. As a transportation hub, Atocha also has convenient metro and bus access, in case you need to transfer modes of transportation.
In my most recent trip to Spain this year, I traveled to/​from Atocha on 3 separate occasions on 3 different types of trains:
(1) Short distance train from Madrid to Toledo
(2) Long distance train from Granada to Madrid
(3) Cercanias Train to Barajas Airport.
As I realized, traveling to/​from Atocha was very convenient since it allowed me to travel very short, short, and long distances. Each type of train is in different parts of the train station, so make sure to check your platform and floor/​level to make sure you’re on the right train!
One of the best things about Atocha station is the Cercanias train (C1) to the Airport, which only costs € 2.50 and gets you from Atocha to Barajas in about half an hour with no transferring needed. The Cercanias drops you straight to Terminal 4 (T4), so this makes it convenient for most travelers as most international flights depart from T4. Please note that if your flight does not depart from T4 (like Delta Airlines), you will need to take a courtesy shuttle bus to bring you to the terminal. There are signs outside telling you where to wait for the terminal bus; but if you are unsure you can always ask an airport worker for help too.
As a last word of advice, trains in Spain are usually punctual… If they’re not, you may be entitled to a partial or full refund, per the Renfe policy. All my train rides throughout Spain were on time, so I wasn’t able to bank on any refunds.

If you want to take a bullet train, you’ll probably need to go here (or the other train station)
I was here to take the train to Toledo.
A day trip to Toledo is worthwhile, and this is where you’d catch the train to get there. The train is incredibly smooth — like riding on air. I doubt the train to Toledo went 300 km/​h. Probably topped out at 150 km/​h max. — Still fast though.
It’ a HUGE building — walkable distance from the Museo Prado.
Inside kinsd of resembles a rain forest, and theres hundreds of turtles in one location.

I thought this train station was actually really clean and efficient. I didn’t have any problems with it whatsoever.
My train from Sevilla was late and it seemed like this station was a lot busier (understandably so) than the other train stations I went to, but I didn’t feel the place was in disarray or anything like that.
There are quite a few good places to grab a bite to eat while you wait for your train and the employees were all decently friendly.

Long time not been here, actually years! This past week i have had a very good experience using the high speed train AVE Madrid-​Córdoba. In only 2 hours and very punctual. Smooth transactions and access. Big but not confusing, at least i could find everything easily. I liked the coffeeshops, kioks and various stores where you can get last minute items. Plus you have a lush garden to divert the attention from the steel and concrete.

Adoro spostarmi in Spagna con il veloce AVE. Madrid e’ la miglior città per questo tipo di collegamenti. Madrid-​Barcellona, Madrid-​Siviglia, Madrid-​Valencia.
Ultimamente forse per il grande uso i prezzi non sono proprio il massimo e possono essere più cari di un aereo ma il fatto di non dover fare il check-​in e quindi prendere il treno sino all’ultimo minuto e poter lavorare o usare laptop o tablet per tutto il tempo e’ grandioso.
Viaggiando in preferente (1a classe italiana) si ha a disposizione presa di corrente. Non ho ad oggi ancora trovato un treno con il WiFi il che non è il massimo ma si può sopravvivere anche senza, del resto anche in aereo il WiFi non c’è praticamente mai.

The US train stations should take notes on the operation blueprint of Renfe.
Easy to get around Spain… zero worry… zero drama… buy tix, look at sched, board train, enjoy.

NOTE: Book online in advance (at least 72+ hours) and the price is usually 49 euros instead of ~100 euros
Very easy to use facility. Bullet train runs at nearly 300 kmh and it is a smooth 2.5 hour ride to Barcelona from Madrid. Easy to navigate. Just remember you have assigned seats.

I used this station for two different trips out of Madrid. Great facility! The most challenging thing is making sure you are in the right section of the train station. There’s the metro portion, the short-​distance, medium-​distance, and high speed sections as well. Staff was very nice, and things ran very efficiently and on time.

Gayle and I visited Atocha Station on 2 occasions during our recent trip to Spain. The first time was to take one of the high speed trains to Toledo for a wonderful day trip. The second time was to pick up our rental car to start a 9 day drive through various parts of Northern Spain. And it was an easy matter to take the Metro here. Atocha is the largest railway station in Madrid.
The historical and architecturally interesting part of the Atocha station was in the progress of rehabilitation. The «modern» part of the station wasn’t particularly distinctive, but the energy and people watching was well worth the price of admission. However, it did take Gayle and me a few minutes to figure out the number system to buy our Renfe tickets to Toledo and to determine exactly where our rental car was located (in the far end of the lower lot). And once behind the wheel, I was pleased on how relatively easy it was to find the freeway and drive out of town.
Security was also a little more noticeable and with good reason. On March 11, 2004, packed arriving commuter trains were bombed in a series of coordinated bombings, killing 191 people and wounding 1,800. The official investigation by the Spanish Judiciary determined the attacks were directed by a Muslim al-​Qaeda-​inspired terrorist cell. A somber and minimalist Atocha station memorial is dedicated for the victims of the Attack. The monument includes a virtual shrine. Visitors to the attacked stations can leave a hand silhouette and a message through special-​purpose consoles.

Very pretty, I think! Love the palm garden! Nice and unusual feature for a train station.
If you wanna leave your lugguage in the storage room you can do so for cheap money: the smallest locker (where a trolley easily can be pushed in) costs 3 € /​24 hours! Bargain…

Europe does public and mas transportation well. Period.
This gorgeous station lies adjacent to Passage du Prado where most of the museums are. We took the metro to our hotel (Again, Madrid has one of the easiest subway system I have experienced in my travels), though we probably could have walked.
It’s quite large, but I found it easy to maneuver. We arrived 10 minutes before our train was to depart, but still had lots of time to get to our seats.
Union Station in Washington DC is quite nice and so is the 30^th St. Station in Philadelphia, but nothing like this. Perhaps it more train stations were like this more Americans would ride them. Considering how miserable airports are.. .

This train station is completely beautiful, when we were walking towards it, I said something like, ‘ooooh! what’s that?’ and then it turned out to be our destination. It also has a rainforest built into a really large atrium, sorta strange, and really nice, especially if you have some waiting to do. It wasn’t open to walk through when we were there (even though it was technically open hours) but you can walk all around it and sit just outside of it.
Also, some things you should know:
If you’re going to somewhere relatively nearby, I think it says cercanías, and that’s where you should get your tix.
If you’re going far away, larga distancia is your spot.
All the round trip tickets we bought had open ended returns so you don’t have to race to make a train, just make sure you have a schedule.
There are a couple information booths placed strategically on your way to help you out, and I’m guessing they probably speak English; most people seem to.
There is no free wifi here. Boooo.