Real Madrid is one of the most famous, recognizable football clubs in the world. Founded in 1902, the club has spent the last 120 years relentlessly winning trophies, both domestically and across Europe. Since 1947, Real Madrid have played their home games at the Santiago Bernabéu, a beautiful, historic, 85,000-seat stadium in Madrid’s north.
For any football fan, the Santiago Bernabéu is a must-visit. This iconic stadium is enormous, stunning, and incredibly atmospheric. Whether you’re visiting Madrid to see Real Madrid play, or you’re not visiting on a game day but want to take a tour of the stadium, it’s well worth the experience.
It can be tricky to figure out how to get to the Santiago Bernabéu, as it’s not located in Madrid’s city center. So, whether you’re driving, biking, walking, or braving Madrid’s public transport systems, here’s how to get to the Santiago Bernabéu to catch Real Madrid’s next match.
There are several different ways to get to the Santiago Bernabéu, depending on where you’re traveling from. You can:
We’ll break down each of these options below, helping you find the right one for you and your crew traveling to the Santiago Bernabéu to see Real Madrid play in La Liga.
If you’re in Madrid with a car, yes – you can try to drive to the Santiago Bernabéu. However, it’s not the best way to get to the stadium. The stadium has a parking lot, but there’s only space for around 1,000 cars. When you consider that the stadium holds 85,000 people, it’s easy to see how the car parking can quickly become full!
If you’re traveling to watch Real Madrid from further afield, or you’re on a Spanish road trip and don’t have anywhere to leave your car, you can try driving to the stadium. As well as the official Bernabéu parking, you might find other parking options like public car parks (there’s not a lot of street parking around the Bernabéu). Keep in mind that the area around the stadium gets exceptionally busy on game days.
If you have somewhere you can leave your car, like a hotel with secure parking, I’d recommend doing that instead and then walking or taking public transport to get to the stadium. If you do decide to drive, you can park at the Santiago Bernabéu in the parking lot of Paseo de la Castellana.
Parking at the stadium costs €15 per day, and parking in the lots near the stadium will be equally expensive, or even more. So, driving to the Santiago Bernabéu is possible, but parking at the Santiago Bernabéu is difficult. It’s not the best way to get to the Bernabéu, but it’s an option if you really do need to drive.
Buses are an easy way to get to the Santiago Bernabéu from just about anywhere in Madrid. You can take any EMT Madrid bus line 14, 27, 40, 43, 120, 126, 147, or 150 from Madrid’s city center. Take your bus to the Santiago Bernabéu station, right after the Lima stop. From the bus stop, the stadium is right in front of you – you can’t miss it!
Buses can get busy on game days, so leave yourself plenty of time. This journey from the city center to the Bernabéu takes around 20 minutes, and buses leave every 10-15 minutes during the day and into the evening. A single-use bus ticket that’s valid for one trip on the bus where it is purchased costs €1.50. You can pay with cash or a credit card.
If you’re traveling for football and plan on spending a few days in Madrid, there might be other tourist attractions and sights you want to see while you’re in the city. If this is the case, and you don’t feel 100% comfortable navigating the metro and buses, the Hop-On Hop-Off tourist bus might work for you.
The Madrid Hop-On Hop-Off bus drops you on the doorstep of all the city’s top attractions, including the Santiago Bernabéu. It’s an easy, stress-free way to navigate your way around Madrid, especially if you’re visiting multiple tourist spots. A ticket is €27 for 48 hours, so it’s more expensive than a normal bus, but it may also be more convenient depending on your plans.
Another option is to take the metro to the Santiago Bernabéu – this is probably the easiest way to get to the stadium, even though it gets very busy on game days. From the city center, you can take Line 1 from Pinar De Chamartin to Tribunal Station. Then, you can walk to Line 10 Tres Olivos station and catch a metro to the Santiago Bernabéu station. The stadium is just a few minutes walk from the station.
It depends on exactly where you’re traveling from, but basically you just need to find your way to Line 10, and take a metro from there. Metro tickets are cheap, costing just 2 Euros per ride. This is the best way to get to the Santiago Bernabéu, but bear in mind that everyone will be trying to leave the stadium at the same time, so the metro can get extremely busy after the game finishes.
Biking and walking are also great options for getting to the Santiago Bernabéu. If you’re traveling to a Real Madrid match and want to explore the city while you’re at it, I always think doing it on foot, or with a bike, is perfect because it gives you the freedom to stop wherever you want and live like a local.
In terms of biking to the Santiago Bernabéu, it will take you around 15 minutes to get from the city center up to the stadium. Madrid is relatively bike-friendly, and this route is safe, well-marked, and easy to navigate. It’s basically a straight shot up the P.º de la Castellana for 4 km, you can’t miss it!
If you don’t have your own bike, there are several bike-share BiciMAD stations near the Bernabéu where you can pick up or drop off a bike. There are more than 600 BiciMAD stations across the city, so it’s not usually hard to find a bike to pick up! You can purchase a short-term ticket, and top it up using your credit card.
One of my favorite ways to get around any city is to walk. It just allows you to see so much more, stop anywhere that looks cool, and soak up the vibe of a city. Madrid is very safe and really walkable, and the Santiago Bernabéu is close enough to the city that it’s definitely possible to do it on foot – many football fans do!
It will take you about an hour to walk to the Santiago Bernabéu from Madrid’s city center, or a bit longer if you’re located in the south of Madrid. It’s a great way to see the sights of the city while you’re visiting! Madrid is safe to walk in at night, so if you want to walk back to your hotel room after the game, that works too. There are a few different routes you can take – just use Google Maps to plan ahead.
Generally, ride share services like Uber are another option, though the Spanish government has an ongoing conflict about whether or not these services should be allowed to operate across the country, which means that this information could change at any time. For now, though, you can travel through Madrid via Uber, and there’s a decent supply of cars available, depending on the time of day.
Taxis are also abundant, and tend to be cheaper than an Uber. You can take either a taxi or a rideshare to the Santiago Bernabéu, but an Uber could cost you significantly more than a metro ticket. For a taxi, you can catch a local cab directly to the stadium entrance. The basic taxi fare in Madrid is €2.50, after which it is €1.15 per additional kilometer.
Millions of fans flock to the Santiago Bernabéu to see Real Madrid play each season. If you want to be one of these football lovers, you need to plan your trip to the Bernabéu in Madrid well in advance. Make sure you have a game day plan figured out, including how to get to and from the Santiago Bernabéu on game day. Hala Madrid!
