Soccer

Football travel guide: How to make a day trip to the Madrid derby

All you need to know if you fancy seeing Real Madrid take on Atlético at the Bernabéu

The Madrid derby takes place on February 1st at the Bernabéu. Photograph: Patricio Realpe/ChakanaNews

Ruaidhrí Croke's face
Ruaidhrí Croke
Mon Jan 6 2020 - 20:30

Real Madrid v Atlético Madrid
Date: Saturday, February 1st, 2020
Kick-off time: 4pm, Spanish time

Flights

LaLiga kick-off times are never confirmed until three or four weeks before the match is played – each game is played at a different time for television. That means it can be hard to plan a trip and book accommodation but, in the case of Real Madrid playing at home on a Saturday afternoon, it’s possible to go without staying over at all.

At 6.25am on the morning of Saturday, February 1st you can fly from Dublin to Madrid with Ryanair for €58.83, arriving into the Spanish capital at 10am.

That gives you plenty of time to either head straight out to the ground and enjoy some of the tapas bars and restaurants there or, even better, you can head to the city centre for a few hours before jumping on the metro out to the Bernabéu.

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To return home, there is a Ryanair flight back to Dublin at 9.30pm Spanish time for €35.03, landing in Ireland at 11.10pm.

So, that’s return flights for just €93.86.

Getting to the ground

Unlike many modern stadiums which are located well outside the city, the Bernabéu sits within the city centre limits of Madrid on the Paseo de la Castellana.

Metro line 10 services the Santiago Bernabéu stop which is right across from the stadium and that is the best line to get from either Plaza de España or Tribunales in the city centre.

If you’re coming directly from the airport, metro line 8 is the best to take, getting off at Nuevos Ministerios. From there the Bernabéu is a 10 minute walk or one stop on line 10 which you can connect to at the station.

Tickets

Now comes the tricky part. Tickets for Real Madrid matches don't go on sale to the general public until a few days beforehand on the club's website which, incidentally, is a particularly easy website to buy tickets from. While for most games you can buy a ticket at the ground, that's almost never the case for the Madrid derby. In this case tickets go on sale at https://www.realmadrid.com/en/tickets on January 27th. This match is also one of the most expensive of the season at the Bernabéu so expect to pay more than €100 for a ticket, unless you want to sit up in the gods.

Alternatively, if you were planning a trip to see Real Madrid play a different team, tickets can be bought for as little as €30.

Want to make a weekend of it?

With five games taking place on Sunday, February 2nd, there are a number of options around Spain if you’re looking to take in a second match. On this particular weekend you could even combine seeing Real Madrid at the Bernabéu and Barcelona at the Nou Camp.

Barça play Levante at home at 9pm on the Sunday evening. Getting from Madrid to Barcelona is easy with direct trains on the half hour every hour on Sunday mornings, taking around three hours to get there. Booking via www.thetrainline.com is simple as the website is in English and generally offers very good value. On Sunday mornings a single ticket ranges from €67.50 to €76.25.

Alternatively, there are flights at 6.30am, 9.05am and 11.55am with Vueling, all for less than €50 which will get you to Barcelona in just over an hour.

Tickets for the Nou Camp are easy to get – for the Levante match they are on sale on the Barcelona website at the moment, starting at €59.

The late kick-off means you will need somewhere to stay in Barcelona and the cheapest flight back to Dublin the following afternoon is at 12.40pm with Vueling for €80.

*For more information on a trip to the Bernabéu you can read our full guide here.

[ rcroke@irishtimes.com ]