What you should know about the €33 Madrid airport taxi fare

The €33 airport fare is the price of a taxi between Adolfo Suárez Madrid-Barajas Airport and any address inside the M-30 ring road, in either direction and to any of the four terminals. It is a fixed amount: it does not depend on traffic, time of day or route, and no supplements are added for luggage or for leaving the terminal. If your starting point or destination is outside the M-30, the price is different.

Behind that figure are two things that are best not confused: the fixed fare that Madrid City Council sets for taxis that work with a meter, and the fixed fare by zone applied by a pre-booked service like ours. In this article we explain both, what they include and how to know what you should pay.

The condition is simple: one end of the journey has to be the airport and the other a point inside the M-30. It does not matter which of the two is the starting point. These are the most common cases:

• From your hotel in Sol, Gran Vía or the Salamanca district to T4 to catch a flight.
• From T1 or T2 to your home in Chamberí, Retiro, Tetuán or Arganzuela, on your way back from a trip.
• From Atocha or Chamartín station to the airport, when connecting between train and plane.
• From an office on the Castellana or at Nuevos Ministerios to any terminal.

All four terminals count the same: although T4 is in a separate building from T1, T2 and T3, the price does not change. If you want to check whether your particular street is in the zone, the Inside the M-30 fare page lists the districts it covers, and the booking form assigns the zone when you type in the address.

The most important thing about this fare is what is not added. Many people distrust a fixed price because they expect extras to appear at the end, so it is worth being clear before you get in the car:

• Luggage is included. One suitcase or four, the price is the same.
• There is no airport supplement. Entering or leaving a terminal is already part of the journey.
• Traffic does not count. A hold-up on the M-30, the A-2 or the approach roads to Barajas does not make the journey more expensive.
• Nor does the route. The driver chooses the most suitable route for the time of day; the amount does not depend on the kilometres.
• Nor the time. A six o’clock flight in the morning or a midnight arrival cost the same.

What does depend on you is being at the pickup point at the agreed time. If there are five or more of you, or you have lots of luggage, what changes is not the fare but the vehicle: you need to ask for a larger one when you book.

The €33 fare has a very clear geographical limit, and beyond it the price is worked out differently. It does not apply in these cases:

If your address is outside the M-30

The outer districts of the city of Madrid, such as Hortaleza, Ciudad Lineal, Vallecas or Carabanchel, are not inside the ring. In a metered taxi, that journey is charged according to the applicable time-based tariff, plus any airport supplement set by the regulations. With a pre-booking, the fixed fare for the zone applies: many districts have their own, and the rest of the city uses the Outside the M-30 fare.

If you are going to another town

Alcobendas, Coslada, Getafe, Pozuelo or any other town in the Madrid region has its own price, even if it borders the capital. All the zones, with their amounts, are on our airport taxi fares page.

If the journey neither starts nor ends at the airport

A journey from Atocha to Chamartín, for example, is a normal metered urban trip. The fixed fare only exists for journeys with the airport at one end.

When someone talks about “the €33 airport fare” they may mean two different things, although in practice they coincide on the Inside the M-30 journey.

The Madrid taxi fixed fare

This is one of the official fares that Madrid City Council approves for metered taxis, alongside the time-based tariffs, the minimum fare from the airport and the supplements. It applies when you take a taxi from the rank at the terminal, or hail one in the street inside the M-30 and go to the airport. Its amount is reviewed along with the other fares at each update, so the reference is always the current table, which the taxi displays inside. We cover the other special fares in the second part of our guide to Madrid taxi fares.

Our service's fixed fare

This is the price we set for each zone when you book your taxi in advance: €33 for Inside the M-30 and a specific amount for each district or town. You see the price in the booking form before you confirm, and it is the same there and back. The practical difference is that you know it beforehand, even if you are leaving from an outer district or another town, where a metered taxi would have no fixed price. If you want to see how all the ways of paying for a taxi to Barajas fit together, we explain it in the guide to understanding airport fares.

The €33 fare is easy to check, and yet some travellers end up paying more, especially just after landing and not knowing the city. A few simple guidelines:

1. Only use official taxis. At Barajas, take a taxi from the signposted rank at the terminal or wait for the driver you have booked. Turn down offers in the arrivals area: we explain why in the article on unlicensed taxi drivers at Barajas.
2. Give your exact destination when you get in. If it is inside the M-30, the price should not change when you arrive.
3. Ask for a receipt. It is your proof if you need to complain or claim the expense from your company.
4. Book if you want to play it safe. With an airport pickup, you give your flight number, we confirm the terminal and the meeting point, and the price is fixed before you land.

You can pay online by card when you book, through a secure gateway, or to the driver by card or in cash at the end of the journey.