Travel comfortably, quickly and safely around Madrid: a taxi from the airport to hospital if you are coming for a medical appointment

Taking a taxi from the airport to hospital is the most direct option if you are flying to Madrid for a medical appointment: it picks you up at the terminal and drops you at the entrance of the building where your appointment is, with no changes and no long walks with luggage. The key is to fit your flight time around your appointment with some margin, give the exact hospital and building when you book, and book the return bearing in mind that appointments often run late. If it is a medical emergency, do not wait for a taxi: call 112.

Madrid's major hospitals receive patients from all over Spain, including from the islands and from other provinces who arrive by plane for specialist consultations, tests or treatments. This guide is designed for them and for the people travelling with them.

• Do not cut your arrival too fine: between landing, getting off the plane, collecting your luggage and the journey, time passes that you should not try to shave. If your appointment is first thing, consider arriving the evening before.
• For the return, leave plenty of margin: consultations and tests often run late. Choose a flight that lets you reach the airport two hours early on domestic or European flights even if you leave the hospital late.
• If you are travelling for treatment lasting several days, think about staying near the hospital to cut down on journeys.

When you book, give the name of the hospital and, if you know it, the building or entrance. Several Madrid hospitals are complexes with several buildings and entrances, and the outpatients entrance is not the same as the inpatients one. Some of the best known, by area:

If you are staying near the hospital, you will find pickup information by area on the pages for taxis in Fuencarral, taxis in Moncloa, taxis in Usera or taxis in Retiro. With our service the price is fixed by zone and you know it before you land: if the hospital is inside the M-30 it is €33, and the other prices are in the fares by area.

Hospitals do not have left-luggage facilities for suitcases, and moving around consulting rooms with luggage is awkward. If you arrive with a suitcase and have somewhere to stay, the most practical thing is to go there first, leave it and then carry on to the hospital. If it is a same-day return trip, take hand luggage only and, in it, your medical report, health card, appointment letter and any medication you take.

This is the trickiest part, because you do not know what time you will finish. There are two ways to do it:

• Book with an estimated time and plenty of margin, if the consultation usually runs on time.
• Call when you finish, if you have no idea how long it will take. With less than two hours' notice, it is better to call 911 76 00 81 than to book online.

If you leave with barely enough time for your flight, there is specific advice in urgent taxi to the airport. And if the patient is an older person or needs help at the airport, also read airport taxis for older people or people with reduced mobility, where we explain how to request the airport's free assistance service.