TRANSPORTATION
Metro
. Madrid has an extensive and convenient metro system. Tickets can be purchased (cash and card) at the stations either from a machine or from a ticket office. Single tickets costs between €1,50 and €2,00. A 10 trip card ("10 viajes") costs €12,00. The latter is also valid for the local EMT buses. Trains typically run from 06:00 to 01:30.
Airport supplement. There is a €3,00 surcharge for trips from and to the airport subway stations (you will be required to present your ticket to get out). It recommended that you buy a combined fare+supplement ticket ("Billete Sencillo Metro+Suplemento Aeropuerto") which costs €2,00. It can be bought at any subway station. You will be required to present this ticket to get off at the airport. If you forget to buy the supplement, then you can purchase it at separately ("Billete Suplemento Aeropuerto") at the machines located near the exit of the airport's subway stations.
Cercanías Renfe
. Local trains, running regularly withing the province of Madrid. Although these tickets look like the Metro ones, note that they are NOT the same.
Tickets can be purchased at the stations either from a machine or from a ticket office.
For the Cercanías trains, there is a zone system. Most of the city centre is Zone 0. The university if at Zone B1. Single tickets (for 3 zones) are €1,80 and 10 trip cards (Bonotren) €13,00.
Buses. There are two type of buses. The local EMT buses are red or blue. The Metro tickets described above are accepted. The green buses, Interurbanos, require a separate ticket that can be purchased directly at the bus. Sometimes notes greater than €5,00 are not accepted.
GETTING TO IFT
The Instituto de Física Teórica (IFT) is located in the campus of the Universidad Autónoma de Madrid (UAM) in Cantoblanco. UAM is located outside the central region of Madrid, but it is very well connected by public transportation. A map of the Campus can be found here, where IFT is indicated by the number 41.
By train from the city centre. There is a Cercanías train from the city centre (C4). From the many stations in the city centre, you can take the C4 train towards "Colmenar Viejo" or "Alcobendas-San Sebastiían de los Reyes. Get off at "Cantoblanco Universidad" and walk to the IFT (~15 minutes).
By bus from Plaza de Castilla. There is an interurbano bus connecting Plaza de Castilla with the IFT. The journey with this bus (Line 714) takes about 30 minutes, depending on traffic conditions. It stops one block away from IFT. Tickets can be purchased directly from the driver, as described above.
By bus from the airport. Bus 827 connects Terminal 4 to the university. If you are at Terminals 1, 2, or 3, you can take the airport (free) shuttle bus that travels through the terminals.
ACCOMMODATION
September is a busy month in Madrid, so participants are encouraged to book their own accommodation well in advanced of the workshop.
We recommend participants to arrange their lodging in downtown Madrid, near the train stations Sol and Atocha (Cercanías train C4), which have direct and fast train connection (25 min) to UAM. The region around Plaza de Castilla is not in the city centre, but is well connected to the campus by bus and contains many hotels.
Discount rates at the Hotel Mediodía, near Atocha station, are available for the workshop participants. The price for single occupancy (with breakfast) is 61€ per night, and 76€ for double occupancy. The interested participant should proceed to book her/his own accommodation at the hotel link using the code IFT2022.
