Taking a train from Madrid to Lisbon is a great way to get from the Spanish capital to the Portuguese capital when you are visiting Europe.
Trains between these cities depart nightly from Madrid’s Chamartin station and arrive at Lisbon’s Oriente and Santa Apolonia stations. They are run by Renfe and CP, the countries’ national rail companies.
Rail services are operated on the Trenhotel Lusitania. Despite the “trenhotel” name, don’t mistake this for a luxury train from Madrid to Lisbon. In reality, it is a standard train with sleeping cars.
There is a Lusitania Trenhotel to Lisbon daily at around 22:00 in the evening. The train travels through Spain and Portugal, arriving at Lisbon Oriente station first and then Lisbon Santa Apolonia station, which is its final stop.
The journey time on this route is 9 hours and 40 minutes, allowing passengers ample time to sleep and have meals. When you travel, keep in mind that there is a one hour time difference between Madrid, which is on CET, and Lisbon, which is on GMT.
Single tickets for the train range in price depending on what class you travel in. Fares start at 60.50 euros for tourist class and go up to 203.50 for private sleeper cabins.