Lisbon to Madrid: Train, Bus, Flight or Drive?

Lisbon and Madrid are only about 500km apart as the crow flies, but there’s no direct train between them. So you choose between a short flight, a long bus ride, a slow train with changes or a road trip across the Alentejo and Extremadura. Here’s how each option works, what it costs and which one suits your trip.

Quick answer: fly if you want it done fast: about 1 hour 15 minutes in the air, with TAP, Iberia, Air Europa, easyJet and Ryanair all on the route. Take the bus (FlixBus or ALSA, about 8 hours) to save money. Drive (about 625km, 6 hours or more) if you want to stop at Évora, Elvas or Mérida on the way. There’s no direct train at the moment.

	Typical time, door to door	Typical price, one way	Best for
Flight	About 4 to 5 hours (1h15 in the air)	From about €25 to €40 if booked early	Speed and short trips
Bus	About 8 to 9 hours	From about €10 to €20 if booked early	Tight budgets and overnight travel
Train	About 10 to 11 hours, with two changes	Roughly €60 to €90 for three tickets	Rail fans with time to spare
Car	About 6 to 7 hours of driving	Fuel, Portuguese tolls and any one-way hire fee	Road trips with stops on the way

Prices vary a lot by date and by how far ahead you book, so treat these as a guide. Spain is one hour ahead of Portugal.

Flying from Lisbon to Madrid

This is the quickest option and often one of the cheapest. In 2026 five airlines fly the route direct: TAP, Iberia, Air Europa, easyJet and Ryanair, with many flights a day. The flight takes about 1 hour 10 to 1 hour 25 minutes.

• Fares: low-cost seats can start at around €25 to €40 one way with hand luggage only if you book early. Prices climb close to the date, and checked bags cost extra on the budget airlines.
• Leaving Lisbon: the airport is on the metro red line. Ryanair uses Terminal 2, reached by a free shuttle bus from Terminal 1, so check your terminal. See Lisbon airport to the city centre.
• Arriving in Madrid: Barajas airport is about 12km from the centre. Take metro line 8 (a €3 airport supplement is added to the fare), a Cercanías local train from Terminal 4, or the Airport Express bus, which runs around the clock. Taxis charge a flat €33 to anywhere inside the M-30 ring road.

Door to door, with the trip to the airport, security and the ride into Madrid, allow about four to five hours.

Lisbon to Madrid by bus

The bus is usually the cheapest way to go.

• FlixBus: about seven buses a day, mostly from Oriente, with some using Sete Rios. The fastest take just under 8 hours. The first leaves at around 5:30am and the last at around 10pm, so you can take a night bus that reaches Madrid early the next morning.
• ALSA: Spain’s biggest coach company runs buses from Sete Rios, Oriente and Lisbon airport. Daytime buses take about 7.5 to 8.5 hours, and some continue to Madrid airport.
• Arriving: most buses end at Madrid’s Estación Sur (Méndez Álvaro), with metro and local train links into the centre.

Early fares can be as low as €10 to €20, but expect to pay €40 or more close to the date in busy periods. Most buses have a toilet, Wi-Fi and power sockets. See Portugal by bus for the Lisbon bus stations.

Lisbon to Madrid by train

There’s no direct train. The Lusitania night train between the two capitals stopped running in 2020 and never came back. You can still go by rail, but it takes most of a day and needs separate tickets from CP and Renfe.

Via Entroncamento and Badajoz

• Lisbon to Entroncamento: an Intercidades or Alfa Pendular from Santa Apolónia or Oriente, about an hour.
• Entroncamento to Badajoz: CP runs just two regional trains a day on the Linha do Leste, through Portalegre and Elvas. In the 2026 timetable they leave Entroncamento at about 9am and 1:30pm and take about 2 hours 50 minutes.
• Badajoz to Madrid: Renfe runs a few trains a day, mostly Alvia, taking about 4 hours 10 minutes to 5.5 hours. Seats are reserved, so book on the Renfe website.

Connections at Badajoz don’t always line up, so check both timetables before you book, and be ready to spend a night in Badajoz or Elvas.

Via Porto and Vigo

The other rail route heads north: Lisbon to Porto, the Celta train from Porto to Vigo, then a fast train from Vigo to Madrid in about 4 hours. Until April 2027 the Spanish part of the Celta, from Valença to Vigo, is a replacement bus. It only makes sense if you want to see Porto and Galicia too. See Lisbon to Porto by train.

Faster trains are coming

A new line from Évora to Elvas and the border has been built, and passenger trains are expected from the end of 2026 or in 2027. The reported plan is a CP train to Elvas with a change to a Renfe train for Madrid, about 6.5 hours in all. The Portuguese government’s target is a link of about five hours by 2030, cut to about three hours by 2034 once the full high-speed line is finished. See the Portugal train guide.

Driving from Lisbon to Madrid

The drive is about 625km and takes about 6 to 6.5 hours without stops, on motorway almost all the way.

• The route: cross the Tagus and take the A2 south to Marateca, then the A6 past Évora and Elvas to the border at Caia. In Spain, the A-5 runs through Badajoz, Mérida and Talavera de la Reina to Madrid.
• Portuguese tolls: about €15.40 for a car from Marateca to Caia (2026), plus a smaller toll on the stretch out of Lisbon. A toll device from your hire company pays them automatically. See Portugal’s tolls explained.
• Spanish roads: the A-5 is a free autovía, and most of Spain’s autovías don’t charge tolls. Fuel is usually cheaper in Spain, too.
• One-way hire: dropping a Portuguese hire car in Spain usually means a large one-way fee, often several hundred euros, and you must tell the company you’re crossing the border. See car rental in Portugal.

Hiring a car? Compare one-way prices on Discover Cars, and check that the drop-off fee is in the total before you book.

Places to break the journey

With a car, you can turn a long day into a relaxed two- or three-day trip.

• Évora: about 1.5 hours from Lisbon, with a Roman temple, a cathedral roof you can walk on and the Chapel of Bones. See Évora and the Alentejo.
• Elvas: the last Portuguese town before the border, ringed by star-shaped walls and hilltop forts. Allow half a day. See Elvas.
• Mérida: under an hour past Badajoz, with some of Spain’s finest Roman remains, including a theatre that still hosts a classical drama festival in summer.
• Toledo: a walled old city above the Tagus, the same river that reaches the sea at Lisbon. It adds roughly an hour of driving, or you can visit it as a day trip from Madrid.

FAQ

Is there a direct train from Lisbon to Madrid?

No. The Lusitania night train ended in 2020, so today you change at Entroncamento and Badajoz, and the trip takes about 10 to 11 hours. A link of about five hours is the target for 2030.

What’s the cheapest way to get from Lisbon to Madrid?

Usually the bus, with FlixBus and ALSA fares from about €10 to €20 if you book early. Early easyJet or Ryanair flights can be close in price, but bags cost extra.

How long does it take to drive from Lisbon to Madrid?

About 6 to 6.5 hours for the 625km, without stops. Portuguese tolls are about €15.40 from Marateca to the border, plus a little more leaving Lisbon, and the Spanish A-5 is free.

Are there border checks between Portugal and Spain?

Normally not, as both countries are in the Schengen area. Still carry your passport or ID card, because airlines check it and bus companies can ask for it.

More: the Portugal train guide, Portugal by bus and Portugal’s tolls explained.

See also: Portugal vs Spain, Évora as a day trip from Lisbon, Lisbon airport to the city centre and Lisbon to Seville.

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