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Travel tips for Madrid
You land in Madrid. Before you leave the plane: travel medical insurance bought, passport original in the hotel safe, photocopy on you. The rest is not trusting whoever offers help in the hall.
Travel medical insurance
Buy it at home, before you fly. Cover emergencies, repatriation and theft if you can. Save the policy number on your phone and on paper. A European health card does not replace travel insurance from outside the EU.
Documents: original at the hotel, photocopy on you
Leave the passport and return tickets in the hotel safe. Carry a photocopy or an offline photo. If the wallet is stolen, you still have an identity and a ticket.
Write down the hotel address
On paper and on the phone, in Spanish. If you get lost, show it. Include the hotel phone.
Official taxi, not the one in the hall
White, red stripe, licence on the door. The rank is outside arrivals. Flat fare inside the M-30: €33. Ignore «taxi, taxi» in the hall.
Bag in front, phone away
Sol, Gran Vía, the metro and the airport have pickpockets. Cross-body bag in front, zip towards you. Do not leave the phone on the terrace table.
Do not pay cash to strangers
Not to the inspector, not to the ATM helper, not to a street tour. Card or the official app. If they ask for the PIN, it is a scam.
Emergencies
112 any emergency. 091 National Police. 092 Municipal Police. 017 INCIBE if it is online or the bank. Also save hola@safe.madrid.
ATM and Bizum
Withdraw inside a bank, never with someone behind you. No one from your bank asks for a code by phone. Reverse Bizum is a scam.
Complaint form
Bars, shops and taxis must have one. Ask if you are overcharged. Photo of the receipt. Consumer help: 010 (City) or 012 (Region).
Before the flight home
Check the insurance is still valid, that you have the photocopies, and that your bag does not hold undeclared cash over €10,000 per person, in that person's own belongings.
