Madrid! Santiago Bernabéu Stadium - The More You Know...

Exterior of Santiago Bernabéu Stadium before the renovations of 2019-2024

Interior of Santiago Bernabéu Stadium, Spring 2014

Cristiano Ronaldo before scoring a goal during El Clásico, spring 2014

Exterior of Santiago Bernabéu Stadium in 2024

Whether you live in Madrid or you're just visiting, there's a good chance that you'll have a reason to go to the Santiago Bernabéu stadium. You might not have thought so. Read on to find out whether this should be on your itinerary and if so, how you might get there.

But first, take a few seconds to scroll through the photo gallery above. The first three photos were from a visit we made to the stadium in 2014 to see El Clásico, a La Liga rivalry match between Real Madrid CF and FC Barcelona. It happens twice each season, once in the fall and once in the spring, each team with a home and an away match. We lucked out because we'd been planning our trip to Madrid and learned that El Clásico was going to take place in Madrid during our stay. What great fortune! Anyway, I digress. The fourth photo is much more recent as the stadium has been undergoing a massive billion-euro renovation. The main part of the renovation was completed by mid-2023. But, as you will learn below, as of this writing there are ancillary projects that are still underway that will continue to transform the stadium, bringing more features to please the whole crowd.

Before we jump into the soon-to-be-added features, we should give you some logistical information in case you want to go there. At this point you might be asking yourself, when are we going to find out why we would go there if not to see a match. Well, there is an incredible tour that most will enjoy even if they're not Real Madrid fans or even soccer / European football fans. The tour only lasts an hour or so and you can get tickets ahead of time at the Real Madrid website. There are now three choices, Classic, Flexible Classic, and Premium. Pick the one that works best for you and go. You'll enjoy it and you'll want to buy some merch in the official store at the end of the tour. We've done the tour three times and plan to do it again soon. They do a good job of changing the tour to keep it relevant and engaging. If you just want to go to the official store, you can do that. The entrance is on the east side of the stadium, if memory serves me. There are a few other official Real Madrid stores around the city. The other one we've shopped at is on the Gran Via, not too far from the entrance to the Metro. Another reason you might want to go is to see a concert. The one that is on our radar right now is the Taylor Swift Eras tour playing this stadium on May 29th and May 30th 2024. Lastly, it is a very impressive landmark for a photo opportunity.

Environment Outside Santiago Bernabéu after El Clásico 2014

After a match, depending on the score, things can be a bit rowdy in the immediate area. You can imagine the crowds of people leaving the stadium. It holds more than 80,000 people and events sell out. Some of these people may have driven and parked nearby. This is how I went to my first Real Madrid match back in the late 1980s (as a passenger). Most, however, are going to try to take the metro, a taxi, an Uber, a bus or just walk. No matter which means of transportation they take, getting home or back to the hotel is probably going to be much more of a challenge than getting there. Some people arrive earlier than others, spreading things out a bit. So, how long will it take you to get there and how should you go? Let's dive into each method briefly.

Should I walk? that depends. But the answer is probably no unless you are staying somewhere nearby. Many visitors stay in a more central location, maybe near La Puerta del Sol. So, we'll use that as our starting point (for brevity we'll call it Sol). The route is relatively straight forward. You walk east to the Paseo de la Castellana, turn left and head north for about an hour (Google says it's one hour and 12 minutes from the start of your walk). The one plus is that you know approximately how long it will take you. And it won't cost you any euros. But there are other ways that can get you there much more quickly without expending as much energy. And you probably won't blow your budget.

The Cercanías (regional) train is another option. You can get a Cercanías train in Sol (enter like you're going to the Metro and look for the red upside-down C sign). Take that train to Nuevos Minesterios, go out to the street (you want to exit on the east side of La Castellana) and take bus 27 in the direction of Plaza de Castilla. Or, you can skip the bus and just walk from Nuevos Minesterios to the stadium. This will take you 20 to 30 minutes depending on whether you took bus 27 or walked. On the way back to Sol this might not be the best option. There will be crowds and the Cercanías trains only run until midnight. This will probably be less crowded than just taking the metro from the Santiago Bernabéu station because of all the crowds and the proximity to the stadium.

The Metro can be the most efficient way to make this trip. From Sol you take the light blue line (#1) in the direction of Pinar de Chamartín. In two stops you change at Tribunal and get the dark blue line (#10) in the direction of Hospital Infanta Sofía. Then four stops later you get off at Santiago Bernabéu. This trip will take about 25 minutes getting there. But getting back to Sol will be challenging just like the Cercanias. The metro runs until 1:30 AM which is helpful. So, you might have a better chance timing-wise with the Metro, even if you have to wait. You could walk south and east to find a less crowded metro station. I recommend having a schematic of the metro handy for just this purpose.

Another way is to just take the bus. Bus 150 is the bus you would take from Sol to Santiago Bernabéu. This bus is near and dear to us as we rode it many times as students years ago. It has a stop directly across the street from the building we lived in. The EMT busses are easy to figure out and they use the red Transportes card just like the metro.The bus will take about 30 minutes. Busses have their own lane on the Paseo de la Castellana. So, my guess is that the return trip would take the same amount of time. But you can only get on the bus if there is space and there will probably be a lot of people at the bus stop. If you are heading south to Sol, maybe try to game the system and walk north to an earlier bus stop and get on there before the crowds. Either way, make sure you're on the west side of the Paseo de la Castellana when you get on the bus if you are headed south toward Sol.

Taxis can be great. They cost more than mass transportation. But, the cost is pooled among the group. So, it might work out to be similar economically. The downsides are that, if there is traffic, the taxi can take much longer than taking mass transit and finding one after the event will seem impossible. You might have to walk several blocks east or west and find one more easily. The neighborhoods are generally safe.

We're guessing Uber will have its own issues after the event. You can expect surge pricing, and availability will be a consideration. So, you could reserve an Uber for the return trip. Just remember to allow plenty of cushion to get to the Uber after the event. And the Uber driver might have difficulty getting super close to the stadium. So, you'll want to keep that in mind.

Now, about the ancillary projects currently underway to further enhance the venue: they are adding underground parking, redoing the Metro station, and adding a food hall of sorts. If you plan to visit soon, none of these will be complete. So, you'll have one more reason to return to Madrid. Let's dig in to each.

Parking can be a major hassle near such a big stadium. So, they are launching a project to add two underground parking lots, one on either side of the stadium. The one on the west side of the stadium will have about 1,200 spaces and the one on the east side will have just over 600. Construction of the larger one starts first. The expected date of completion for both is by October 2025. The Metro station remodel will take much longer and isn't expected to be completed until June 2027. While these projects are underway you'll see evidence of it such as dust, debris, and construction equipment. Imagine the people who live in this neighborhood, enduring the past five years of construction and facing three more. So remember to smile and be kind to everyone you meet.

Finally, a food hall of sorts is being built in the base of the stadium. It'll be 3,000 square meters (a little more than 3,000 square yards) with 25 stalls of national and international foods. It'll be a little more random than the typical grid-iron food hall, modeled to evoke the feeling you might get in parts of Tokyo or Hong Kong. The food will supposedly be on the upscale side. On game days a portion of the food hall (to be called Bernabéu Market) will be closed to the public for team use and the rest accessible by the public. The rest of the year it will be for public use, whether or not you have an event ticket.

We heard that they're building a super exclusive night club there too and that it'll be open in time for the Taylor Swift concert at the end of May.

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