Meeting Your Trip in MONFORTE


On this page, you will find information about meeting your trip in MONFORTE de LEMOS. Topics include...

• When and Where your trip meets.
• Travel Information on reaching the trip from Madrid.

We suggest that you print these pages out, and bring a copy with you to your trip.

When and Where:

We will meet at our Monforte hotel. Our usual hotel is the “Riosol,” across the street from the station. The meet will take place on arrival of the evening train from Barcelona (circa 8p) if you are arriving on Sunday evening, or in the hotel’s cafeteria on Monday morning if you arrive by overnight train (hint: the station café opens before the hotel's café does).

Travelling to Monforte from Madrid

From the Airport (called Barajas) to Chamartin Train Station
Follow signs for the “Metro.” This is a bit of a walk (circa 15 minutes).

When you get to the metro station, buy a ticket (“sencilla” means a single trip, exact change is not required). Only one line serves the airport: line 8. Take it in the direction of “Nuevos Ministerios.” 4 (long) stops will get you there. Change to line 10 in the direction of “Fuencarral.” Take this 4 stops, to “Chamartin.” Follow the crowds out to the train station.

If you have time before your train, you may leave your luggage in a locker (outside the front of the station, in a separate office), and go off to explore. The area around the station is not of particular interest: this will involve another subway trip.

Train from Madrid to Monforte

Overview:
There are four daylight trains to Monforte, each requiring a change of train. One leaves at 9a, via Palencia. Slower ones leave at 10a (via Burgos) and at 11:30a (via Leon). The fourth leaves at 2p, and requires a change in Orense. There is also one that runs overnight (no change required). We do not recommend the service via Leon, which is 2nd class only, and does not offer any café or restaurant service.

If you have asked to travel via Burgos, instead, this option involves an 8:30a train to Burgos, lunch there, and an afternoon train on to Monforte in the company of your trip coordinator.

Currency, Finances
You should have about 50 Euros to make this trip.

Travel Documents
If you arranged your trip through us, we have presumably sent you your necessary travel documents. These should include one of the following three things, assuming you asked for your ticket from us:

• A railpass with accompanying instructions, which you will use for the trip from Madrid to Monforte. OR
• A train ticket, issued in the US, and thus written in English. OR
• A train ticket issued in Europe, and thus written in Spanish.

You also need a “reservation,” which blocks a particular seat or bed for you on board the train you are taking.

• If you have a railpass, this will be a separate ticket which is actually a reservation, blocking a particular space on the train you will be taking.
• If you have a ticket issued in the US, and thus written in English, the reservation will be a second coupon, contained inside the same blue and white cover as the ticket.
• If you have a ticket issued in Europe, and thus written in Spanish, the reservation is included as part of the same document. It will say “billete + reserva” on it, and the ticket itself will tell you your car and seat number aboard the train.

Your train can be located by consulting the “Largo Recorrido” (long distance) “salida” (departure) board. If you have a reservation, locate your train by its number, since your stop is probably not the final one. Your reservation will also show a precise car and seat or bed number. You can locate the correct car by looking at the car numbers next to the car doors along the platform. Your reservation will also tell you how far you are travelling on this first train, and where to change trains, if applicable.

Most day trains offer bar / restaurant service, but you can verify the services proposed on yours by consulting the Spanish Railways’ web site, www.renfe.es. Trains with restaurant facilities will serve lunch starting at around 1p, since the Spanish consider 3p to be the peak of the lunch hour.

Changing Trains in Burgos / Palencia / Leon / Orense; Getting Off in Monforte
We suggest that you get a schedule for your first train from the Madrid information booth before you board, so that you may follow your progress from station to station. Your reservation should tell you the arrival time of your train in Burgos, Palencia, Leon or Orense (the possible connection points). The reservation on the connecting train will tell you the departure time of that one. If you are going via Palencia or Burgos you have plenty of time to make your connection. In Leon or Orense, things are tighter, and you should move quickly if your train from Madrid is delayed. If via Burgos, you will meet your trip coordinator there, and he will explain the ongoing travel, and supply the necessary tickets if you have not received them in advance.

The Monforte station, when you get there, is a big one, and you will have plenty of time to figure out that you are there, and get off. If you are on the overnight train, your cabin attendant will wake you a half hour before you arrive, which happens around 5a (yuck).


In an Emergency...
If for any reason you cannot adhere to this plan (you miss your train in Madrid, or whatever), call our Paris office. Dialing from Spain, this means dialing 0033 1 4236 02 34. Otherwise your coordinator will be pretty panicked when he doesn’t see you in Monforte. More prosaically, he may presume that you have canceled your trip, and send your bike back to Paris. Instructions for European telephoning can be found on the “Communication During Your Trip” document, sent with your final itinerary.

If you miss the tight connection in Orense, you are stuck (the last bus will have also departed). Your choices are...

• Spend the night in Orense (we suggest going to the hotel on your itinerary, and checking in a day early), and continue to Monforte by morning train to do the (beautiful) bike ride. Leave your luggage in Orense, obviously. Or...
• Fund a taxi to Monforte, probably around 80 euros for the 50-minute drive.

About Monforte
Monforte is a mid-sized town in the interior of Galicia. A slow, sleepy, somewhat rundown place, with beautiful architecture (if you are looking for it), in an attractive setting.

Madrid is the nearest intercontinental airport, Vigo, Santiago or A Coruña are the nearest airports.