Meeting Your Trip in OURENSE


On this page, you will find information about meeting your trip. 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 Ourense hotel. Our usual hotel is the “Parque,” in the center of the city. The meet will take place on arrival of the evening train from Madrid (circa 8p) if you are arriving on Monday evening (or if you arrived by overnight train on Monday morning), or in the hotel’s cafeteria on Tuesday morning if you arrive by overnight train (hint: the station café opens before the hotel's café does).

Travelling to Ourense 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 Ourense

Overview:
There is only one daylight train per day on this route; it leaves Madrid in the early afternoon, and arrives Ourense in early evening. There is also an overnight “hotel” train, departing late evening, and arriving very early in the morning.

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.

Finding Your Train
Your train to “Vigo / La Coruña” can be located by consulting the “Largo Recorrido” departure (“salida”) board. Your reservation on this train will included 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.

The day train offers a bar / restaurant service, at your seat in 1st class, or in the bar in 2nd class (cost additional). It will serve lunch leaving Madrid, since the Spanish consider 3 pm to be lunch hour. Otherwise, snacks and sandwiches are on offer.

The night train, despite its late departure, also offers a full restaurant, which is good, and reasonably priced for what it is. Additionally, a bar car serves snacks and sandwiches.


Getting Off in Ourense
Your reservation should tell you the arrival time of your train in Ourense. The Ourense station is a big one, called “Ourense-Empalme.” Do not be anxious about getting off there: the train splits in two in Ourense, and the complicated switching maneuvers take 15 minutes. So you will have time to figure out that you have arrived, and to get off. We suggest that you get a schedule for the train from the Madrid information booth before you board, so that you may follow your progress from station to station. Ask for the timetable (“orario”) “para Galicia.” Your train will be in it.


To Get to your Group in Ourense
Our usual Ourense hotel is the “Hotel Parque,” on the “Parque San Lorenzo,” which is the town’s biggest park. Check your trip’s itinerary to verify that this is true. You may take a taxi, of course: it will cost less than 10 Euros, including a 10 - 15% tip which you should add, and a baggage charge which the driver may or may not add to the meter.

Alternatively, there is a city bus that works well. Cross the main street in front of the station. The bus stop is to the left, once across. All of the bus routes that pass here go to the town center, except for one. But ask as you get on. “¿Para el centro?” should get you the appropriate nod. Exact change is not required for this bus, but try to have a 1 Euro coin handy, since city bus drivers do not enjoy breaking 50 euro notes. Your bus will take you down hill… start paying attention when it crosses the river (note the pretty Roman bridge to the right as it does). Once it is across, you must get off at the second stop.

The Parque San Lorenzo is signed from all over the place, and is one block to your left when you get off the bus (relative to the direction in which the bus was travelling). The hotel is on the long, uphill side of the rectangular park, and is easy to spot.

If you arrive via the daylight train from Madrid, you should reach the hotel by about 8:30p. Your coordinator arrives by bike, and thus is not perfectly reliable, but he should also be there by then. The Spanish dine late, so this is a good time to head out for tapas and dinner…. If you dine on your own for any reason (fatigue, a late train...), keep your dinner check (not a credit card receipt), and the coordinator will reimburse the food portion.

If you arrived by the night train on Sunday morning, have spent the day in Ourense, and choose to go out for dinner on your own, leave a note for him, so that he knows you are around.

If you come in the following morning, via the night train, we will meet you at the hotel (though you will have to wait a bit before things start to open up, and before your group emerges from slumber). If you are not too numerous, you may be able to use the coordinator’s room to freshen up, once he gets up, though you should use appropriate discretion, or wait until he has cleared it with the front desk, before you go upstairs.

About Ourense
Ourense is a mid-sized town in the interior of Galicia. Known mostly for its Roman baths, but also offering fine examples of the granite gallego architecture in the center of the old city.

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