Car rental Madrid Airport or Madrid city center – Spain car hire comparison

Car hire from Madrid Airport is undoubtedly the cheapest option for renting a car in Spain’s capital. Much like in many other large cities, the rates of airport car rental are significantly more competitive than in the city centre, where the prices can be 10% to 50% or even 100% higher, if the city rental station is in a central and prestigious location.

The fact that the price difference between renting from the airport and the city centre is significant does not mean, however, that reasonably priced car hire offers cannot be found in the city centre. With the help of an internet search engine Cartrawler, you will often be able to find real bargains on Madrid centre car hire.

See current rates for car hire in Madrid city centre (Plaza Espana) and car rental Madrid Airport (Barajas)

The smallest cars are frequently available for online booking from approx. £90 for a week of Madrid city centre car hire. Please note that the longer the rental period, the cheaper the daily rate is; in case of a one or two day rental, you will not be able to achieve as advantageous daily rates as in a week rental.

The above price were seen on Cartrawler Spain at www.find-cheap-car-hire.co.uk in early April, for a week rental period in early May.

Madrid Tour bus service (Madrid City Tour) – the hop-on hop-off bus can be a cheap transportation solution if you are planning to move a lot in Madrid city centre. © Photo: Find-cheap-car-hire.co.uk

Public transportation is an obvious alternative to Madrid city centre car rental: 10 tickets for the extensive network Madrid subway in 2015 cost 18 euros. For travellers with a typically tourist agenda, Madrid City Tour hop-on hop-off buses may be a convenient and actually cheap solution. A 2 days pass for a price of €25 (price for adults, children pay €13) will allow you to move freely between the most emblematic areas and sites of Madrid in a double-decker bus.

See map of the Madrid Tours routes 1 (old Madrid) and 2 (modern Madrid). If your times allows it, it does pay off to opt for the 2 day pass as there is only a small difference in price: 1 day pass costs €21 for adults and €10 for children (prices in spring 2015).

Related article: What to see in Madrid – the most popular tourist attractions of Madrid

Cheap Madrid car rental – book at the airport (Madrid-Barajas)
A one day rental of the cheapest car from Madrid’s only airport, Barajas, costs approx. £16 (price for early May, quoted in April 2015). With a 7-days rental period, however, you would only have to spend around £34 for the same type of the car. Please note, that the prices of car rental in Madrid are usually considerably higher in the summer, when the city receives the most visitors.

Car rental in Madrid city centre (Gran Via and Plaza de España)
Many car rental companies, even the largest and most popular rent-a-car brands, settle for small offices in Madrid city centre.

Avis Rent A Car Madrid and Budget Car Rental share rental station at Gran Vía 60 (Calle Gran Vía).

Avis car rental in Madrid centre – together with Budget © Photo: Find-cheap-car-hire.co.uk

Europcar is almost as easy to find with an office a street perpendicular to Calle de la Princessa (extension of Gran Via), close to Plaza Espana. The address of Europcar Madrid city centre rental station is Calle San Leonardo 8.

Madrid center Europcar car hire © Photo: Find-cheap-car-hire.co.uk

Enterprise Rent A Car, the world’s largest car rental company, also rapidly expanding in Europe, is also present in Madrid. In Spain, Enterprise purchased one of the largest local car rental brands, Atesa. In the summer 2015, Atesa-Enterprise rental station in Madrid city centre can be found in a parking garage under Plaza de Espana, very close Gran Via, though not so easy to find if you do not know the exact location. Look for Enterprise/Atesa plate or simply go into the parking under Plaza de Espana.

Small Enterprise car rental office in Madrid center © Photo: Find-cheap-car-hire.co.uk

Hertz and Thrifty car rental stations in Madrid are also close to Plaza de Espana, at Calla de la Princesa 14, which is an extension of the famous Gran Via main street.

Sixt Car Rental offices can be found at Marques de Urquijo (near Arguelles metro station), at Atocha train station and at Madrid-Barajas Airport.

The distance from Madrid Airport to the city centre (Gran Via Street) is approx.10 miles. A car trip from the centre to the airport takes 20-30 minutes, depending on the traffic.

See map of Madrid city centre.

Madrid scooter hire – rent a scooter with Cartrawler
Cartrawler search engine offers you also the possibility to rent a scooter in Madrid. Prices of moped rental are relatively high, but in return you get freedom to move around the Spanish capital without being stuck in traffic. A It It costs from around £35-40 to rent a scooter for a day in Madrid (prices per 2015), from, for example, Cooltra at Calle Conde Duque 22, in central Madrid.