Travel from Madrid to San Sebastian by train on these faster Alvia services, which can also be cheaper if you book ahead

Share this journey with a friend...

Madrid to San Sebastian/Donostia by train

There's no hiding that Madrid and San Sebastian/Donastia are connected by a surprisingly sparse service of direct trains.

Routes you can take to go from Madrid to San Sebastian / Donostia

When travelling between most cities by train there is only one logical option, though on other journeys there is a choice between different trains or alternative routes. If different options are available you can use the info to decide which is best for you.

Choose one of the following options:
Looking for connections?

Route Information

Option 1: taking the Alvia trains
Station Guides
A general view of the busy concourse at Madrid Chamartin station
Madrid Chamartin-Clara Campoamor Rail Station Guide
Image coming soon...
San Sebastian / Donostia Guide Coming soon...
Travel Time (approx)

4hr 50 min - 5hs (approx)

Frequency

Daily

Travel Info

Monday-Friday: 3 x trains per day
Saturday: 2 x trains
Sunday: 3 x trains

Route Information

Option 2: taking the MD trains
Station Guides
A general view of the busy concourse at Madrid Chamartin station
Madrid Chamartin-Clara Campoamor Rail Station Guide
Image coming soon...
San Sebastian / Donostia Guide Coming soon...
Travel Time (approx)

7hr 28min

Frequency

Daily

Travel Info

2 x trains per day

Take the stress out of your journey Everything planned to your specification, so sit back and relax… Try Concierge
hand-money

Please support ShowMeTheJourney

Help keep us advertising and paywall free!

Donate

This second version of ShowMeTheJourney is exciting and new, so we are genuinely thrilled that you are here and reading this, but we also need your help.

We’re striving not to let anything get in the way of providing the most useful service possible, hence a facility has been set up with DonorBox which can be used to support the running costs and make improvements.

Instead of advertising or paywalls, your financial support will make a positive difference to delivering an enhanced service, as there’s a lot of ideas which we want to make happen.

So if you have found the info provided here to be useful, please consider saying thank you.

See if there’s a unique journey guide for your trip, featuring info on the trains, tickets & stations.
Leaving From
Going To
ShowMeTheJourney

This is one of more than 100 train travel guides available on ShowMeTheJourney, which will make it easier to take the train journeys you want or need to make. As always, all images were captured on trips taken by ShowMeTheJourney.