Kids who love trains, buses and planes have plenty to climb on around Madrid. Some of these are museums with real engines and cockpits, others are rides on a vintage train or a park train. Here's what we checked, from the Museo del Ferrocarril to the Tren de la Fresa.
Actors in period costume meet you at Atocha station and ride the Renfe tourist train with you to Alcalá de Henares, the birthplace of Cervantes. In town they guide you through the old university quarter, squares and cathedral, acting out scenes from Don Quixote. The evening train brings you back. Best for kids who like dress-up and stories.
The old Delicias station, opened in 1880, holds steam, electric and diesel locomotives and passenger cars lined up along its platforms under an iron-and-glass roof. Side rooms cover railway clocks, model trains, and the Territorio Ferroviario, the largest model railway layout in Spain. A clue-hunt game for kids comes free with entry, and the museum's web audio guide has an English version you open on your phone.
A historic train runs from the Railway Museum to Aranjuez, about an hour each way. Kids ride wooden carriages built between 1914 and 1930, with slatted benches and open end balconies, while costumed crew check tickets.
Midday is free time in Aranjuez, with royal gardens, palace and river. Book the English Tour route and the guided visits in Aranjuez run in English. On the ride home, staff hand out strawberries.
The city bus museum sits inside the working EMT depot in Fuencarral. More than 40 historic buses fill a 1950s industrial hall, from early models to double-deckers, the city's first articulated bus and a microbus, next to recent ones. The museum's free app narrates 28 stops in English. It is a big, easy-to-read collection for kids who love vehicles.
About 200 aircraft fill seven hangars and a large outdoor field beside the Cuatro Vientos airfield. Kids walk past early wood-and-canvas flying machines, seaplanes, fighter jets, trainers and helicopters, with the outdoor field split into zones by type. A café and a gift shop sit by the outdoor display.
Railway volunteers rescued a steam locomotive from scrap in 1990 and brought a stretch of the old Tajuña line back to life. Today it pulls wooden carriages about 4 km from La Poveda station in Arganda to the Laguna del Campillo stop in Rivas, crossing the Jarama twice on a 175-meter iron bridge. At the lagoon, passengers can step off to watch the 10-minute switch for the ride back.
A small electric train, built to look like an old steam engine, pulls open carriages on a 30-minute loop around Parque Juan Carlos I. The route runs past the ría, the lake, the Estufa Fría greenhouse and the park's long promenades, and an optional recorded commentary tells the park's story along the way. Each train seats 50 and has a space for a wheelchair.
Kids who love trains, buses and planes have plenty to climb on around Madrid. Some of these are museums with real engines and cockpits, others are rides on a vintage train or a park train. Here's what we checked, from the Museo del Ferrocarril to the Tren de la Fresa.
Actors in period costume meet you at Atocha station and ride the Renfe tourist train with you to Alcalá de Henares, the birthplace of Cervantes. In town they guide you through the old university quarter, squares and cathedral, acting out scenes from Don Quixote. The evening train brings you back. Best for kids who like dress-up and stories.
The old Delicias station, opened in 1880, holds steam, electric and diesel locomotives and passenger cars lined up along its platforms under an iron-and-glass roof. Side rooms cover railway clocks, model trains, and the Territorio Ferroviario, the largest model railway layout in Spain. A clue-hunt game for kids comes free with entry, and the museum's web audio guide has an English version you open on your phone.
A historic train runs from the Railway Museum to Aranjuez, about an hour each way. Kids ride wooden carriages built between 1914 and 1930, with slatted benches and open end balconies, while costumed crew check tickets.
Midday is free time in Aranjuez, with royal gardens, palace and river. Book the English Tour route and the guided visits in Aranjuez run in English. On the ride home, staff hand out strawberries.
The city bus museum sits inside the working EMT depot in Fuencarral. More than 40 historic buses fill a 1950s industrial hall, from early models to double-deckers, the city's first articulated bus and a microbus, next to recent ones. The museum's free app narrates 28 stops in English. It is a big, easy-to-read collection for kids who love vehicles.
About 200 aircraft fill seven hangars and a large outdoor field beside the Cuatro Vientos airfield. Kids walk past early wood-and-canvas flying machines, seaplanes, fighter jets, trainers and helicopters, with the outdoor field split into zones by type. A café and a gift shop sit by the outdoor display.
Railway volunteers rescued a steam locomotive from scrap in 1990 and brought a stretch of the old Tajuña line back to life. Today it pulls wooden carriages about 4 km from La Poveda station in Arganda to the Laguna del Campillo stop in Rivas, crossing the Jarama twice on a 175-meter iron bridge. At the lagoon, passengers can step off to watch the 10-minute switch for the ride back.
A small electric train, built to look like an old steam engine, pulls open carriages on a 30-minute loop around Parque Juan Carlos I. The route runs past the ría, the lake, the Estufa Fría greenhouse and the park's long promenades, and an optional recorded commentary tells the park's story along the way. Each train seats 50 and has a space for a wheelchair.
