From Ciudad Real, Puertollano and La Mancha to IFEMA and Madrid's conferences: AVE plus a transfer within Madrid, or a car with a driver door to door

Where is IFEMA and why does getting there from Ciudad Real have a catch?

The IFEMA exhibition centre is in the Campo de las Naciones, in the north-east of Madrid, between the M-40 and the M-11 and a step away from the Barajas terminals; it has its own metro station on line 8, Feria de Madrid, and several access gates spread around a very long perimeter, with numbered halls and the Palacio Municipal for conferences next door. The catch for anyone coming from Ciudad Real province is geographical: the A-4 enters Madrid from the south and the venue is in the opposite corner, so neither the train nor the car arrives directly; you have to cross the city or skirt it on the M-40 or the M-45, and that detour is what changes with the time of day.

The fairs that move the province are those of the land and the table: Fruit Attraction in October, where La Mancha's garlic, melons, peppers and cooperatives exhibit; FITUR in January, with the tourism stands of Castilla-La Mancha and the provincial council; the Salón Gourmets and Madrid Fusión for Manchego cheese, Campo de Calatrava olive oil and the wines of Valdepeñas and the La Mancha designation of origin; and the industrial shows attended by companies from the Puertollano estate. To that add the medical and professional conferences held not at IFEMA but in city-centre hotels or around Chamartín, which have a different route, covered further down.

How do you do it by AVE and what happens when you get off at Atocha?

From the Ciudad Real and Puertollano stations the high-speed trains and Avant shuttles leave and arrive in Madrid at Atocha; it is worth checking on the ticket whether the train continues to Chamartín, which is better placed for IFEMA. From Atocha the usual way is the Cercanías or the metro to Nuevos Ministerios and from there line 8 to Feria de Madrid, a connection that with a briefcase and a laptop you make without thinking and that with sample boxes, a roll-up banner and two suitcases becomes a problem of stairs and platforms. The other option is to take a car at the station rank or pre-book a transfer across Madrid, which adds a leg with its own price to the train ticket.

The return is where the train pinches. Fairs close late in the afternoon, on dismantling day you leave later still, and the sector dinners and award ceremonies end when the last trains to Ciudad Real have already gone or are about to. Anyone on the AVE spends the afternoon watching the clock or stays overnight in Madrid, with the hotel cost added to the ticket. And from Alcázar de San Juan, Tomelloso, Socuéllamos or Campo de Criptana there is no high-speed rail to help: the conventional train from the Alcázar junction takes longer, arrives at Atocha or Chamartín depending on the service and means an early start to be at the venue for accreditation time. The guide to the La Mancha of Alcázar covers that junction in detail.

When does a car with a driver door to door pay off?

It pays off for the luggage and for the hours. A Valdepeñas winery exhibiting takes boxes of bottles, glasses, leaflets and the roll-up banner; a Tomelloso cooperative, samples that cannot spend the morning in left luggage; a Puertollano company, parts and catalogues. The car loads at the company's door and unloads at the hall entrance, at the gate named on the exhibitor accreditation, with no platforms or stairs. Valdepeñas to IFEMA is 213 km on the A-4; from Tomelloso, from 233,97 € per car. As the price is per car and not per person, two or three colleagues with material change the comparison with train tickets, and the calculator gives the exact figure with the address and time before you book.

The hours weigh just as much. Set-up starts early on the day before and the driver collects at the company in the small hours, when there is no useful train yet; the late exit on the last day, the sector dinner or the awards end when they end, and the pickup at the hall entrance is set for that time and adjusted by letting us know if it runs long. You sleep at home, with no hotel in Madrid. From Alcázar de San Juan it is about 114 min door to door, via Quintanar de la Orden and the N-301 or via the Autovía de los Viñedos and the A-4 depending on the hour, a decision the driver makes with the traffic in front of him. The two legs, there and back, are booked as two services and each has its own fixed price.

How do you organise a company group and the invoice?

With a business account, with no fee and no minimum: authorised people book, every trip has its price fixed in advance, the traveller neither pays out of pocket nor keeps receipts, and at month end one invoice arrives with VAT itemised and one line per service with date, route, passenger and cost centre. For a fair that means a cost centre named after the show where the set-up trip, the daily transfers and the dismantling return all land, ready for the expense justification that public grants for attending fairs usually require itemised and invoiced. The account is opened from the companies page with the tax details and the people allowed to book.

A sales team of four with little luggage goes in a saloon; with more people or with the stand material a larger vehicle is assigned, or several cars that leave the company together and arrive together at the hall entrance. The opposite direction happens too, and it is the one wineries and factories appreciate most: the buyer who has seen the stand and wants to visit the Puertollano plant or the Valdepeñas winery the next day, collected at IFEMA or at Barajas with a name sign and the flight tracked, and returned to the airport or Atocha when done. From the venue to Valdepeñas the distance is the same as from Valdepeñas to the venue, 213 km, and it is booked from the same account.

What about conferences outside IFEMA, and what should you say when booking?

Medical, legal or academic conferences are often held outside the exhibition centre: in hotels on the Castellana, in university faculties, around Nuevos Ministerios or Chamartín. For those, the AVE to Atocha works better than for IFEMA, because central Madrid is well woven with metro lines and the delegate usually travels with a carry-on. Even so, the one presenting a poster or carrying the material for a panel, the one whose conference starts on a Monday at eight in the morning, or the one chaining the session with a meeting elsewhere in the city, finds the same timetable advantage in the car: Ciudad Real to central Madrid is 192 km, with the exact address of the hotel or faculty as the destination.

When booking a transfer to IFEMA it helps to give three things: the gate or hall where the stand is, because the perimeter is long and the wrong gate means a walk with the boxes; the accreditation or start time, so the driver can work out the departure against the M-40 traffic at that hour; and the number and size of the items, which decide whether a higher-capacity vehicle is needed. For the return, the expected finishing time and a contact phone number, which is what allows the pickup to be adjusted if the fair runs long. With a colleague arriving by plane, the flight number: the Barajas pickup with a name sign follows the actual landing time.

Frequently asked questions

Sources

• IFEMA Madrid · cómo llegar al recinto y accesos (consulted on 27 October 2026)
• Renfe · trenes de alta velocidad y Avant Ciudad Real–Puertollano–Madrid (consulted on 27 October 2026)
• Adif · estaciones de Ciudad Real, Puertollano y Madrid Puerta de Atocha (consulted on 27 October 2026)
• Consorcio Regional de Transportes de Madrid · metro línea 8 y Cercanías (consulted on 27 October 2026)