The La Mancha of Alcázar and Tomelloso: how to reach Barajas without AVE and what the Alcázar rail junction is for

What is the Alcázar de San Juan junction and which trains pass through?

Alcázar de San Juan has been one of Spain's great railway crossroads since the nineteenth century: here the line from Madrid to Andalusia via Manzanares and Valdepeñas separates from the line from Madrid to the east coast via Albacete. Its station therefore has Media Distancia and long-distance trains to Madrid (Atocha and Chamartín), to Albacete, Alicante and Valencia, and to Jaén and Andalusia, with a volume of services no other station in the province has outside the AVE. What it lacks is high speed: the Madrid–Seville line runs through Ciudad Real and Puertollano, and the Madrid–Levante line through Cuenca and Albacete, and Alcázar was left between the two.

Madrid takes around an hour and a half depending on the service, a reasonable time for everyday use, which is why the station draws travellers from the south of Toledo (Quintanar de la Orden, Villacañas) and the south-west of Cuenca (Mota del Cuervo, Las Pedroñeras) who prefer a conventional train with no changes to a distant AVE. Campo de Criptana has its own stop on the same line, with fewer services; Tomelloso lost its passenger trains decades ago and Socuéllamos keeps a stop on the Levante line.

How do you get to Barajas from Alcázar, Tomelloso or Socuéllamos?

There are two road routes and both avoid Ciudad Real. The first heads west on the Autovía de los Viñedos (CM-42) to Madridejos and there joins the A-4, which climbs through Ocaña and Aranjuez to the M-50 and goes round Madrid to the A-2 and the airport. The second heads north through Quintanar de la Orden, joins the N-301 and the AP-36 toll road to Ocaña, and from there it is the same finish on the A-4 or R-4. Socuéllamos and Campo de Criptana choose one or the other depending on the time: the AP-36 is almost always empty and saves the CM-42 stretch through the villages.

The engine's figures: from Alcázar de San Juan 170 km and about 119 min; from Tomelloso 198 km and about 139 min. By train the total is higher: an hour and a half to Atocha or Chamartín, Cercanías C-1 or C-10 to T4 (from Chamartín, just over ten minutes; from Atocha, with a change at Chamartín) and the waits. From a front door in Tomelloso, which first has to reach Alcázar station, the train to Barajas is a trip of a good three hours that depends on there being a train at that hour.

Why is the early flight done by car from here?

Because nothing arrives earlier. The first morning train from Alcázar reaches Madrid at a time when a seven o'clock flight has already boarded, and the intercity bus, which goes to the Estación Sur, does not leave before dawn either. In Ciudad Real city there is the alternative of the AVE with a change from mid-morning; in the La Mancha of Alcázar and Tomelloso not even that. The consequence is that for a flight boarding before ten, the two real options are a hotel at Barajas the night before or a pre-dawn car.

The transfer with a driver covers that second option: it picks up in Alcázar, Tomelloso, Socuéllamos, Campo de Criptana or Argamasilla at the time the flight sets and drops at the terminal, with the price fixed on booking and per car, not per person. For a family flying on holiday in July, splitting it four ways usually comes out below everyone's train and Cercanías tickets, and avoids hauling suitcases through three changes. The province page's advice is common sense: for an early flight from this area the pickup is in the small hours and should be booked days ahead, because at holiday departures the cars run out.

How do you use the train from Tomelloso, which has no station?

Tomelloso, with more than thirty thousand inhabitants, is the largest town in the area and has no passenger trains. Its reference station is Alcázar de San Juan, 35 km away and about 32 min on the CM-42 and N-310. There is a bus between the two towns, but with weekday frequencies not designed for the half past six morning trains or for those arriving after ten at night. So the usual link is a car, your own or with a driver, and that is why Alcázar station is surrounded by cars from Tomelloso and Socuéllamos first thing.

For anyone travelling to Córdoba, Seville or Málaga the sums change: the conventional train from Alcázar to Andalusia is slow, and the AVE from Ciudad Real station, 91 km from Tomelloso, reaches Córdoba in under an hour. The transfer to Ciudad Real costs more than to Alcázar, but the whole journey takes much less. The guide to the province's AVE stations covers that option in detail.

What else moves the area: harvest, windmills and Ruidera?

The La Mancha of Alcázar and Tomelloso lives on wine: Tomelloso and Socuéllamos have some of the largest cooperatives in Europe, and from late August to October the harvest fills the roads with trailers and the wineries with visitors. Anyone going to a tasting or a winery should not be driving back, and the transfer with an agreed pickup time is the way to do it. Campo de Criptana, with its windmills on the Sierra de los Molinos, gets visitors all year who arrive by train at its own station or at Alcázar, and from there the highest windmill is a short uphill walk.

Argamasilla de Alba is the gateway to the Lagunas de Ruidera, the natural park of chained lakes on the border with Albacete: from Tomelloso it is 44 km and there is no public transport to the lakes. At July and August weekends they fill with swimmers and parking by the busiest lakes runs short from mid-morning; the guide to the province's sights without a car explains how to organise the trip there and back.

Frequently asked questions

Sources

• Renfe · Media Distancia y larga distancia con parada en Alcázar de San Juan, Campo de Criptana y Socuéllamos (consulted on 27 October 2026)
• Adif · estación de Alcázar de San Juan (consulted on 27 October 2026)
• Aena · Aeropuerto Adolfo Suárez Madrid-Barajas: cómo llegar (consulted on 27 October 2026)
• Junta de Comunidades de Castilla-La Mancha · Parque Natural de las Lagunas de Ruidera (consulted on 27 October 2026)