Madrid to San José runs about 6 times a day, with the first departure around 06:15 and the last around 14:28. One passenger pays €626.72, every fee included. The fastest door to door is 14h 32m over 8,737 km, on services run by 1 operator across 1 mode.
What one seat costs
Every operator we hold on this corridor starts at €626.72, so there is no spread to show.
Typical fares · Priced for October 5, 2026
€626.72
- 196%Moves across the booking window
When it runs, leaving Madrid
No operator has filed a timetable for this direction yet, so the first and last departure below follow the pattern of the corridor. Read them as the shape of the service day rather than as times to turn up for.
- 06:15First departure
- 14:28Last departure
- 6Services per day
- 33%Run direct
Fares by date
What this journey usually costs, by departure date. It shows which days run dearer.
Typical fares
- about €1,561.87Fri18
- about €1,697.57Sat19
- about €1,334.13Sun20
- about €1,128.22Mon21
- about €1,073.94Tue22
- about €1,183.09Wed23
- about €1,113.47Thu24
- about €1,066.86Fri25
- about €1,046.80Sat26
- about €993.70Sun27
- about €861.54Mon28
- about €1,011.99Tue29
- about €910.51Wed30
- about €872.75Thu1
- about €841.48Fri2
- about €863.31Sat3
- about €816.70Sun4
- about €626.72Mon5
- about €643.24Tue6
- about €662.12Wed7
- about €860.36Thu8
Based on what this route has cost recently. The operator sets the price on the day, and the live fare is confirmed when you book.
The flight gets you into San José. It does not get you a bed, and neither do we.
A room in San José for the night the flight gets in
Sort by distance from UCR Railway Station and you can see which places are ten minutes on foot and which are not.
Search San José on Booking.com
Partner links. We do not sell accommodation. We earn a commission when a booking completes, and it never changes what you pay.
When to book Madrid to San José
The same search run across the whole booking window, so the shape of the curve is visible rather than described.
- €754.7590 days
- €528.1960 days
- €757.1145 days
- €752.3930 days
- €860.3621 days
- €872.7514 days
- €1,113.477 days
- €1,334.133 days
- €1,561.871 days
- Cheapest lead time
- Fares bottom out around 60 days ahead, at €528.19.
- How much it moves
- The gap between the cheapest and most expensive lead time is 196 percent. The most expensive point is €1,561.87, 1 days out.
- What that means
- Today sits inside the cheap window, which closes about 60 days before departure. Waiting from here has usually cost money on this corridor rather than saved it.
Book now Fares on this route are lowest around 60 days ahead. You are inside that window.
This corridor, specifically
Facts that apply to Madrid to San José and to no other route on the site.
Clocks
8 hours behind on arrival. You land earlier than the journey suggests.
The shape of it
8,737 km
8,482 km as the crow flies, 3% further by the route services take. The bearing runs west.
Who lives at each end
3,255,944 → 335,007
Population at the departure city and at the arrival city, which is usually what decides how often anything runs.
How we know
0/2
2 of these connections were inferred from service-area overlap rather than observed in a timetable. We would rather say so.
The route
What the journey looks like
Direct or connecting, how far the route really runs, and what happens when a connection is missed.
- Direct or connecting
- 33% of the services we sell on this corridor run through without a change. The remaining 67% involve one connection.
- How far it really runs
- The route covers 8,737 km against 8,482 km in a straight line, a detour of 3 percent. Track and road geometry account for the difference.
- Where the change is
- Connections are made at Miami, Cartagena, Santo Domingo, Tocumen. The gap between arriving and leaving is 76 minutes, of which about 5 is walking.
- If the connection is missed
- The tightest connection we sell here has a 13 percent chance of not being made on the timetable alone. Part of this journey is a self transfer between separate tickets, so leave more time than the minimum and expect to check in again.
The fare from SJO into San José is the one price on this trip we cannot show you, because it is not ours.
A car waiting when you land in San José
Settled in advance, so the ride into San José costs what it said it would rather than what the cab stand says.
Book a ride from SJO with Daytrip
Partner links. We do not operate transfers. We earn a commission on a booking, and the fare is the same as going direct.
Who runs this route
The flight gets in hours before any room is ready. Holding a bag is not what we sell.
Baggage storage near UCR Railway Station
Most of the points near UCR Railway Station open before the first train and close after the last one.
Check San José on StasherOr try Bounce
Partner links. We do not run these networks. We earn a commission on a booking, and the price is the same as going direct.
Questions about Madrid to San José
The questions people actually ask about this trip, answered from the same prices and times the page above is built on rather than written once and left to go stale.
How long does it take to get from Madrid to San José?
The fastest journey from Madrid to San José takes 14h 32m door to door, of which 12h 59m is spent moving, on the flight. Most services take around 15h 26m, because that average includes slower stopping services and journeys with a connection. Times include reaching the terminal and leaving it at the far end.
How much does it cost to travel from Madrid to San José?
The cheapest fare from Madrid to San José is €626.72, as of September 17, 2026. A typical fare across the next three weeks is €1,099.61. Both figures are the total for one passenger, including taxes, supplier fees and our service fee, so nothing is added at checkout.
What is the cheapest way to get from Madrid to San José?
The cheapest way from Madrid to San José is by flight, at €626.72 for one passenger on October 5, 2026. That journey takes 16h 9m door to door. Cheaper is rarely faster on this corridor, and the comparison table on this page shows what each mode costs against what it saves.
When should I book Madrid to San José?
Fares from Madrid to San José bottom out around 60 days before departure, at €528.19. Across the whole booking window the gap between the cheapest and the most expensive lead time is 196 percent, measured on September 17, 2026. Booking inside the last week has consistently cost more on this corridor.
Which day of the week is cheapest for Madrid to San José?
Monday is the cheapest day to depart from Madrid to San José, at €861.54. That is the median of 21 priced departure days across the next three weeks, as of September 17, 2026. Shifting a departure by one day is usually worth more than shifting the booking by one week.
Which month is cheapest for Madrid to San José?
February is the cheapest of the next 5 months to travel from Madrid to San José, at €547.07 for one passenger. Each month is priced on its fifteenth, so the comparison is like for like rather than a mix of weekends and midweek departures.
Who runs service from Madrid to San José?
No operator record names Madrid to San José directly. Iberia Airlines publish service areas covering both ends and may serve it, so we list them as possible operators rather than confirmed ones.
Is there a direct service from Madrid to San José?
33 percent of the services we sell from Madrid to San José are direct. The rest connect at Miami, Cartagena, Santo Domingo, Tocumen, with about 76 minutes between the two services. Both legs are sold on one booking, so a missed connection is rebooked at no charge.
Which station or terminal do services from Madrid to San José use?
Services from Madrid to San José by flight leave from Madrid MAD and arrive at San José SJO. Allow about 3h 10m in total for reaching the departure terminal and leaving the arrival one, which is already included in every door to door time on this page.
Can I change or refund a ticket from Madrid to San José?
0 of the 1 operators we sell from Madrid to San José allow a change or a refund. A change on a changeable fare costs €5.00. The operator table on this page names which is which, and the condition is shown again before you pay.
Where these numbers come from
Places, coordinates, operators, which operator serves which pair, and every distance on this page are real and come from open data. Where a corridor has a filed timetable the departure times are real too, and ferry fares are the prices the operators publish themselves.
Derived from service area No carrier record names this exact pair. The operators listed publish a service area covering both places at a distance their mode plausibly carries people, which is evidence that the corridor is served and not evidence of a specific service. Pages state which, because presenting the two as the same thing would be dishonest.
Where no operator publishes a fare for a corridor, the price here is our own estimate, worked out from the real distance and the real operator through a fare curve that follows lead time, day of the week and season. It tells you roughly what the journey costs. It is not a seat anyone has agreed to sell, and the payment step will not take it.
Defined in full at Door to door, Fares, The booking window, Carbon, Distances
- On this page
- Every figure above was computed for Madrid to San José on September 17, 2026: 8737 km of route against 8482 km in a straight line, 6 services a day, 1 operator a cheapest fare of €626.72, and 14h 32m door to door on the fastest mode. The return direction is computed separately and its numbers are not these numbers.
The flight is the simple part. What you do once you are in San José is somebody else's catalog.
Day trips out of San José and across Costa Rica
Day trips that leave San José in the morning and cover a good part of Costa Rica by evening.
See San José on CivitatisOr browse GetYourGuide
Partner links. We do not sell tours or tickets. We earn a commission on a booking, and it never changes the price.
The two ends, compared
Madrid reaches 254 places in 81 countries on services we hold, over distances from 162 to 10,762 km. San José reaches 35 places in 17 countries, from 151 to 9,393 km.
Other ways to make this journey
Leaving Madrid
- 254Places you can leave for
- 81Countries
- 105Operators
Arriving in San José
Leaving San José
- 35Places you can leave for
- 17Countries
- 25Operators