late night transport

Catch a different flight?

According to this the metro runs till 01:45 and buses till 02:00 - if you can't make those you'll need to get a taxi - around €25 to central Madrid (mabe more at that time of the night).

Oh, and contrary to what that link says, I believe the metro station is now open at T4 - perhaps someone will confirm this - Tony?

Buses from the airport finishes about 23:30.
The last underground leaves from the first station of any line at 1:30; ryanair flights arrives at Terminal 1, therefore you have to take the underground at "Aeropuerto T1-T2-T3" station which is the 3rd in line 8.
The station is about 15 minutes from T1. So if you claim the luggage, forget about the underground. If your flight arrives at 12:45 and you don't have to get luggage, to have 45 minutes to get to the station, it should be enough time.
If you miss the underground, the cheapest way would mean to walk at night from the airport to the corner of streets "Avenida de Logroño" and "Avenida General", where you can take the nightly bus N4 to Plaza Cibeles (downtown Madrid). That takes about 20 minutes, but you would need a good map to get to those streets... if you wanna try it, the site of the Madrid region public transport system can help you http://www.ctm-madrid.es<BR><BR>A taxi costs 25-30 euros at least.

She asked for the cheapest way and that's definitely walking.

it's quite possible that you miss the last metro, so it's important to have a b-plan.
i wouldn't recomend to walk all the way to the night bus stop. here's a map with the different buses & metro routes connecting the airport & madrid that might be helpful

there's one more thing, you can share a taxi, check this site
i've never used it myself, but should be much cheaper than ordinary taxi.
cheers

The Madrid Metro website (web: http://www.metromadrid.es/</a>) says the metro goes to/from the airport (Line 8) until 2am. If you can make this metro, THIS is the cheapest way to go. But once you get near your hotel you'll have to lug your luggage the rest of the way, looking for streets and addresses, etcetera, in the middle of the night.

At that hour I'd recommend a taxi even if it does cost you 25-35 Euros for the trip. Less hassle. You could also consider an AeroCity shuttle (web: http://www.aerocity.com</a> ) which goes to all the downtown hotels. It will be cheaper than a taxi although you may have to wait for the shuttle to arrive. This is a shared service, by the way. You may have other travelers being dropped off to their hotels before yours. Be sure to make reservations for this.

Saludos, MadridMan