Parking in Madrid in the green and blue zones: hours and prices

Parking in Madrid features different on-street parking spaces: those in the blue zone, the green zone and the mixed zone

Anyone visiting Madrid for the first time will notice that the lines on the road that mark out the space set aside for parking on public streets change colour depending on the zone you are driving through.

This is not a whim, nor a jokey way of marking out where to park in Madrid, but the way the local council has chosen to distinguish the different types of on-street parking regulation.

If that person drives outside the M-30 ring road, they will see that, in general, the lines indicating the area set aside for parking vehicles are white.

These white lines on the road indicate a parking zone with no time restrictions, that is, free 24 hours a day, seven days a week, as long as you do not breach the municipal regulation stating that a car may remain parked in the same place for a maximum period of up to five days, of which only working days count.

If a car stays parked beyond that, the penalty involves a fine for illegal parking plus the charge for towing the vehicle and taking it to the municipal car pound.

If, as we said at the start, a first-time visitor to Madrid goes inside the ring marked out by the M-30, the lines on the road may also be blue, green and even blue and orange.

The longitudinal road markings painted blue, green or blue and orange mark out the restricted parking of the S.E.R. Madrid, or Regulated Parking Service of Madrid, which divides the area inside the M-30 perimeter into neighbourhoods or zones. Hours of the Regulated Parking Service (SER):

• Monday to Friday, excluding public holidays: from 9am to 9pm.
• Saturdays: from 9am to 3pm.
• August (Monday to Saturday, excluding public holidays): from 9am to 3pm.
• 24 and 31 December: from 9am to 3pm.
• Sundays and public holidays: no service.

It also designates certain streets or blocks as low-emission zones, where special rates apply.

Madrid’s blue zone

Madrid’s blue zone is intended for parking by visitors to the area, where any vehicle may park for a maximum of 4 hours. Once that limit is reached, you cannot renew your parking in the same neighbourhood until one hour has passed since the end of the authorisation. The price of parking in Madrid’s blue zone is

Madrid’s green zone

In the areas marked out with green lines, priority for parking in the green zone goes to residents of the area, who must apply for and display the sticker authorising parking there. Other users may also park for a maximum of two hours, and the Madrid green zone rates are as follows:

Madrid’s mixed zone

This parking area, regulated by parking meters, is intended as a deterrent and was a pioneer, as it designated various streets in Madrid where you can park temporarily or for a maximum of up to 12 hours. There are up to 6,000 on-street parking spaces marked in blue and orange located on the streets Ciudad de Plasencia, Cuesta de la Vega, Profesor Martín Almagro Basch, Paseo de Camoens y Valero, La Rosaleda, Paseo del Rey and Francisco y Jacinto Alcántara, where the maximum rate is 6 euros.

For shorter stays, parking is regulated at a cost of 50 cents per hour with a maximum of 6 euros per day. Finally, the social and healthcare parking spaces are located in the vicinity of healthcare facilities and allow parking for up to 4 hours at a cost of 2.75 euros.

Discounts and bonuses in Madrid’s blue and green zones

These prices are set as the standard and apply in general. However, once the user enters the number plate of the vehicle they have parked, the system may apply environmental discounts or bonuses in the blue and green zones for cars with a C, ECO or 0 label.

Cars with the green badge, the C label, enjoy a 10 per cent discount; those with the blue-and-green two-tone label, the ECO label, cut the cost of parking in Madrid’s S.E.R. zone by 50 per cent; while cars with a 0 label do not pay at all to park in Madrid’s blue and green zones.

Vehicles with the yellow label, the B label, receive no discount but no surcharge either, since the vehicles in the group belonging to the non-existent A label face a 25 per cent surcharge for parking in Madrid’s blue or green zone.