Is it too crazy to spend the night on the street until 6am?
I'm in northern Spain and have to take a train to Madrid to get to a flight. But I arrive to the train station too late at 11:40 so booking is not an option since most places check in are at 12:00 and I'd probably not get in time.
Would it be too dangerous to stay up all night on the street?
I've done it before twice, it's fine as long as you apply your normal safety practices for being out in a city at night but there are two caveats: you will be very bored and you will feel like a steaming heap of dog shit the next day
(I have not been to Madrid and do not know what it is like as a city, so this is meant generally)
If you are taking a flight in the morning, could you spend the night in the airport?
I've slept at various airports under just these circumstances. Pretty common.
According to https://www.sleepinginairports.net/guides/madrid-barajas-airport-guide.htm the airport is open 24 hours so they can just hang there. Allowing about an hour to get to the airport they'd only have five hours or so. By airport waiting standards that's nothing!
I have done this. It sucks balls but is better than wandering around a city all night.
It just sounds like you'll ruin the coming day for yourself. A lot of places have 24hr check in, e.g. keys in a lockbox with a number code.
It is not crazy for someone to be somewhere at some time of day or night.
Try to get a room or at least stay in the station if it's open overnight. I just spent a night on the streets in Chicago. My body was already exhausted from 18 hours of train travel and spending the whole next day walking around the city. I put my stuff in a locker and forgot my coat. Ended up shivering away the night even in 70 degree fahrenheit because my sugar bottomed out to an extreme level. On top of that I was dodging someone who was pretty strung out and constant dog walkers at like 2 am at the park I settled at. Between the travel and that day, I ended up getting like 2 hours of sleep total in a 48 hour period. I have no clue how I survived the night to get around the next day, but it wasn't pretty. It put a physical toll on my trip that I could have avoided if I planned things better. The recovery took extra long too.
Most hotels don't care, they just book you accordingly by the day .... and if there is one hour left in the day, they'll book you for it as a full day. It also depends on the place you book with and how. If you book through a third party like Booking.com or something you have no choice but to swallow the cost of two days for a one night stay. But if you book directly with a hotel or even a small family run place, you can negotiate something.
Worse comes to worse, you can hang out all night next to a train/ bus station because there will be others there in similar situations and deciding to spend the night there for one reason or another. Just stick close to other travelers and you'll protect one another. Just keep your guard up because there might also be scam artists and con artists hanging around too .... as well as drug dealers, prostitutes, druggies and traffickers.
I did quite a bit of travelling in Europe with my wife years ago and on one trip we got stuck in Milan, Italy without a hotel. We arrived in the city in the fall not thinking that there was any reason to worry ... bad for us because it was Europe's largest furniture show in the continent and everything was booked. It was either wait outside all night or pay for a $800 a night three star hotel. We opted to wait all night.
We thought we could just sit on benches at the main Milan train station all night. We were kicked out at 2am onto the street and there we hung out with other people. The station didn't open up again until 6am. So we had a four hour time to wait outside with the freaks and ghouls of the city. Milan is a European cross roads and we saw all kinds ... desperate African immigrants, middle eastern weirdos, Eastern European cons and drug dealers and Italian street people of every shape, size, colour and type.
It wasn't that bad though ... we hung out with a Sardinian who said he got stuck like this often when he missed the last train at night. He guided us and told us to sit on our luggage and just hang out and we talked and joked all night. A group of us formed and we all sat in a circle on our luggage watching out for one another. We also met a traveling Chinese martial arts group that got stuck and we all spent the night together.
When you're young it's not that bad, just find some allies you can trust, keep your guard up, stay aware and you'll be fine.
I guess if you have to sit on the street overnight, sitting with a whole group of martial artists is the universe's way of recognizing that it did you dirty and it's sorry.
Would it be too dangerous to stay up all night on the street?
Personally I believe that the inner part of this very civilised city should be safe. Maybe there's a few suburbs that should be avoided, idk.
FWIW I did the same years ago and got some of the best impressions of the city in question (not Madrid, but EU), and great photos. I didn't feel the slightest bit of danger. But I'm 185cm and obviously male. That does make a difference.
The problem is that I'm 1.60m and I've been harassed previously in an airport at broad daylight. That's why I'm a bit scared to do this but I think I'll stay by the police department
One option to consider would be stopping for the night in a town north of the city to have an earlier arrival. If there are morning airport connections that get you checked in early enough.
Call somewhere and ask. Let them know the timing. And ask if they have prorated booking (it's extremely rare, but never hurts to ask).
There's a pretty active night life, go to a disco, then sleep on your flight!
I’ve never been to a hotel where check in is the end of the time you can show up. Usually it’s the start of the time you can show up. What places limit the time you can show up?
When they close the office for the night. I've run across this with small hotels, b&bs. But sometimes they also can make arrangements if I tell them I am arriving late. Always ask!
Icm trying to rent airbnbs (or other private homes), and preferbthe ones with electronic code locks - you arrive at five a.m., have zero interactions with people, get inside and fall asleep