How long will it take me to get from Madrid, Spain to Italy? What is the best way to take? Train? Bus? Car?

You'd really be worn out and won't see much to go to Italy for just one day, but if you have 2 days you can spend in Italy, you could leave madrid at 5 pm to barcelona arrrive at 7.38 , train to Girona from Barcelona 7.55 to 9.15 pm, then train from girona overnight departing at 9.25 pm and get to Italy the next morning, Torino at 8:12 am, or milano at 9:59 am, but those are not the best places to visit in Italy, so you'd still need to get on another train to go somewhere like Florence or Venice or Cinqueterre. Then if you had to return to Spain that evening you'd have to leave Milano at 7:40 pm and get to Barcelona at 9:01 next morning. BUT these trains don't go every day, so you'd really have to do some research: http://www.oebb.at/en You could fly cheaper anyway, for example on EasyJet, you could fly from madrid to rome at 6:35 am, arrive at 8:55 for 30 to 50 euros, then return to Madrid from rome, but the flight is at 9:25 am, so you'd need to spend a night in Rome. http://www.easyjet.com It's really a rush, so since Spain is really beautiful too, go check out Sevilla or Granada or Barcelona.

How small do you think Europe is? If you actually run out of things to do in a "couple of days in Madrid", you can fly to Italy in about an hour or so, for about 200€ RT. But you won't run out of things to do. Madrid requires about a week to do right.

If you're talking about a day trip, you'd better plan on flying. That's a muich longer trip than you think it is. Spain has been upgrading its rail system and has added some high speed trains, but I don't think it gives you any help at this point from Madrid to Italy. The last time I did it was on a Talga (sort of medium speed). You have to go through Barcelona - or did - to get to Milan... and from Barcelona to Milan on the Talga now is about 13 hours. It's a pleasant trip by train, but if you're in a hurry... European rail service is speedin up in general, but some routes are a far higher priority than others. The French have now extended their TGV routes so much that they should get more done on the coastal routes in the not too distant furture, but that's on a timetable that's had TGV under constant construction for 30+ years (while the US has done none). The Spanish are adding high speed trains that I think will interconnect in Barcelona to either Italy or North through France to Britain. You'll be able to go from London to Barcelona in a fraction of the time it now takes. It's much easier for the Spanish to connect through Barcelona than Madrid although Madrid is plugged into the plans ... it will just take a little longer. You may find they're completed some segments since I last looked. The drive, FWIW, is beautiful, but in terms of time tedious. You won't have time to do that. And once you get to Milan, you're in Milan. Venice isn't far, but that's a full day going there from Milan, walking around a few hours and going back to Milan. Better luck the next time. (If you're in France, you can make daytrips to almost anything that's got a direct TGV connection == or that's not too far off. Paris to Avignon is quick and easy. Dijon was not literally on the TGV system when I went there last, but the TGV ran high speed to a spur for Dijon off the Lyon route ... and then it ran at good speeds for the rest of the journey. Pleasant, relaxed and quick. It's probably either full TGV or an enhanced level that allows higher than normal speeds compared to the old trackage.