Madrid Hotel

[blues deville]

Can anyone recommend a good hotel in downtown Madrid?

Thanks.

bd

[Bryon Mask]

Stayed last year in a boutique hotel called " Hotel Villa Real" It is part of the Derby Hotel chain. Great location close to museums, lots of pubs/restaurants close by. Excellent breakfast, Worl'd smallest elevators!!! Ask for a room high up and facing the square if you want any sort of view. The back side of the hotel where my room was had no view (looking into apartments) but was quiet. If you get a cab from airport make sure the have the hotel name and address written down to show cab driver. some of them don't speak any english or very poor english at best.

hope that helps

[blues deville]

Stayed last year in a boutique hotel called " Hotel Villa Real" It is part of the Derby Hotel chain. Great location close to museums, lots of pubs/restaurants close by. Excellent breakfast, Worl'd smallest elevators!!! Ask for a room high up and facing the square if you want any sort of view. The back side of the hotel where my room was had no view (looking into apartments) but was quiet. If you get a cab from airport make sure the have the hotel name and address written down to show cab driver. some of them don't speak any english or very poor english at best.

hope that helps

sounds interesting.....thanks for the response.

[cp fa]

Hi Blues. I've stayed in both of the crew hotels that AC has used, and they were okay but nothing to write home about. I could give you the names via pm if you want, but I think for the money, you could do better elsewhere.

I think the days of airline employees getting great hotel deals are a thing of the past, so I look at the "special offers" section for hotels as well as B&Bs on Tripadvisor. We have had great success booking our holiday accommodations this way.

http://www.tripadvisor.ca/Hotels-g187514-c2-Madrid-Hotels.html

http://www.tripadvisor.ca/Hotels-g187514-Madrid-Hotels.html

If you want recommendations for restaurants or tapas bars, my husband spent quite a bit of time there, and I could ask him to write up a list. There is one restaurant that I liked that is very popular with crews called Ginger on the Plaza del Angel. The roasted vegetable and goat cheese tart appetizer was to die for.

http://www.restauranteginger.com/

Hope this helps.

[blues deville]

Hi Blues. I've stayed in both of the crew hotels that AC has used, and they were okay but nothing to write home about. I could give you the names via pm if you want, but I think for the money, you could do better elsewhere.

I think the days of airline employees getting great hotel deals are a thing of the past, so I look at the "special offers" section for hotels as well as B&Bs on Tripadvisor. We have had great success booking our holiday accommodations this way.

http://www.tripadvisor.ca/Hotels-g187514-c2-Madrid-Hotels.html

http://www.tripadvisor.ca/Hotels-g187514-Madrid-Hotels.html

If you want recommendations for restaurants or tapas bars, my husband spent quite a bit of time there, and I could ask him to write up a list. There is one restaurant that I liked that is very popular with crews called Ginger on the Plaza del Angel. The roasted vegetable and goat cheese tart appetizer was to die for.

http://www.restauranteginger.com/

Hope this helps.

Agreed. Airline employee discounts are pretty much gone. My airline's MAD hotel is very nice and I can get a crew room rate but it's near the airport rather than downtown. However, the subway line is close. I've used trip adviser too (thanks for the link) and another one called booking.com. Much the same format but I think it's euro based. I've also had success with these in finding quality hotels, etc. I will see what both suggest in downtown Madrid.

We'll be spending most of our time in Malaga and the last couple of nights in Madrid.

Any info regarding good Madrid restaurants is appreciated.

thanks!

bd.

[cp fa]

Hi again! I hope I'm not too late with this, but I had to wait for my husband to recover from the fog of jetlag.

The Mercado de San Miguel is a great place to spend an evening, sampling tapas and beverages at the various stalls. It's just outside the Plaza Mayor. While you're there, there is a place called Torre d'oro that has great tapas, and the walls are covered with amazing bull fight photos.

There is also a street called Calle Cava Baja that is lined with tapas bars and restaurants. The one we ate in, Txakolina, was amazing.

The Plaza Santa Ana is a great place to have a beer in the afternoon. Just off the plaza is a street called Calle de Nunez de Arce. It's the street with the places that are decorated in ceramic tiles. A short distance down this street is La Fragua de Vulcano, great photo op, with great tapas.

Other than that, La Venencia is an amazing old sherry bar, and you can't beat El Matador for atmosphere!

Enjoy!

[blues deville]

Wow....great info cp fa!

This should guarantee some nice evenings in the city. Many thanks!

Thanks to the "jet lagged one" as well.

bd

[conehead]

What's a tapa?

[cp fa]

A tapa is a small appetizer plate that is meant to be shared. The idea is that you go to a number of different places, and have one or two plates at each place, with wine or beer. You could also do the traditional sit down meal at a restaurant in Madrid, but a tapas tour is a more fun way to spend an evening.

Blues, just to clarify, the Torre d'Oro is in the Plaza Mayor, not inside the Mercado.

Cheers! (I am so hungry now)

[conehead]

Thanks! Sounds like fun.