Madrid weekend

Darrenon91

Hi,

Looking to head over to Madrid for a few days with my girlfriend. There is a few threads on madrid but alot of them date to quite a while back so I thought I would start a new one..

Just wondering can anyone reccomend a hotel that is not too far away from the city centre (and not too expensive)?.

Looking for a relaxed, fun weekend. Some touristy things and some activties aswel if anyone has reccomendations?

Finally if anyone has any info/tips with regards travelling around the city that would be great.

thanks.

barry55555

Most central area is around Puerta del Sol and Gran Via.
A lot of the cheaper hotels have very small rooms so its worth spending a little more.
Madrid is lively all night long so avoid noisy areas.

Madrid has one of the best public transport systems in the world.
Metro stations at the airport and also Cercanias train at terminal 4.
You can get a tourist weekend pass for all public transport (bus, metro and trains) at the entrance to the airport metro. Getting around the city is very easy.

What area were you looking at? What's the hotel budget?

nosietoes

Mercado San Miguel is wonderful, as is plaza Santa Ana.

The biggest suprise and delight of my weekend there was the hammam al Andalus - an Aran style baths with optional massage and body scrub. http://madrid.hammamalandalus.com/en/
It was heavenly with our hangover.

Chueca (the gay district) is fun for nightlife for anyone.

The Cortes Anglais has a great terrace for cocktails as does the hotel Oscar tho get there early as a queue forms.

Darrenon91

barry55555 wrote: »

Most central area is around Puerta del Sol and Gran Via.
A lot of the cheaper hotels have very small rooms so its worth spending a little more.
Madrid is lively all night long so avoid noisy areas.

Madrid has one of the best public transport systems in the world.
Metro stations at the airport and also Cercanias train at terminal 4.
You can get a tourist weekend pass for all public transport (bus, metro and trains) at the entrance to the airport metro. Getting around the city is very easy.

What area were you looking at? What's the hotel budget?

Thanks for your reply. Budget isnt massive but not small either. We were looking at a hotel near the atocha stop which is pretty central. We will only be using the hotel for storing our bags and sleeping so as long as it not terrible then we are ok. the location is more important as we are only there for 2-3 days.

Ya I have done a bit a reading on the metro. Ive used the london and new york ones so im sure its much of the same. Weekend pass sounds very ideal.

Darrenon91

nosietoes wrote: »

Mercado San Miguel is wonderful, as is plaza Santa Ana.

The biggest suprise and delight of my weekend there was the hammam al Andalus - an Aran style baths with optional massage and body scrub. http://madrid.hammamalandalus.com/en/
It was heavenly with our hangover.

Chueca (the gay district) is fun for nightlife for anyone.

The Cortes Anglais has a great terrace for cocktails as does the hotel Oscar tho get there early as a queue forms.

Those baths sound amazing. Im not one for a hangover and dont want to be confined to a bed all day so that looks like a plan. Thanks for your suggestions

barry55555

Atocha is good by try stay close to metro stations on line 1 so you can get around the city fast. El Segoviana on Avenida de la ciudad de Barcelona (near Atocha) does a great set lunch at the weekends which id highly recommend.

I lived there for many years and go back several times a year so PM if you need advice.

barneygumble99

Went to Madrid recently. Booked via ebookers, stayed about 20 yards from Gran Via, very central and near a metro stop. Hotel was called Tryp Cibeles, beautiful modern clean hotel, highly recommend it. Breakfast was optional extra, but we ate out all the time, loads of places nearby. You need to change metro twice to get into city centre from airport, but it's fairly simple, think it cost €4.50 one way. We got flights and 2 nights accommodation with ebookers for €180, unreal value, price it yourself, on the May bank hol weekend. Flights were with Aer Lingus.

barneygumble99

Lots of touristy things to do, you can walk to retiro park from that hotel, takes about 25 minutes. You can rent row boats there and walk around. Really nice. Also I'd recommend the hop on hop off bus tour as one of the first things to do, helps you get your bearings and let you see what's where and whether you'd like to go back and visit anything you've seen. Lots of places to eat in Madrid but it can be hit and miss as regards quality. Found it hard to find pubs that just served alcohol and not food. Spanish people tend to eat out quite late.

iusedtoknow

What time of year are you going? I lived in Madrid for years and the summers are brutally hot - right up until September it can be well into the 40's in the direct sun

Strumms

Middle of summer will be seriously hot.. mid 30s approaching 40s .. thats the downside..

On the plus as others have said.. a very walkable city but the Metro is fantastic.. get the pass.. transport is cheap and well organised.

The quality of hotel is good and you can get good four star hotels for good value. The city as a whole is very reasonable in terms of eating out.. drinking anything really.. i usually stay at Atocha area.. Anton Martin.. however i generally pick the Raddisson Praedo which can be expensive..

The Mercado San Migual is a must.. i love the tour of the Bernabeau... the Royal Palace.. Parc Retiro.. Casa de Campo is another huge park that has the zoo... think the Phoenix park size...

Overall the city is great and safe.. much safer feel then say Barcelona.. a lot of police everywhere in a good way... good shopping and the nightlife is great around La Latina but depends what you are after... either way enjoy

Darrenon91

barneygumble99 wrote: »

Went to Madrid recently. Booked via ebookers, stayed about 20 yards from Gran Via, very central and near a metro stop. Hotel was called Tryp Cibeles, beautiful modern clean hotel, highly recommend it. Breakfast was optional extra, but we ate out all the time, loads of places nearby. You need to change metro twice to get into city centre from airport, but it's fairly simple, think it cost €4.50 one way. We got flights and 2 nights accommodation with ebookers for €180, unreal value, price it yourself, on the May bank hol weekend. Flights were with Aer Lingus.

Thanks for you reply. Ya i have never heard of ebookers to be honest. I will defo have a look. I tend to go with lowcostholidays as they have served me well in the past. Thats extremely good value.

Darrenon91

iusedtoknow wrote: »

What time of year are you going? I lived in Madrid for years and the summers are brutally hot - right up until September it can be well into the 40's in the direct sun

We are looking to go this month if possible. Prob last weekend in June. Anything around the mid 20's I can handle. Anything after that is just uncomfortable. Would June be ok with regards the heat?

Tabnabs

Darrenon91 wrote: »

We are looking to go this month if possible. Prob last weekend in June. Anything around the mid 20's I can handle. Anything after that is just uncomfortable. Would June be ok with regards the heat?

Friends have come back from 10 days there and it was well up into the thirties on a few days. So mid 20s is unlikely. Try Barcelona where there is a sea breeze at least.

iusedtoknow

Darrenon91 wrote: »

We are looking to go this month if possible. Prob last weekend in June. Anything around the mid 20's I can handle. Anything after that is just uncomfortable. Would June be ok with regards the heat?

Not really. It'll be well into the 30s. It's a mad climate to be honest. The hottest part of the day is 4pm to 7pm and the temp drops to 15c for the night. It is a dry heat as well so when in the sun it is just hot, and in the shade it's nearly comfortable.

Lombardo86

iusedtoknow wrote: »

Not really. It'll be well into the 30s. It's a mad climate to be honest. The hottest part of the day is 4pm to 7pm and the temp drops to 15c for the night. It is a dry heat as well so when in the sun it is just hot, and in the shade it's nearly comfortable.

People have generally been providing areas to go, any specific bars/clubs we should try?

iusedtoknow

Lombardo86 wrote: »

People have generally been providing areas to go, any specific bars/clubs we should try?

I'm not a huge clubber but the main places are La Latina for pop/rock clubs and if you want to run into b list spanish celebrities or footballers then head to the clubs up on Castellana north of Bernabeu. Awful places but prats like Ramos are seen there all the time.

As for bars - the area around Calle Santo Espritu have some nice bars and terraces, same with Lavapies