Barcelona and Madrid - hotels for a family of 3
 

After a lot of soul searching and disappointment (flights to Chile are super expensive, as it turns out!), we are now strongly considering spending the Presidents' Week (Feb 16-24) in Spain. I have found very reasonable flights to Barcelona and flying back home out of Madrid so we would like to spend 3-4 nights in each city, taking the train from Barcelona to Madrid mid week. We will be traveling with our 14 year old daughter who is a seasoned traveler. Looking for hotel accommodations in $200 per night range that will easily accommodate an extra bed in the room. We would rather not be in the thick of things and prefer safe and quiet neighboorhoods that have lots of small shops and restaurants - think the 7th Arrondissement in Paris which we loved.
Thanks in advance for your recommendations.

you can start to get a feel for prices/location with www.gtahotels.com asking for a triple room.

if you like renting apt. you can get places for about 135 euros per night in both cities.
Since you don't have much time , flying would be better. - not much scenery between Barcelona and Madrid.
Vueling has cheap flights .
For hotels check Venere.

The Best Western Hotel Carlos V in Madrid has a triple for 120 Euros excluding 7% tax. One one of our visits there we ended up with what I would assume is a triple room. It had two double/queen beds and a sofa and was larger than the room we had on our previous stay.

The hotel is near Sol on a pedestrial walkway across from El Corte Ingles department store.

Can't help with Barcelona.

In Barcelona try Hispanos 7 Suiza. They have appartment type rooms.
www.h7s.es

Thanks so much for the helpful replies. We may be able to increase our budget somewhat and stay in hotels in Euro 150-180 range. So far places that looked interesting to me are: Hotel Banys Orientals (the suites) or Hotel Apsis Atrium Palace in Barcelona and Hotel Meninas in Madrid.
Any thoughts on these places?

Also, should we spend 4 nights in Barcelona and 3 in Madrid or the other way round? We are not planning to do any day trips, we like experiencing the city, walking, exploring, museums etc.

We visited Barcelona in May with our 12yo son, and enjoyed it very much.

We stayed in the Barri Gotic at the Hotel H10 Racó del Pi, on Calle del Pi, 7, which may be above your price range - we paid 205 Euros/night, plus 7% tax. It was a good-sized room, with a double bed and an actual third bed for our son - not a foldout bed or a cot. We very much liked the area, and would definitely stay there again, but I would compare it more to a quiet street in Paris' 6th arr., rather than the 7th. But if your budget changes, you might want to look into it. (The Eixample area, IMO, is more like Paris' 7th.)

We spent 4 nights/3 1/2 days there, and felt that was a good amount of time to say the things we wanted to see. We didn't visit Madrid, so I can't say anything about which city to spend more time in.

Enjoy!

Hi Iza,
I am planning a trip the same week and am wondering how cold it is going to be in Barcelona and Madrid (Feb.16 through Feb. 24)...

Iza,
The triples at Madrid's Hotel Meninas are really very nice; stylish and spacious and well priced for the quality-in an attractive location near the Royal Palace and Teatro Real.
Sometimes their web rates include breakfast.