For our upcoming trip to Madrid in June, our flight is scheduled to arrive at 7:45AM Saturday morning. Should I plan on reserving an extra night of hotel to make sure that we will be allowed to check in before 3 or 4PM? We'll be flying overnight, so we would really like to be able to check in and freshen up before going out to town. We will be staying at the Sofitel. Any thoughts?

On our trip to Madrid a month ago, we arrived around 8am and got to our hotel at around 10. They let us stored our luggage there till they were ready to let us check in around noon. We left our luggage and went out for a walk (our hotel was right near the museums so we went to the garden next to the museum)and came back to take a nap after checking in and then went out again afterwards, it worked out fine. Most hotels in Europe we been to usually let us check in early if the room was ready or to get the room ready sooner for us if we show up earlier than the check in time. So I don't think you need to spend the extra money to reserve an extra night.

If you want to guarantee getting in early you need to book the night before.

But often a room is available earlier, and if it isn't the hotel will hold your bags while you explore the neighborhood.

Just about everyone flying in transatlantic flys overnight. Some people do book the extra night but most don't. It is up to you - most can manage fine just waiting until the room is ready.

was posting the same time as baby108 . . . .

At a minimum the hotel will let you store your luggage. Often they offer you a free breakfast. Frequently they are not full and let you check in righ away. If they are full they will usually give you an ETA so you know how to plan - wait in the hotel for an hour or two - or go out for a walk and even lunch.

The only time we had to wait until 2pm to get into a room was on a package tour - and that was because the "hostess" was so busy trying to sell extra tours that she never pressed the hotel to get our rooms ready. (We finally had to go to the manager and be very firm to get a room. There were some people in our group still waiting for them at 6pm - long after the hostes had left - since they made no effort to help themselves.)

Thanks everyone for your reply. I figured if they would let us check in around 12, then yea, I wouldnt mind the 2-3 hrs wait. But usually, I wont have the energy to wait for 6 hrs before I could freshen up and change into fresh clothes.

You never know, but I think the odds are it will be noon or before. I have had to wait until afternoon to check in to some European hotels, it does happen. I don't think it was ever as late as 4, though, more like 1-2. After all, most hotels have a noon checkout time (or earlier). If you want to be guaranteed, obviously, you will have to pay.

We had similar timing a couple of years ago. I emailed the hotel (Carol V) maybe a week in advance asking if we could check in early. When we arrived, about 8:30am, the room was ready (no extra charge). We were hungry and went to the breakfast room for the buffet. They did charge us for that because we hadn't spent the night.

It can never hurt just to ask.

My boyfriend sent an email to Sofitel asking if we could have an early check in and he hasnt heard back. We just want to get into the room and freshen up a little bit before going out to explore. I dont really want to pay 136 Euro just to be guaranteed that I'd be allowed that 2-3 hrs time in the morning, so I think we're going to wait and hope for the best.

which sofitel is it?
if it is the downtown one.. there is plenty to do around there.

the madrid tourist hop on/off bus stops at plaza españa.

(P.S.:I doubt they will "invite" you two to their 18 euro breakfast.)

You sound like a young person. You'll be fine even if your room is not ready. Have a cup of the best coffee in the world( preferably a cafe con leche) and you'll hit the ground running!

Yes - I am a young person (I'm 29, and bf is 32), so I guess we'll be Ok either way. He did email Sofitel and they said that they would have no problem having the room ready for us around 10. But it was so weird because when the first time he emailed them, he wrote it in English (naively thinking that they would speak English being an international hotel and all). They never responded. When he re-wrote the email in Spanish, he got an immediate response! ;-)

Another question, should I get a metro pass since I will be there for 8 days?

I think a pass would be a good idea, I think the 7 day pass is only 20 euro, which is probably a good deal as a single fare is about a euro.

You can also get a discount by buying ten tickets at once (6.4 euro). I definitely used it at least several times a day.

All the major sites in Madrid are actually pretty close and we (even my 70+ years old parents) walked everywhere and I think we used the metro tickets only once trying to go to a mall away from the center... The longest walk we took was about 40 mins from the museum area to the palace. So I would suggest you to buy the discounted 10 ticket thing which you can pass to your bf after you enter the metro gate. I don't think you can share a pass though.

And some of your small hotels/apts go out of their way to be nice.

I once arrived at a small apt/hotel type in London very early. The very nice man gave my mother and I a key to a studio to "freshen up" and then moved our luggage to our apartment (he also upgraded us from a 1 Bedroom to a 2 bedroom)

It's good to know that we'll be able to walk everywhere, especially since we'll be staying at the Sofitel in downtown. My boyfriend insists on having a car while we're there, and since he's on a business trip he can get a rental car through work. However I have been trying to convince him not to have the cars - but rely on the metro/bus, since he can ride with other people to and from work. I figure that it'd be a hazzle just trying to figure out where to go and then park the cars.

Unless your boyfriend's work is outside of the city he really won't need a car. He/You might want to use it for daytrips to small village though. A car would be useful for that but so often the visits to Madrid only involve 2-5 days which leaves little 'extra time' to explore outside of the must-sees like Madrid itself, Toledo, and then Segovia.

A 10-trip metro/bus pass would be useful and definitely worth the 6.40 Euros even if you don't use all the trips. It's just much easier than paying each time.

Most hotels - as you've now found out - will let you check in early IF the room is already available in the morning. If it was occupied, of course, they have to clean it before you check-in and they do this, usually, between 10am-1pm.

Good luck and enjoy your stay in Madrid!

Saludos, MadridMan
--
Madrid, Barcelona, & MORE @ you-know-where!

Thanks for your note Madridman, I showed my bf your comments re: the car. We are considering a day trip to Toledo, so even that, I think we can swing it by catching a train.