I know, I know, we shouldn't be driving, but because of our itinerary and the terms of our car lease, we have our car for the three days we will be staying in Madrid. There is parking right next to our hotel.

Can anyone really familiar with Madrid traffic suggest a route for us to take (mid day)from the airport to our hotel near the Plaza Mayor (actually on the same street as the Monasteria de las Descalzas Reales)?

Thanks

they will map it for you at the airport or you can see it on www.mappy.com or www.michelin.com

be familiar with the monuments along the castellana paseo
to help you know where to turn.

Follow the signs to Madrid "centro"
otherwise showed as a small white sign with circles, by Madrid.
Be careful and don't follow the M-40 Madrid signs.
You will be directed to N VI or the Barcelona-Madrid Highway.Keep on following Madrid "Centro". In about 10 minutes you will be arriving to the city itself, First red light. Stay in your right and look for a taxi stop. You will find one on your right just by the underground bus station.(Av America).
One of you take a taxi to your hotel and the driver follow.
This may sound like a joke but it is not, your hotel is located in a part of town that has recently become pedestrian and even in the latest edition of any navigation system this will not be correct.
The taxi can also help you if you need to go through a traffic control.
As some other parts of the center are limited to public transportation or residents.

very good advice. at any point you can stop and get a taxi and follow him.
that part of town is difficult.

are you sure you can´t leave the car at the rental parking lot and pick it up on your way out of town?

Thanks for the detailed info. Just what I was looking for. Maybe we will just leave the car at the airport parking lot for the three days.

FL: We just returned from Madrid in March 07 and we rented a 9 passenger van @ Barajas that we parked downtown near Sol (@ a plaza just at the end of Tetuan street). We had rented an apartment on Tetuan. No problem with traffic. We did have both a mapquest and viamichelin print out with us. I believe we paid 20 Euros per night for 3 nights. We did take one day trip to Segovia. I rented a car in 2003 and stayed downtown at a hotel near the Prado (Hotel Lope de Vega) and the hotel had parking at the hotel. I made side trips to Toledo and Segovia with minimal difficulty following the mapquests. Good luck!