Hi,

I am planning to be in Madrid for 3-4 days in March with husband and children (14 and 19). I am looking for ideas on hotels or short term apts, preferably in the Prado museum area that can accomodate us.

I have previously read about the aparthotel Los Jeronimos, but in looking at reviews I see they are mixed. Would appreciate comments from anybody that might have had a recent experience there.

Also, Las Meninas hotel advertises a quad room. Does anybody know anything about that? Maribel, do you? I know you like this hotel. I have sent them e-mails asking for info on this room and they have not answered.

Any other ideas would be appreciated!

Hi cruiseluv,
I have really mixed feelings about the Hotel Meninas since we just stayed there just two weeks ago. Wanted to try it. I had high hopes since I had toured it twice with the owner (who also owns the Hotel Opera) and really liked the classy look of the hotel and particularly the triple room with separate sitting room. But alas, the 3 rooms on each floor ('03, '04, 05) that face the street are *extremely* noisy due to lack of double glazing on those windows. For two out of 3 nights we did not sleep well at all because of the street noise, and on the weekend the noise coming from La Viuda Negra night club across the street. We should have moved to an interior room, but because our second night was noise free, we thought the 3rd would be fine. Because of our experience, I'm hesitant now to recommend it and may remove it from my Madrid file. Inside the hotel is charming, cozy and quiet, but the ongoing construction at Opera Square plus the early morning (4 am) noise from La Viuda Negra when it closes, coupled with the botellón crowd congregating at the end of the street makes it a difficult stay for those who are assigned exterior rooms.

I'm often asked about quads in Madrid, and they are a scare commodity in hotels. I know that the reviews for the Jerónimos are mixed, as are the Suite Prado (a 4 star now looking and feeling more like a 3). These are the only options other than a rental through an agency that would accommodate 4 in the Barrio de las Letras area.

I haven't had the opportunity yet to check out the listings of Friendly Rentals, but I'm very interested in their Retiro I apt. because I just love the area. It lies at the northern edge of Retiro Park, off O'Donnell, and our favorite street, Calle Menorca, for reasonably priced dining, both for tapas and sit-down, is just a short walk away. Regarding the area, I can tell you that it's a classy section of town, void of tourists-we spend quite a bit of time there and took most of our meals there when in Madrid two weeks ago.

Hi Maribel,

I appreciate your comments so much . I was considering booking 2 rooms at Las Meninas for E127 each, with taxes and breakfast. But I can't deal with the noise issue. My son might like the idea of being near botellón crowd, but not me!!

The other hotel I was considering booking 2 rooms was the Room Mate Alicia but I seem to recall reading there is somthing weird about the bathrooms being exposed to the sleeping area?

Interesting you mention Friendly Rentals as I was looking into those. In addition to the one you mention , I was considering the following:

- Apt. Baudelaire, Calle del Olmo, cerca Calle Atocha y Sta. Isabel

- Apt. Puerta del Sol, Calle de Esparteros, cerca Calle Mayor

- Apt. Ibiza, Calle Ibiza, north(?) of Retiro

- Apt. Las Letras, Calle del Amor de Dios, entre Calle Sta Maria y calle Atocha

Can you tell me if these locations are any good ?

As always, Thank you for your help!

we rented from Spain Select.
They rent mostly per month. but there are several apt. for rent per day ( 4 nights min?).
I don't think there is anything near Prado. We stayed near Plaza Mayor and walked to Prado, the Opera, Atocha etc

http://www.spain-select.com/

If you're looking at the Room Mate hotels, it's good you know about the bathroom situation, which is why my daughter and I did NOT stay there in August (I would have had to leave the room while she showered - plain old weird if you ask me). We stayed at, and really enjoyed, the Hotel Preciados, at the end of Calle Preciados, which is the pedestrian shopping street that leads down to the Puerta del Sol. I'm mentioning it only because the price is likely in your range, the rooms are very well designed, albeit small, with excellent bathrooms, and friends of ours stayed there last year with their two teens who also really liked it. It's very quiet (I don't know if it's the double-glazed windows or the location, but noise was not an issue at all). We walked everywhere from the hotel.

Thank you Danon and sf for your comments.I will look into these options.

Hi cruiseluv,
Yes, I'll echo the posted remarks about the bathroom situation at the RoomMate Alicia. The standard rooms have baths that are open to the sleeping area (a space saving issue) which those who wish privacy will not like. The two floor loft suite bathrooms have more privacy (but still are somewhat open, just behind the sleeping area), but they really don't sleep 4. I don't think the downstairs
sofa makes into a bed. I certainly wouldn't book it for 4 people.

I do like the jr. suites at the Alicia because they're more spacious and have a sitting area and are filled with light. But you would need two.

Regarding the Friendly rentals selections you've mentioned:

I wouldn't book the Baudelaire
or the Puerta del Sol or Las Letras because I don't like the locations very much. Just don't like being around the Puerta del Sol or near Atocha, which is not one of Madrid's most attractive streets-noisy, busy, not very appealing at all.

The Ibiza apt. is in the area that I referred to in my above post, where we dine and spend a good deal of time. It's a longer walk, certainly, from the museum triangle, but you have the metro (although I like walking through Retiro park rather than taking the metro or bus).

We have friends who love to stay at the Preciados. It gets good reviews. Not my cup of tea in terms of location (too near the Puerta del Sol for me), but those who stay there really like the hotel as it's quite nice inside and very well run.

Hope this helps.

Oh Boy!

I have already book the Hotel Meninas for June, 2009.

Noise would be a HUGE issue for my husband and I - not so much for my teen-aged grandchildren. I may either request interior rooms in this hotel or, it may be "back to the drawing board" for our hotel in Madrid.

Maribel, thank you for posting this information.

Maribel, Thank you so much for your advice and comments.

Now it might only be 3 of us for the Madrid portion of the trip, so I'm back to considering a triple in a hotel. In Madrid I like to stay in the Villa Real, but I'm pretty sure their regular rooms do not accomodate a 3rd person. In any event, their rates are very high in March.

I am going to check Hotel Prado, Lope de Vega and Preciados. I prefer the location of the first two.

Any other recommendations , now for hotels that offer triples?

I have some other questions for the rest of my itinerary, but will open a new thread.

Thanks again for any comments!

Hi,
We leave in one week for our Lisbon/Madrid trip.

We are 4 for Lisbon and then only 3 for Madrid. Here is my short list of places I was considering. We are on a tight budget and needed to consider if our 4th changed her mind about Madrid.

Hostal Adria
Hostal Santa Ana
Hotel Plaza Mayor
Hotel Europa
Hotel Petit Palace Puerta del Sol
Hostal Alaska (apartment)

Even though I was not so happy with our experience at the Hotel Opera as a result of the rain leaking roofs, I hear it's been remodeled in part and looks pretty good.
The location is near the Royal Palace I don't know if you care for that. In general it is an older style hotel & out room was clean but dreary. The remodled rooms on the website look great however.
This is the sister hotel to the Meninas.

http://www.hotelopera.com/

When we were there I saw a corner double room on the 7th floor that had a small connecting room perfect for a single person. I think rooms with the jacuzzi's are on the 8th floor.

Personally I would book only if breakfast were included and only one of the newly remodled rooms though (unless they offer a super low price)

We stayed in a quad at Best Western Carlos V. It's a short walk to Plaza Mayor and Puerto Del Sol. It is a good area to walk to almost everywhere, or to catch public transportation. The quad was 1 big room. I'm sure their triples are similar. The breakfast is very good as well.

MFNYC I thought I heard they had balconies too at the Carlos V?
It's a nice extra especially if you have more than two people.

cruiseluv,
The Derby Villa Real has a jr. suite (on one level), but I don't think that leather sofa in the sitting room is a sofa bed. Their loft suites are to die for, but probably way over your budget.

Perhaps I was a bit too harsh on Hotel Meninas, since I didn't request to be moved to an interior room to test its quiet. The inside of the hotel itself appears to be a haven of calm, corridors are pretty, security good (can only use the elevator with your room key), but the noise from outside certainly was disturbing on our final night with the extremely loud disco crowd from La Viuda Negra waking us at 4 am.

My husband and I have discussed this at length as to whether we would stay there again if guaranteed an inside room. For that very low rate of 109 including the quite ample and nice buffet breakfast (every treat imaginable) plus free internet (with cable), it's very tempting. And it does attract a well dressed older crowd, many of which gave compliments to the front desk when leaving regarding their stay-I should have asked them their room number! But the Meninas offers 3 star comfort, rather than 4, in my mind, now that I've spent 3 nights there.

When we've had budget issues, we've had to forgo the Derby Villa Real and instead stay at the 3 star Hotel Prado, just 2 blocks up the street. We actually liked this little place a lot. It doesn't look like much on the outside (nothing much they can do about that-built in the 70s), the entrance is rather modest, the reception area narrow and the coffee, soda machines give an initial budget hotel impression, but our wine themed room was attractive, spacious, immaculate (Lourdes García is one gem of a chambermaid!) with free, speedy Wi-Fi, complimentary half bottle of wine, a very responsive front desk staff who give a good orientation, and an unbeatable location. We were given an exterior room facing Ventura de la Vega but had no noise issues at night.

We snagged an unbeatable rate of 97 (no brk.) in April at the Hotel Prado but for this trip, the rate was 134, so we chose the Meninas to save money. I had avoided the Hotel Prado for years because of its just hum drum exterior (rather snobbish on my part!), but our friends who run a Spanish travel agency convinced us to give it a try. I added it to my hotel list on my Madrid guide with full review. Alas, they don't have triple rooms, but there is a 6th floor suite.

Could you please explain this bathroom situation in Hotel Room Mate Alicia? Is there any glass wall between the room and the bathroom or nothing at all? We have booked two rooms in that hotel and would like to know.

Hi,

Thank you all for your continued help.

Ok, I have checked the following info per their websites (for 3/19-22):

Hotel Opera: Tripe with breakfast incl. 152€

Las Meninas- Junior suite for 3 with brkf incl : 179€ ( I'll e-mail them and ask if they are interior)

Is it walking distance from las Meninas to the Prado museum area?

Lope de Vega- Only Double offered on web for 135 €

Preciados- Only double offered on web for 135€

I wonder if the latter two might be able to put an extra bed for extra charge? I'll e-mail them and ask.

I don't know what i was expecting, but these prices seem high. Maybe I'm spoiled because I usually go to Madrid in "low" season of July/Aug.

Thanks again!

Cruiseluv, my wife and I just returned from 6 weeks in Spain & Portugal - I'd suggest you also consider renting an apartment for your stay in Madrid. We had a terrific experience in an apartment managed by Alphonso Chau of madridapartments.com. We had a very nice quiet unit (washer/dryer, kitchen, etc), located just off Calle de Atocha, that was a 10 minute walk from the Prado, the Reina Sofia, the Thyssen, and the Atocha Renfe station. Also near lots of restaurants and tapas bars. We also rented apartments in Barcelona, Sevilla, and Lisbon. I think you're OK as long as you stay is at least 3 nights.

Hi cruiseluv,
The Meninas is a 20 min. walk (walking slowly) from the Prado. We spent a great deal of time on this trip in the museum triangle and always walked both to the museums and back to the hotel.

What the Meninas offers is an unbeatable online rate. To be perfectly fair and balanced, they have no control over the construction on Opera square, the early morning recycling collection on Wed. or the garbage collection (Fri.) or the disco across the street on Fri. when it closes and when revelers continue their revelry at the end of the street next to Opera square. The street facing rooms at the nearby Room Mate Mario and the Casa Madrid suffer the same noise issues.

We were perplexed as to why, during the total renovation to turn the historic building into a boutique hotel, the windows of the '03, '04 and '05 street facing rooms weren't double glazed.

In retrospect, I should have asked to be moved to an interior room on Wed. morning. I could have addressed the issue with the manager/owner who is very present during the day, but I didn't. And since we slept very well on Wed. evening, I assumed that we would again on our third night (the garbage collection and disco revelry night). Unfortunately the triple that the owner showed us (which I did like a lot) is an exterior, an '04.

Another note about the Meninas:
When we returned on Thurs. at 5:30 pm our room still had not been cleaned (the maid had taken the tip with note that we had left but never returned). I alerted the desk clerk, who told us that he would send the girl who mans the library lounge up to clean it when she arrived at 6, which she did. It appears that the Meninas does not have a head of housekeeping who double checks the maids' cleaning of each room.

As I noted above, we had no complaints with the free and bountiful buffet breakfast served in an attractive vaulted basement room, our bath with good water pressure and large towels, the check-in/check-out or the internet access, for which the desk clerk gave us a cable because Wi-Fi is spotty in the rooms. There's also a computer in the library downstairs, which becomes a lounge/bar from 6 pm on. There's a new restaurant next door, Chic Madrid, which offers a fixed price lunch for 11.50, which we didn't try, and the Meninas itself offers set meals for only 12.50.

For the Prado and sister Lope de Vega and the Preciados, you do need to email them to ask if they can add an extra bed for an additional fee, but room for 3 in their standard doubles will be tight.

Thanks Maribel. After reading that the Meninas triple might well be an exterior I don't think I could risk the noise issue. To make matters worse, if our current dates hold , we will be in Madrid during the weekend.

I have now received quotes for triple room in Lope de Vega (177€, no breakfast), Prado (185€, with breakfast) and Preciados(186€ regular room, junior suite 250€, no breakfast). Maybe I was having unreasonable expectations, but this being March and with the downturn in tourism due to the economy, I expected to get more competitive prices.

Mobile,
Thanks for your suggestion . I have indeed looked at some apts . But frankly, for only 3 nights I'm not sure if I want to go through all that is required(ie non refundable advanced partial payment, deposit, etc.)

Danon, I am hoping you will see this message. I have gone ahead and rented an apt from Spain Select, the Plaza de la Paja apt. By any chance, was this the apt you rented from Spain Select?

Thanks!