Greetings,
Traveling with two other women (3 total) and happy to be in one room with a private bath. Budget is $400 US / night. Please recommend any hotels, fun restaurants for foodies and sites in all locations. We plan to fly into/out of Madrid and are coming from three different communities in US. Thanks!!

Can't help you with hotels (though I'd urge you to consult booking.com), nor restaurants in Madrid or Bordeaux, but here's a recent thread on restaurants in Bilbao and San Sebastian:
Restaurant suggestions for Bilbao and San Sebastian

Centrally located hotels and landmarks in Madrid.
https://www.google.com/maps/d/viewer...bPMEnX1QMXbrE0

My first bit of advice would be for you all to fly INTO Madrid and return from one of your locations in the north, to avoid backtracking overland to Madrid for your flight home. You maybe have to connect in Madrid on the way back but that's a lot easier than having to take the train and then go to th airport for your flight home.

Once you get your destinations settled, I would be happy to offer some ideas on where to eat in Madrid, especially, if you give an idea of what type of food/restaurant you are looking for and a general price category. I'm a little obsessed with food and eating in Spain and don't want to overwhelm with details until your plans are more settled.

Las Letras is the Madrid neighborhood very popular with visitors making their first visits to the city, or second or third, and who want to be close to major museums, but there are so very many, many great hotels in the capital, as well as in your other locations, that it's pretty difficult to make a bad choice, so look first for hotels that fit your budget for a triple room. I can almost guarantee you will have a wonderful time! Revulgo lives in Madrid and you are fortunate to have his expertise on choosing a hotel!!

I can recommend the Catalonia Gran Via in Bilbao. We had a jr suite that was quite nice.Decent location.
In San Sebastian we loved the Hotel Maria Cristina. Great location close to the old city and right on top of a car park. Might be above your price range.

Budget hotel on a good location in Bilbao.
https://www.hotelcondeduque.com/EN/home.html

We stayed at Hotel Preciados in Madrid last month and really liked it. Great location, nice rooms and staff. We like to walk and had no issue walking to El Retiro Park and the Palace.

We were meeting up with our niece and she had made reservations at two nice restaurants, Ten con Ten and also Tate.

No recommendations for hotels in your other cities other than to say we stayed in several NH brand hotels in Psain and liked them all. Seemed to be a good, mid-level chain.

I agree that the location of the Conde Duque is very good. I was not particularly satisfied with my stay there, though I believe some other Fodorites have had a more positive experience there.

I stayed at Lasala Plaza in San Sebastián and loved the location near the beach and old town—great rooftop bar too. In Bordeaux, Hôtel de Sèze was stylish and walkable.

We were happy with the Bilbao Plaza Hotel. Moderately priced, conveniently located about a 15-minute walk along the river to the Guggenheim, or to the old town in the other direction. The front desk people were very helpful and there's an underground parking area if needed.
https://www.hotelbilbaoplaza.com/en

We spent one night in the Pension Kursaal in San Sebastian. It's a little like a trip to the past as it is on an upper floor of an older building with a charming old birdcage elevator. It's a very short walk across the Maria Cristina Bridge to the Old Town. It's pretty plain, clean and fresh, and scores a 9.0 on booking.com reviews. It is very moderately priced and across the street from a very large parking garage.

Years ago we stayed in Hotel Tayko in Bilbao when it first opened. I just checked current reviews and it's still well regarded and moderately priced. We also really liked the location.

I love those old Spanish and Italian pensions that take up a floor or two of an old building with a birdcage elevator linking the floors!!!!
I thought they were going the way of the dodo so good to hear there are some, and this good one, still around in San Sebastián.

I['ve stayed a few times in recent years in a hotel in Catania with the same idea.....two floors of an old palazzo but this one was totally updated and now elegant, with prices to matching the better rooms on the lower of the two floors occupied by the hotel. But it retains that nondescript, if handsome, doorway to the street, the old elevator, etc etc......

But the ones I remember from long ago had the family living on the premises in many cases, and if you were lucky, they invited you to their private quarters for a drink or a chat.... I've forgotten most of the names but one, in particular, I do remember (because I spent about three months there, working on a writing project) was the PENSIONE ERDARELLI in Rome. To my absolute shock, I just looked it up and it's still here now renamed the HOTEL ERDARELLI. The second review on TA is titled: 'HORROR!" But it does not look at all terrible, although I probably paid for my total stay for the equivalent of one night's price today.



[url]https://www.hotelerdarelli.it


And I will never forget HOTEL ESMERALDA, which was one of two or three I cycled through for a month or so at a time in Paris; that one, too, is still around and the location is still probably among the most perfect in the city, cross from Notre Dame. The place was a total dump when I used to stay there....like all the ones of that type, bathroom in the hall, grumpy concierge at the front desk....bill paid in cash every few days.......tiny room with terrible bed... But who cared--to be in Paris, back then, or now!!! And nowadays I guess it's a bargain, rooms less than 200 euro in central Paris. But read the TA reviews and you might get the idea that it's no longer "charming!!"

https://www.hotel-esmeralda.fr/en/

Years ago in SS we stayed in Pensione Penaflorida. Great location, good breakfast arrangements (they gave us vouchers that could be used at 2 local cafes). It was fine but one of the staff there was very snippy when we had issue with the parking voucher. I just looked it up and it still gets decent reviews.

We stayed at the Catalonia Las Cortes in Madrid a few times and liked it. They have a triple. When we were there they offered an afternoon snack station, appreciated that. Liked the location.

I forgot to mention the HOTEL CARLTON in Bilbao.
I'm pretty sure it would be in your budget. It's an older hotel with lovely service.
Location is great; a few steps from a Metro stop on the line that takes you to the Casco Antiguo.

We just got back from Bilbao. We stayed at the Hotel Ercilla de Bilbao, which is a Marriott property. It was quite nice, and in a good location. Bilbao is a wonderful city, and we wish we had seen more of the Basque region.

With all the controversy over apartments in Spain, I hesitate to recommend one ... But last January my husband and I stayed at this apartment in Madrid: https://www.vrbo.com/8157777ha
The owners could not have been more gracious (and generous!), and the location and space were amazing. It would be super comfortable for three friends.

Hotel Carlton in Bilbao was very nice.

intercontinental Hotel in Bordeaux and Gordon Ramsay’s restaurant were both very nice, too.

We stayed at the Ercilla in Bilbao for one night 3 years ago. Upgraded to a suite due to platinum status. It’s ok. Would not go out of our way to stay again.