Hi Tabby

Is spent 6 nights (28th dec-3rd jan) this year in Madrid staying at the Trypp Ambassador which is very central and right by the Opera and the Opera Metro station.

New Years Eve itself was very busy and you would need to reserve a table in a restaurant then but otherwise I don't think you would really need to, except if you were a large group of people (we were 4). Most places in Madrid do not start serving food until 9pm, even in winter so if you wanted to eat earlier than that you would want to look for somewhere that says 'NON-STOP'.

Unfortunatly I cannot really comment on actual Christmas Day, but I would bear in mind that Spain is still a very Catholic country so things may be closed for quite a few days before/after Christmas. Things are not 100% back to normal until the Epiphany on 6th Jan. On New Years Day most things were closed, but all the other days practically everything was open. Hope this helps!!

Hi

I've posted a few topic about various places to go for 2 nights in August.
We are celebrating a friends 21st birthday, so we want a couple of days in Madrid near to the clubs so that we can go partying

Can anyone recommend Madrid for this type of holiday break? Is there alot of nightlife there? Or can you recommend somewhere else to go?

Any suggestions are really appreciated

Savannah x x

Hi,

We are going to Madrid in August for 2 nights. We have already booked and payed for our hotel and flight, but we're not sure how much money to take with us.

We will be eating out and going to bars at night, so could anyone give us a rough estimate

Spent 4 nights in Madrid last week, which I think was about the right amount of time to cover most of the sights (we're not museum people). Got a 2 day bus tour ticket €19ea, allowing us to hop-on/ hop-off at most major sights, including the Bernabeu. we also got ourselves to Athletico Madrid's ground, & did a tour of the bullring for €5 each, which was quite interesting.

Taxi's from & to the airport were not a problem. First one charged €22.50 (think he forgot to add on the €4.50 airport fee ). Second one charged €33, but he did explain that he was taking a slightly longer route to avoid the city centre traffic.

Stayed close to the Plaza Santa Ana, which was great at night, & there were plenty of different types of bars in the area to choose from. We did find however that some could be a bit pricey for drinks & tapas/ meals.

Had cracking meals & quality beer in Naturbier bar on Santa Ana. Although we were eating inside due to a thunder storm, so the price would have jumped considerably if we had eaten on the terrace.

Going to Madrid 3 weeks tomorrow I think what to do during the day is easy enough to sort( unless anyone has "off the beaten track" recommendations?) but would welcome some recommendations for restaurants. We love trying out the tapas!

Only just seen this Fiona! How long are you going for? Have you already booked accommodation? If you are there longer than a few days, I enjoyed a trip out to Aranjuez to the palace. There was also a little train that took you all around the town, and through the gardens!!!!

Restaurants, well!!! There are so many and varied!!! Don't forget when you go into the bars, order your drink first, they will then bring you a little tapa with each drink!! Many an evening I have not had to actually buy a meal because of this!!!! If you are a lover of mushrooms, there is a bar in Chueca called Cisne Azul which serves huge steaks, and many many varietys of mushroom. Really noisy and packed bar!!! The cider houses always have lovely tapas, and I ate in Cafe Arenal a couple of times when I was there last month. I had their menu del dia served in the back room, but the tapas looked very nice too. I could go on and on.... as eating in Madrid is one of my favourite things to do in the evening!!!!!!

thanks Sue. We are going for 4 full days and half an evening and a morning on top of that. We were looking at going out of Madrid for a day as I gather it is an easy city to get around and so sightseeing should be straightforward. I like the look of Aranjuez. We are staying on the Gran Via. I hope to eat a lot of tapas

Fiona , there are so many great tapas places in Madrid that you will not have a problem finding great eats.
One great restaurant I remember from our visit was fantastic and is the oldest restaurant in the world, I cannot quite remember the name but I think it was El Botin, and if you do a search you will find info on it. It is very popular with tourist and spanish alike and the speciality is suckling pig, the building is so crooked everything is sloped, we sat in the cellar and it was very atmospheric...

I just noticed your post Shirley. I've now looked at the website for Botin and I fancy giving it a go. Thanks

Going to Madrid on sunday with 15yr old son to see football match. My son is a very fussy eater any ideas on what tapas would be safe to order for him. He likes cooked ham not smoked or anything and regular chicken. Would he get a tapa for free in a bar with a soft drink?

thanks for any help

patsat

I am in charge of booking a hotel for my parents (young 60 & 56) in central Madrid - any recommendations for a hotel with a bit of character?

I'm going to Madrid for the first weekend in March, can anyone answer a few questions please?

What is the weather usually like at that time of the year?

How far is the airport from the city centre, how long does it take in a taxi and what is the likely cost?

What's the best area to stay in to be near the sites and have plenty of bars/restaurants on hand?

Hope someone can help

HI

We went at the end of February last year, we had lovely weather apart from a really heavy shower one day. I got sunburnt in the day but at night it was pretty chilly, you will need to wrap up warm. We stayed in Hotel El Prado which was near Plaza Santa Ana, it was great, loads of tapas bars within walking distance.

Madrid is very small, you can easily walk around it, we got the open top bus one day to get our bearings.

We booked a shuttle to pick us up from the airport, I can't remember the name of them but they turned up on time and also picked us up from the hotel on our return. On the way from the airport we had a shuttle to ourselves but returning we shared with about 4 other people - much cheaper than a taxi!

Thanks Helen007, had a look at El Prado and it seems to be just what we're looking for.

Any ideas on who to book through would be appreciated!

I have a feeling we booked on the hotel's own website. If it wasn't that it would have been on bookings.com.

Anyone know what the square with the big fountain in it is called?

Cibeles Square.

For all those who are going or have been to Madrid we have a new section in hotel reviews for them here.

Have been asked by the mods to post this here too... so here you go. I'll also scan back and see if there are any questions I can answer.

We arrived back this morning, after a fabulous weekend in Madrid. There's so much to do - and we couldn't fit everything in during just a couple of days... so we'll be heading back soon to do a bit more... and a bit more... and a bit more...

Stayed at the Francisco I in Calle Arenal, which is halfway between the Sol & Opera districts. It was about a 5 minutes walk from the Sol Metro. Spotlessly clean, spacious rooms. the staff were extremely helpful and incredibly polite. They really couldn't help us enough. The bathroom had a toilet, bidet, shower and a sink - alll again were spotlessly clean. The room had aircon and heating (much needed during a cold January). We were on the 5th floor. The lift goes to the 4th, then it's a short flight of stairs up to your room. The breakfast was served from 7:30 until 11am each day on the top floor in a quaint (albiet slightly gothis looking dining room). The restaurant was closed when we were there, as was the bar - which was our only complaint about the hotel. Reviews had said that the noise is an issue here. Well my answer to that, is that it's town centre... so yeah... it's bound to be a bit noisy. But that didn't worry us during our stay.

Out of our hotel and turn left, towards Opera, was a little fast food pizza place - which had the most fantastic spicy pizza. We went twice, it was that good. Look out for the "Museo del Jamon" shops dotted about. This was something we weren't expecting, and thought they were odd but great. The shop consists of a delicatessen, selling all the smoked cheeses you can think of, and the hanging cured hams. One of which was almost €50 per kilo (ouch!). But the main atrraction for these Museos was the centre areas. It was basically a bar - where you could order food, drink... and spend your time chatting to firends. You could easily lose hours in these places. they seemed really popular with all ages... and with a bocadillo costing around €2-3, a real bargain too.

Further along from Opera Pizza was the Royal Palace. They offer tours there too, to see the armoury etc. We didn't go... but it seemed really popular - and I think the prices were really good too.

Plaza Mayor was gorgeous. It's a closed in square, surrounded by tall historic buildings (look out for one with murals painted on it - gorgeous). There are restaurants all the way around, and a tourist information centre too. On the Sunday morning when we visited, all four edges were covered with people selling coins, stamps, postcards, bottle tops... and other collectables. This seemed to be taken very seriously by some... and we saw people wandering about with notepads and print outs of what they wanted to buy. The street entertainers were in here too. If you have seen those "statue people" you'll know what I mean. A guy dressed as a knight on a horse was the most entertaining... and he constantly had a crowd around him. He was more interactive than others... and it seemed everyone wanted a photo with him. There was also a cowboy who was the spitting image of Billy Bob Thornton. We've seen better than him though. Another good one was a puppetteer who had a female puppet playing the cello - yes, of course it was a recording... but the puppettry was excellent. His little dog joined in and sang to a ouple of songs too.

The shopping was phenomenal - well, it was January sales time - and you could've easily spent a fortune yet come home laden with many, many bargains. A good example would be the suede gloves I bought - just €4. I also bought a fake leather trench coat for just €9!!! Shoes looked incredibly cheap. We've decided that we'll probably go and do a clothes shopping trip once a year - just for the bargains.

I struggled with the wine a little... and couldn't seem to find a decent one until our last day. The choice of reds seemed limitless - but white was a little harder to guage. None of my favourite Spanish varieties around (maybe those particular ones are only popular in the Canaries).

Metro - loved it! €1.00 for a trip anywhere within the city. there's a €1.00 surcharge if the airport is involved, but that is still incredibly cheap. the trains were very frequent and run from 6:30 am until 1:30am every day. They were also really easy to navigate - as much as the London Underground in fact. We did walk most places (and my leg muscles don't 'arf know it) because we actually wanted to see more of the city and it's sights.

The buildings were faboulous, and oozed history and charm. We don't have tall buildings in lanzarote so it was a novelty to see something you had to crane your neck up to view. Oodles of fountains around - usually with a picture of some suitable courageous horseman on top. Lots of photo opportunities there.

The Reina Sofia was excellent, and well worth a visit, whether you are an art fan or not. The Guernica is hosted there, and although not my taste in art, it was good to have seen it. The building itself is stunning. Go here if you want to see Picasso, Dali and many more of the greats. €6 entry - and we were there for a good 3 or 4 hours. Excellent value for money.

We didn't go into the Prado, but we did visit the botanical gardens next door. €2 entry - but I wouldn't recommend going in the winter. It was very bare - but we did appreciate that it would probably be a lot more full of life once the spring arrived.

The Natural Science Museum was €5 entry, and was very intersting. All in Spanish, but that won't hold you back. We did think it was going to be larger than it was... but still enjoyed the exhibits. Go and see the giant squid model - HUGE! There's an exhibition of animals (from A - Z) made from recycled cans there too... which is excellent... but I think that may possibly be temporary. That is about a 20 minute walk from the Bernabeu Stadium - home to Real Madrid footie team. We didn't have time for the tour, but took some photos outside. It's massive, and a magnificent building.

I could go on - but I'm not sure how many letters you can fit in one message... so hopefully you'll get the idea.

Elle xx

Other points then:

Unless you have big cases, I'd recommend taking the metro to your hotel. The trains are really frequent - and we felt really safe. They run until 1:30am every day. their website is mentioned further back in this thread. If you have only hand luggage (we did, because it was just a weekend) then check in online, and skip the queues. It means you don't have to get to the airport quite as early too.

Our hotel was Hotel Francisco I - their website is http://www.hotelfrancisco.com but we booked through http://www.bookings.com and got it even cheaper. We paid just under €100 for a double room for 2 nights. Check out is at 12 noon. In hindsight, we would have extended our stay and checked whether we could pay to check out later, but that was due to the time of our return flights.

And HERE is the website for the botanical gardens.

If you like your shopping, then head for the El Corte Ingles stores. There are quite a few of them about. The one at Plaza Puerta del Sol has 8 floors. The sales were on whilst we were there... and it was packed. Rumour has it that David Beckham used to buy his undies there ladies
Also, do a Google search for "Maribel's Guide to Madrid". It's a PdF download... and full of really useful info. I saved it to my computer a few weeks before we went... and dipped in and out of it. Looking back at it now, it seems really up to date.

Elle xx