Hotel in Madrid & airport transfers

Poppy9

Can anyone recommend a hotel in Madrid. We want a family room (2 adults & one 13 year old).

Near centre of Madrid
Pool would be nice
At least 3 stars but not extortinate in price.

Also airport transport. Any rough price of taxi or better to pre book or take train etc.

Thanks

MrSmartprice

We were in Madrid last month. We stayed in a very nice Hostal near Atocha, these places are very good value and we were most impressed for the cost. But for what you want, best try the booking sites like Hotels.com.

As for transfers, the Metro runs to and from the airport. Tickets on the system are a standard 1euro, or you can get a 10 trip ticket for 7euro. What you have to remember is that when you use the airport link you have to buy a supplement of another 1euro. But it's quite simple and the ticket machines have an English option to help you. The Metro is very convenient, quick and incredibly frequent.

budgetflyer

I agree, The Madrid Metro is brilliant. Its really cheap and convinient, and frequent.
Heres a Metro map to help you plan ahead
http://www.metromadrid.es/acc_resources/pdfs/Plano_Metro_2008.pdf

Poppy9

Booked a hotel which had good reviews. Struggled to get family rooms and every hotel I clicked through to read reviews on with family rooms didn't sound too good. The last one I thought looked nice till I got to the review of "prostitutes outside"

This is in the centre and looks accessible by train/metro from Airport. Need to be near train station as we travelling by train down to Salamanca for a few days.

This is what I've booked - through Expedia (Hotel.com same price but I 1200 Nectar points at Expedia) Petit Palace Plaza del Carmen

MrSmartprice

The main station is Atocha, which is on the Metro. It is served by its own station, Atocha Renfe. (If you get off at Atocha you exit at the nearby square, which is by the Prado.) Take a few minutes to have a look round Atocha Station. It has the most amazing tropical indoor 'rain forest', which is constantly served with mist sprays.

Your hotel looks really nice. You are not far from the Royal Palace there, which is incidentally free on a Wednesday, very MSE! And if you fancy the Prado for free too, go at 6pm and you get in for nothing.

We loved Madrid and we shall certainly return, probably next time the flights are a quid again.;)

budgetflyer

Yes , I reckon Madrids much better than Barcelona for a city break
We stayed near the Bernabeu which seems quite an affluent area. (NH, (prounounced en aichie) hotel, it was a freebie via the Easyjet DD guarantee, they said it was 4 star, but imo more like 3) .
The Real Madrid Bernabeu tour is around 8 euro and a must do !
Another must do is Flamenco
http://www.corraldelamoreria.com/ingles/flamenco.html
This is a tourist oriented flamenco dinner show, TBH the grubs not that great, but you can do it without the meal. Entrance fee inc's 1 drink, extra drinks are pricy, a bottle of beer was around 6 euro, but the show is fantastic.
some examples at
http://uk.youtube.com/results?search_query=corral+de+la+moreria&search_type=&aq=f

Poppy9

Re using train from airport to Madrid. Aside from the 1 euro supplement how much will the train cost per adult.

Taxi is total of 30 euros for 3 of us so just want to gauge how much of a saving using the train is.

Thank you.

richardw

Work out how many changes you will have to do on the train to get to your hotel from the airport, if more than one then don't bother get a taxi. If you are flying to T4&T4S on BA or IBeria you will have to get to T2&3 to get the train, so definitely get the taxi.

Poppy9

Flying in with Easyjet. We will have to change twice I think from Pink to dark blue to pale blue line to get to Grand Vie which is 300 yards from hotel. I was wondering if the saving was worth the hassle.

richardw

Poppy9 wrote: »

I was wondering if the saving was worth the hassle.

I've done it, it is hassle, don't bother, get a taxi and get the trip off to a good start.

MrSmartprice

Poppy9 wrote: »

Re using train from airport to Madrid. Aside from the 1 euro supplement how much will the train cost per adult.

Taxi is total of 30 euros for 3 of us so just want to gauge how much of a saving using the train is.

Thank you.

The standard fare on the metro is 1 euro, travelling anywhere on the system, with the exception of the extra euro to the airport.

You can buy a multi-journey ticket of 10 trips for about 7 euros. You can use it for more than one person as long as you validate it for each person. (So we got 5 trips for 2 people.)

The ticket machines accept coins and notes, and you can select English on them. Or there are people at the ticket desk. It really is an easy system to use, clean, safe and so cheap. Puts Britain to shame - as usual!