Advantages: Very close to city centre and transport, Cheap.
Disadvantages: Can be noisy

...Me and my girlfriend decided to visit Madrid last summer. So being the students that we are we booked cheap flights on easyjet. That was the easy bit. The hard part came later when we had to decide on a hotel to stay in. We wanted somewhere close to the city centre as we were only there for a few days but we had to do it on a budget but wanted to go slightly better than a hostel, it was after all our first holiday abroad together. ::: Why The Asturias?? ::: We eventually settled on the Hotel Asturias because it fitted what we wanted. It is extremely close to the city centre which is what we wanted as we were only there for 3 nights. It is only minutes away from the Calle Gran Via, one of the main shopping streets in Madrid. It is also minutes away from two metro stations (in opposite directions, either Sol or Sevilla which... Read review

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Advantages: Lively, great for culture, food, shopping
Disadvantages: Extremes of temperatures, can be noisy all night

...Madrid is one of those cities, like Brasilia or Islamabad, which were invented for political reasons, rather than springing up organically because it had a natural harbour, or was on a confluence of rivers, or a fertile plain. It shouldn't really exist, perched as it is deep in the dusty interior of Spain, intolerably hot at the height of summer, and often bitterly cold in winter. It's the artificial capital of a maritime nation, a seafood loving nation, stranded as far from the sea as is possible on the Iberian peninsula. Yet despite everything, including the still recent dull, soul sapping Francoist interregnum, Madrid is a thrilling city to visit, with something for everyone (except beach lovers, obviously). It's possible to stay cheaply in Madrid in one of the many hostales lurking in places like Fuencarral off the Gran Via... Read review

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Advantages: Esxcellent location, spacious clean rooms
Disadvantages: Small reception area and lift.

...in Madrid) and so is in a very central location. The hotel is on a quiet side street and seemed to be in an area undergoing regeneration (a couple of other buildings in the street were being refurbished but there was no noise or disturbance that we noticed). We found it took us about 20 minutes to walk to the Plaza del Sol, and perhaps 30 minutes to the Plaza Mayor, two other major areas in the centre of Madrid. There are a couple of metro stations nearby and so this was a good base for exploring the rest of the city as well (and easy to find your way back to!). This hotel conversion is most successful and we found this to be a very comfortable place to stay that is within easy reach of the main sights, shopping and nightlife of Madrid. I would highly recommend this hotel for a short break in Madrid.... Read review

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Advantages: millions
Disadvantages: little

...Madrid is my second most favourite place in the world and this is why (not in order of priority!): Public Transport: The tube system is fantastic - air conditioned (very useful when madrid can be 40 degrees), clean, safe and very reliable. Things to do: Madrid is covered with Art - namely the Prado, Reina Sofia (contains Picasso's Guernica) and many more. The art is fabulous and easily takes a couple of days. A favouite place of mine is Retiro park - my father once lived near there and it is the best park I have been to in the world. With a small rowing lake in the middle, fabulous statues, imaculatly clean...it is a place where one can feel that they are not even in a city at all. - peace and quite and a sky line of trees (unlike Hyde Park for instance). Bullfights - if you are not a fan, it is still quite... Read review

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Advantages: It's a wonderful city
Disadvantages: None!

...This is my first opinion. I hope it works out fine... :) I've been living in Madrid my whole life. In fact, I'm Spanish, and I'm just studying abroad for a year (currently living in St. Andrews), so I think I can speak from my own experience about this wonderful city. Madrid is the capital of Spain, so many people from other parts of Spain usually go to live there. That makes of Madrid a city with a great mixture of cultures and a huge diversity of styles. When one visits Madrid for the first time, one gets the impression that it's a chaotic city. People running to their jobs, traffic jams all over the place, so many shops that you get lost.... Lots of colours, lots of sounds and the usually high pitched voices of Spanish people (no, we're not fighting when we talk to each other, we just like to express ourselves moving a lot our... Read review

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Advantages: no expensive,alive city,delightfull city,people
Disadvantages: maybe annarchical,traffic.

...First of all I must advice you that i,m spanish but i willl try that you understand me.Sorry for my primitive english Madrid is the first city in Spain(the second one is Barcelona). There´s living there around the 4.500.000 natives(much of them are not madrilians because(like London i suppose) there are a "mix "of people it,s a cosmopolitan cityin wich every stranger are wellcome.Much of them comes from South America(Spain is for these people the Modern Native country).Its situated just in the center of spain.Some interesting places too in frontier with Madrid are Toledo,Segovia ,Avila.. The city has a culture reflected on old monuments like Museo del prado,Palacio real,Pza de la villa,Catedral de la almudena(there is not the best cathedral of spain;there is much better I have to recognize it but it,s very handsome too... Read review

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Advantages: The Madrilenos give the city a nice atmosphere.
Disadvantages: Doesen´t have the big sights like Paris, London and Rome.

...To experience some city-life in Spain, relativly unspoiled from tourism, you don´t have many alternatives. Madrid gives you a taste of the real Spain free of all the tourist-ghettos. As Barcelona is the first choice of foreigners going on a city vacation to Spain, Madrid is the first choice of Spanish tourists. Beeing the capital, it contains a lot of important builidings, and walking around in the centre the most important sights will pop up within a relativly small radius. The historical centre is very limited, which is nice for new visitors which probably can cover the main attracions in a day or two. I´ve been living in Madrid for the last year, and have been frequently visited from my friends and family in Norway. I usually show them the historical centre quite fast, and then either takes them outside the city to show them some... Read review

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Advantages: Many things to see, Great underground subway, Nightlife
Disadvantages: Many "risky" places,

...Madrid... I have lived in Madrid for 17 years almost and I never regret having done so. Madrid is an excellent city that offers a variety of tourism for any culture. It has a great selection of good restaurants and bars that come from national selections to international/oriental gourmet but its all superb. The nightlife in Madrid is wonderful, having loads of bars and discotheques (many of them are huge). The best thing for me is the "football life" as madrid has home to one of the most prestigious clubs in the world "Real Madrid". Madrid is a city with many things to see and do and it offers a diverse range of activities and attractions, from museums to amusement parks. If you were to visit Madrid I would recommend 5 things "must see". -Plaza Mayor (many small typical spanish restaurants + shopping) -Santiago Bernabeu... Read review

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Advantages: Lots to do, everything's cheaper
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