City Centre Madrid Hotel On a Shoestring

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 will...

pigeon1986 15.07.2006 · Read review
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Review of Asturias Hotel, Madrid

Holiday Inn Madrid

Advantages: Nice staff, clean, kettle in the room
Disadvantages: The local area, rather expensive

...This is yet another hotel stayed in when travelling with work. It's a four star hotel (Ciao has it listed as a three star) and is located in the business district in Madrid. The Estadio Santiago Bernabeau, the home of Real Madrid football club is also very close by if you are interested in football. Public transport is very good-metro station and bus stop near by, the bus is one Euro into central Madrid and unlike London they have plenty of bus lanes and regular services-every 5 minutes. And no over-crowding or rubbish strewn everywhere! The hotel itself is a typical sprawling 1980's concrete block. The surrounding area is a bit dodgy at night and opposite the hotel is a boarded up cinema. In fact the whole area is pretty much a concrete jungle and I would be careful with going out after dark as it's pretty deserted once...

Katieshaz 16.10.2008 · Read review
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Review of Holiday Inn Madrid, Madrid

Madrid, The City that shouldn't exist....

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...

Yasmine 11.08.2004 · Read review
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Review of Madrid (Spain)

Exploring the Province of Madrid

Advantages: Splendid architecture and surrounding nature
Disadvantages: destinations are scattered and hard to reach by public transport

...Leon, 70 and 100 miles west of Madrid respectively. 2. To the city of Toledo in the province of Castilia - La Mancha, 50 miles south of Madrid. BUT: while all these places are beautiful and worth a visit, they are also flocked by tourists from March to October. Thus I have chosen a slightly different itinerary, maybe not completely off the beaten track, but exclusive enough to let you get away from the busloads of all-inclusive-tourists (went there, did that, bought the T-shirt) and Japanese visitor groups (view the world through the lens of a video camera). AUTHOR'S NOTE: INDIVIDUALISED RATING SYSTEM Starting with this article, I am applying this system to my longer travel reviews which cover more than just one sight in a city, region or country. This shall...

From_The_Continent 26.04.2001 (28.04.2001) · Read review
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Review of Madrid (Spain)

Madrid - the second best city in the world!

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...

easty15 14.09.2006 · Read review
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Review of Madrid in general

Madrid

Advantages: Couldn't see any
Disadvantages: dirty, busy, grey, dull, congested

...I have just returned from a short break in Madrid. I had been told in advance that Madrid was a brilliant city and that I would love it. I suppose everyone is different, but I could not find one thing I liked about it. I found it to be grey, dirty, run down, extremely busy, traffic constant almost everywhere...I really did not take to the place at all. The only good thing about it was the people, as always I found the Spanish people lovely and obliging, and more than willing to help out with language difficulties. I was only there a short time, two days and did not have time to vist any places of interest, such as Museums or art gelleries, but I would normally be happy enough just wandering around new surroundings , taking in the atmosphere and ambience...however I found I felt terminally depressed in Madrid. All the streets looked...

strawberrylady62 27.11.2007 · Read review
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Review of Madrid in general

Madrid.

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...

kalimero 10.03.2005 · Read review
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Review of Madrid (Spain)

Marks and Spencer Madrid... Not for long

Advantages: Nice presentation, pretty store
Disadvantages: Expensive, bad clothes, needs more food

.... THey have also made a terrible mistake in where they built the store - on the left they have a branch of the city's most exclusive clothes store, and on the other you can find Zara - a clothes retailer that's pretty cheap, and of M&S standards. A generally good store, but with the problems of M&S UK. These need to be indentified and sorted out to sort out the two stores I've talked about here. A shame to close such a grand-looking store....

danieletheridge 23.04.2001 · Read review
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Review of Marks & Spencer (Madrid)

Athletico Madrid Shirt.

Advantages: climacool, cheap
Disadvantages: none.

...Well, Athletico Madrid are one of the main football teams in Spain and are a good team. If you are a supporter of Athletico Madrid then I would recommend buying this as it is a cheap shirt to buy. However even if you are not an Athletico Madrid football fan and you just enjoy collecting football shirts then this is also another one to get your hands on. The material is climacool which makes things much easier if you are planning to play football in this football shirt. This is a shirt that helps you keep cool as you play and is not irritating like other football shirts such as the collars etc. Overall I would recomment this football shirt to anyone who likes football or supports Athletico Madrid. Its cheap and is a great buy....

dannyuk1991 09.09.2008 · Read review
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Review of Nike Atletico Madrid Away Football Shirt

madrid - ciudad bella

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...

eminem1234 12.02.2008 · Read review
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Review of Madrid in general