Hello, Our connecting flight out of Madrid to NYC has been cancelled and we will have 24 hours in Madrid (Hurray!). We are a family of 6 - four children ages 19,14,11,&8. We will be there Dec 2 afternoon until December 3 afternoon.

My questions are:

1. What area should we stay in? We will need to take public transportation - no taxis. We would prefer budget accomodations.

2. What should we do while there? We will have just spent 9 days in Rome/Naples in Museums and seeing ruins. So at this time I'm not sure that would be our priority, but if it is a "must see" they would probably be OK with it. I think we would be more interested in dining, shopping, relaxation & people watching in the area where we will stay.

This is our first time in Madrid and I'm hoping that it will give us enough of a "taste" that my husband and I will plan a trip for the two of us.

Thanks, Sherri

Hi Sherri, I would suggest staying in the downtown center of Madrid if you will only be one night. Perhaps anywhere along the Gran Via and Puerta del Sol areas. There's a very nice hotel called Petit Palace Londres that I plan to stay at in November.
I checked your dates and the rate for a Quadruple room is about 160 Euros for one night. All the rooms have hydromassage showers and wifi.
The best part is this rate includes breakfast and for 6 people that would be a big savings for you.
Down the street is Retiro Park and the Prado and Reina Sofia Museums.
I hope this helps.
Richard

Thank you, Richard. It does help. The Madrid stop is new to us, but we are definately looking forward to it. Sherri

Sherri, I did some more checking and found that the Metro goes directly from the Madrid airport into the center of Madrid for a few euros. This could be a savings for you as well unless you would rather take a taxi for convenience and would rather not lug luggage. I wonder if this is where the word "lug" comes from?
Have a wonderful trip. I'll just miss you in Rome.
Richard

Sherri:
I told the metro directly from the airport to our hotel near the Gran Via (Hostal La Plata), and it was no problem. A little tricky with bags, but not impossible whatsoever. We found the metro to be very clean and easy to navigate.

You can easily take the metro from the airport to downtown Madrid. It will take you about 45-60 minutes more or less, just be careful with your luggage and pickpocketing.

I would definitely recommend a hotel in the center by Puerta del Sol (this is Sol metro stop) just to keep you near everything for the small window of time that you have. Right in that area you'll find a lot of Madrid shopping, you are right around the corner from the Plaza Mayor (the main plaza) and the Palacio Real - The royal family's palace.

If the weather is at all decent - get yourself to Retiro park (think Central Park in NYC) especially if it is a sunny day on the weekend (I know it'll be chillier in December) but all the Madrileno families head to the park on the weekends.

The Reina Sofia and the Prado are both astounding art museums - I personally prefer the Sofia which houses the Dalis, Miros and Picasso's Guernica.

have fun - Madrid is a wonderful city!

I know that you said you might want to avoid museums, but as long as the other two of Madrid's Big Three have been mentioned, I'll recommend the remaining one, my all-around favorite of the bunch, the Thyssen-Bornemisza. It's a wonderful, user-friendly, eclectic museum, full of a wide range of marvellous, well-displayed paintings. Good cafe, too.

The Prado, of course, has the big-name masterpieces of Spanish painting, and I would not have missed seeing their collection of Velazquez, Ribera, etc., but it is a massive and somewhat overwhelming place, which might put you off. The Thyssen-Bornemisza, full of delightful surprises--really captured my heart. BTW, I was there with two other avid and experienced museum-goers, both of whom loved it. You might consider it, even if you're on museum overload.

quote:

If the weather is at all decent - get yourself to Retiro park

It was quite cold when we were there in March 2006, but we still enjoyed the park. There's a great cafe overlooking the lake where you can sit & enjoy a coffee with plenty of space for the younger members of the group to work off some energy.

Enjoy!

We stayed at Hotel Plaza Mayor last month - it's well located just steps from the Plaza mayor itself. Prices were quite resaonable, and the room we had was very clean and quiet. We found the hotel staff to be extremely helpful - they called various tour companines for us (we were only in town for a couple days, so wanted to do a bus tour)and even sold us stamps when we wanted to send a postcard. They have two plans ... one includes breakfast, which is a buffet and offers plenty food with lots of choices. A bargain, especially if you are feeding a family.