I have a stop over in Madrid next year and am looking for an apartment in a decent location.
I need a good sized apartment to house my family of five, so that makes it difficult to find a suitable apartment near Puerto del Sol. I came up with the following few that are located somewhere else in Madrid, and I would like your opinion on their locations:
Hi Steve, sorry no experience with the agency but here's some insight about the locations:
Keshav: uninteresting modern neighbourhood, well communicated with the rest of the city by tube and various buses. Not long walk to Retiro Park Irún: not very central but at easy walking distance to Plaza de España. Not very fancy neighbourhood but it might be interesting to live where real people live. Amor de Dios: very nice neighbourhood in the Barrio de las letras (my personal favourite area). It might be a bit noisy during the night as there are many bars in the area. The flat seems full of light (the sitting room at least) but do ask if the bedrooms have a window if you care, they might not... Opera: Opera is the very centre but I can't see the address of the flat anywhere, so I can't be more specific. Ask for windows if you are considering this flat as in this area flats are likely to have fewer windows than you espect Conde de Aranda: really fancy neighbourhood, quite central, personally it's not my favourite as it's more expensive to shop and the bars and restaurants are far too expensive for me...
All the locations are safe and easy to reach by tube and or bus. Que te lo pases bien!
Doru, I did check the apartment-spain site as well. Seems to me most of the apartments are dual listed on both the bookassist site as well as this one.
i have lived in Madrid and visit often but never heard of these agencies. its all depends what you are looking for: do you like be with locals or tourist areas only? i do stay with locals and use the real estate agencies services as i speak spanish (do not know if you do). Not knowing much of your preferences this is a good site for rentals in europe http://www.homelidays.com/EN-Holidays-Rental/110_Search...LISATION=ES%20MADRID
Thank you for the link. I am going through it now.
I prefer to stay with the locals, but since this is for just a stop over, I am not too keen on staying away from the main sites in Madrid.
After contacting the agencies, I've narrowed it down to the two apartments: One is on Amor de Dios, and the other on Calle Mayor. Is Calle Mayor a very busy road? How far is the walking distance from Amor de Dios to Puerto del Sol?
starters Calle Mayor is tourist center in Madrid and also its oldest street off the plaza mayor; but very picturesque. you will be with tourists but usually a must to visit in Madrid/
amor de dios is near prado museum, so walking in summer huh very hot today is 38 Celsius.can get over 40 easy. you can use the metro is clean efficient and cheap.
i have forgotten another good english lang site with an American in Madrid http://www.madridman.com/ has good info and reliable with locals comments.
I thought that Madridman would have appeared in this thread.... do visit his site! Personally, thinking only about the location I'd choose Amor de Dios! Very near to everything: Prado museum, Reina Sofia, Tyssen, Calle Huertas (bars), Puerta del Sol but in a "real" neighborhood with a very nice market at the other side of calle Atocha and nice restaurants (La Sanabresa in the same streed makes some of the purest Madrid cooking .... don't expect anything fancy )
Steve, I stayed right around the corner from the Calle Mayor apartment and I loved it. There are so many great places to eat and drink within a 10 minute walk... and a great food market on the other side of the Plaza Mayor.
Having said that, the Amor de Dios apartments looks way nicer, and that is a cool little neighborhood. It seemed very quiet to me around there. I think it is about a twenty minute walk to Puerta del Sol. Really it would be hard to go wrong with either location!
I just read the description of the area around Amor de Dios apartment in the link that you sent and my description sounds exactly the same!!! I promise that I do know that area and didn't copy the description!! The apartment looks nice indeed and very modern! Did you enquire about windows?
No I didn't ask about the windows I am not too fussy. Thanks for the description of the neighborhood, I wonder if some of the Picasso paintings are now permanently back to Prado? Any more tips on restaurants, tapas bars or stores in the area PLEASE?
I had a further look at the apartment and it looks really really similar to one where a friend lived in C/Amor de Dios... might be the same building or just that it's a quite common lay-out: big sitting room full of light towards the street, 2 bedrooms (no windows), kitchen with a window looking onto the stairs (open to a courtyard) and little bathroom, a very nice house! My personal favourite for both eating or just a couple of beers in the area is El Alambique, in C/Fucar, very near your place. There's also a nice Peruvian restaurant infront of the apartment called El Inti de Oro. Plaza Santa Ana is great for sitting outside and having a drink, at Cervecería Alemana for instance, and in C/Echegaray there's a nice Japanese restaurant (DOn Zoco) if you get tired of the greasy home cooking at La Sanabresa (C/Amor de Dios). This is all I can think of at the moment but I'm sure I will have more ideas after I sleep a bit (it's almost midnight and I just finished working... ). Pity you will be in Madrid now that I'm in Urbino.... (I live in Madrid 6 months a year, during winter and spring!).
Steve, when I was walking around that neighborhood with my mom, we went into a restaurant that if you come across, please make a note of it for me. It is on one of the streets right there and there weren't a lot of other restaurants around. When you walk in there is a bar on the right and the dining room on the left and at the back of the bar they have a big, wood burning oven. There are tall burlap bags of bread on the floor by the oven.
You order toasts in this place, with tomato or garlic or whatever, and they take this delicious country bread from the sack and put it in the oven, then when it comes out they spread the topping on it. It was one of the best things I have ever eaten, EVER. But I did not notate the name of the restaurant. So if you find it (or Giulia, if you know it) please let me know the name.
Hi SteveS! I'm sure that by now you've made your selection. And HOPEFULLY, since you're arriving soon, they had an apartment available. Oftentimes last-minute availability is a gamble.
An important requirement, in my opinion, is that your would-be apartment has air conditioning. It's VERY hot these months in Madrid and sleeping without A/C can be challenging unless you're accustomed to doing so. Leaving the windows open all night might be just a bit more refreshing but then you may be bothered by street noise.
I'm not familiar with any of these apartments but more and more are popping-up every month, it seems. But regarding locations, the aforementioned comments are very very helpful.
The one on Calle Mayor is central and on a busier street. I'd be surprised if the apartment is located ON Calle Mayor or one of the "off-streets", which is often the case. Many times they'll name their apartments according to the nearest known street even though it may not be ON that particular street.
The apartment on Calle Amor de Dios, only regarding the location, would be my choice as well. It's in the Huertas Neighborhood - my favorite area of Madrid - and is definitely LESS busy with regards to traffic. Calle Amor de Dios is a one-lane, one-way street with infrequent nighttime traffic. There are a many bars in Huertas so you may well hear more pedestrian noise than automobile noise.
On Calle Amore de Dios is a favorite restaurant of mine: Restaurante Sanabresa (as mentioned by Giulia da Urbino above) - serving good, basic, Spanish food at good prices in a casual atmosphere. And, in my opinion, is not at all "greasy". They cook everything in olive oil and, plus, meats have fats so there you go. It's real Spanish food, though - Home Cooking to be sure. It's well-reviewed and a popular place so sometimes they have lines to get in. Lots of tables, though. They have two "Menú del Dia" with LOTS of selections for each course. Good portions too.
And remember, IF/WHEN you get the actual addresses of these apartments you can plug it in and see a photo(s) of the building and surroundings @ http://www.qdq.com/indexfotos.asp .
MadridMan, I didn't mean "greasy" as "too greasy" or "not nice" but just compared to Japanese cuisine! I like La Sanabresa and of course it's not by far the greasiest place in Madrid, but Central Spanish cooking can be a bit tough for foreigners... lots of deep-fried yummy dishes and lots of proteins.
Steve, I don't know if I'll be in Madrid in February but I always check the forum here so do write and I'll be glad to have a couple of beers with you!!
Topic Closed
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I am not too fussy. Thanks for the description of the neighborhood, I wonder if some of the Picasso paintings are now permanently back to Prado? Any more tips on restaurants, tapas bars or stores in the area PLEASE?
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So if you find it (or Giulia, if you know it) please let me know the name.
