pepperment

What are the most interesting neighborhoods in Madrid and Bilbao for accommodations? We want safe, but non-touristy hotels or bed/breakfast that would be walking distance to cultural sites (art museums, galleries, local music performances, flamenco clubs) also charming streets. Like everyone else we want comfortable, clean rooms and soundproof rooms (no hardwood floors and silencing glass windows). Prefer small boutique hotels or well-regarded grand hotels. Minimum 4star.
We have never visited Madrid. We will stay for a few days after arrival then return for a longer stay at the end of September.
All suggestions welcome.
Thank you!

HappyTrvlr

Madrid- The Principal, excellent location, high quality hotel.

Revulgo

Las Letras is my favorite neighborhood in Madrid. Here is a map:
https://www.google.com/maps/d/viewer...530037674&z=17

Maribel

Las Letras is a lovely neighborhood filling with colorful, charming streets, and Revulgo's nifty map is invaluable.
Because it's very handy to the Art Triangle and walkable to the Plaza Mayor, Royal Palace, Puerta del Sol, it isn't void of tourists, since the Calle del Prado is "hotel row" and Calle Atocha has now many boutique hotels, including the Cool Rooms Atocha, newish Radisson Red and newish Hilton Tapestry Collection plus 2 Catalonia chain hotels.

You will find many tourists here precisely because of its handiness to flamenco clubs, art museums, contemporary galleries, jazz clubs, cocktail bars (Calle Echegaray) and trendy, small boutiques.
The smaller 4-star boutique hotels that I most like in Las Letras:

• Doubletree Hilton Prado (not at all like an American Doubletree), tucked away on a quiet street off the Plaza de las Cortes.
• Room Mate Alicia (upper level rooms)
• Catalonia Las Cortes (with a complimentary evening buffet)

But in these you will have some hardwood floors---look at the online photos

For a 5-star "grand hotel", you have the Palace under renovation, which will become a member of Marriott's Luxury Collection (no longer a Westin) and less grand, the 5-star Derby Villa Real (but again, hardwood floors in the latter). I know them all.

The Gran Vía, sort of Madrid´s Broadway, can be a tourist tsunami, so I would avoid any hotel sitting directly on it,
or around the very busy Preciados/Callao area, or the constantly bustling Puerta del Sol (sort of Madrid's Times Square) or on the Plaza de España, if you want a non-touristy environment.

The Gran Vía & environs, all the way down to the Plaza de España, you'll find lined with theaters, fast food emporia of every brand, sports memorabilia stores, the ubiquitous Iberian ham shops, hostals, many large chain hotels, every single international clothing chain imaginable, late night roof top bars or azoteas (28 or so of them!), tourist souvenir/trinket shops, Starbucks and a constant stream of humanity.

If you're looking for a 4-star in a very elegant neighborhood with less tourist traffic, inhabited by a well-heeled local crowd, but still within walking distance of the Art Triangle, albeit a longer walk, look at:

• the upscale Recoletos barrio (ward) of the Salamanca district with its beautiful architecture or the Almagro barrio of the Chamberí district (sometimes referred to as the "embassy district"), with the same style of stunning architecture.

However... you won't be able to walk a short distance to the flamenco clubs and jazz clubs (Café Central) in Old Madrid for your evening entertainment. A trade-off.

I'll let Fodorite and resident of Bilbao, mikelg, speak for his own city. The Casco Viejo, like Madrid's Barrio de las Letras, is a charming neighborhood.

Maribel

The new boutique Meliá Casa de las Artes opened or is opening on busy Calle Atocha at number 3 in May. I haven't toured it yet. It´s a member of the Meliá Collection. It has 137 rooms, plus thermal indoor pool, spa, little move theatre, restaurant with show, so not small and intimate like the others, and rooms have wood floors, very common in the city.

https://www.melia.com/en/hotels/spai...lia-collection

ekscrunchy

You could look at the hotel I stay in: HOTEL ORFILIA.

Rather than giving star qualifications, give price limits for hotels.

Maribel

Orfila. Hardwood floors. A member of Relais & Châteaus. Is it within your budget?

mikelg

Thanks Maribel! To be honest, you can walk anywhere in Bilbao as the city is small and very compact, so it may be easier if you provide a list of your search. Non-touristy and hotel do not match well, but I think I believe what you mean. Two good alternatives: TAYKO in the old quarter (but in Bilbao there´s no flamenco or anything like it, this is the north), or THE ARTIST (just changed the name from DÓMINE HOTEL), upper scale. CARLTON if you want classy and with lots of style.

Maribel

mikelg,
Do you know why the Dominé is now The Artist? We've stayed at both the Dominé and the Carlton and just realized last week that the Dominé had changed its name.
Great location right in front of the Guggenheim.

plufmud

Will be staying in The Artist in a few weeks. Would greatly appreciate restaurant recommendations. Thanks!

mikelg

They wanted to abandon all the SILKEN hotel chain references, as they´ve been bought by MIRÓ hotel, so they´ve decided to use this name referring to the catalan designer Javier Mariscal, who´´s participated in the decoration of the hotel and has given it its peculiar personality.

Maribel

So they've been bought by Miró. Now I understand, Thanks, mikelg.

Maribel

pepperment,
Are you still following your thread?
Mikelg has given you 3 great hotel choices for Bilbao.

pepperment

Yes! Crazy busy trying to research these amazing recommendations!

pepperment

Thank you all for your generous & helpful info on hotels and all Madrid. Maribel-your comprehensive view of the best places and the hotels, irreplaceable! Revulgo: what a great map and an tutorial to create my own! mikelg: I'll be touch soon...Artist sounds like a winner!
Stay tuned....have any of you been to Basque villages and are there charming B&Bs in the Spanish & French towns? I've found with France at least, that ones listed on Airbnb, can be contacted independently...also paradores???
With appreciation,
Pepperment

pepperment

R&C unfortunately no, our plane ticket was stunningly expensive..plus there's so much to experience outside the hotels!

mikelg

For charming rural accommodation in the Basque Country. www.nekatur.net,

Maribel

pepperment,
I can second mikelg´s recommendation above. I have just returned from a wonderful stay at one of these Nekatur properties, a casa rural or landetxea belonging to this group.
It´s the Oar Cottage, just east of Bilbao in the tiny, highly picturesque hamlet of Garai, in the Vizcaya/Bizkaia province. It's rustic chic (more chic than rustic) converted Basque farmhouse or baserri that the owners designed themselves, and could be a spread in an interior design magazine. It's the nicest Nekatur property I've ever experienced.
And the breakfasts were to die for.
No wonder it receives a rating of 9.7 on booking.com and a 4.9 on google.

Other rural B&Bs that I like in Vizcaya/Bizkaia: the Larrakoetxea, member of Nekatur, in Plenzia, the surfing town, north of Bilbao, the Katxi in Morga in the Urdaibai Biosphere Reserve
and further along the coast, the Casa Basarte with its own vineyard in Bakio
the Hotel Nafarrola in Bermeo.
and for a small palace-hotel near the Bilbao airport (but w/o the noise), the charming Hotel Palacio Urigoiti, a member of the Xarma Hotels group.

For country B&B style lodgings in the Guipúzcoa/Gipuzkoa province, we've stayed happily in the charming town of Getaria, west of San Sebastián/Donostia several times, last summer at the San Prudentzio surrounded by txakolí vineyards with scenic sea views.
There´s also the cute Saiaz Getaria right in the center of this lovely town and some rooms have sea views.
This summer we're staying at the Ameztoi Experience, with just 4 rooms at a txakolí vineyard.

For the French Basque side, I left several ideas on the other Basque thread here.
Rural lodgings, B&B-type experiences, I've enjoyed there, either to stay or to dine:

Hotel Arcé in Saint-Étienne-de-Baïgorry (5-night summer minimum)
Hotel Arraya in Sare
Hotel Euzkadi in very busy Espelette (the red pepper town)
Ithurria and Argi-Eder in Ainhoa (where we'll return in July)
Hotel Briketenia in Guéthary on the coast.
Maison Anderetea in Mendionde, just east of Cambo-les-Bains (really nice owners!)

You may still need a/c in the French Basque Country in September.

There is a (rather expensive) Parador in Hondarribia, 10th century castle, as well as several members of the Nekatur group.
The only other Basque Parador is in Vizcaya/Bizkaia, outside of the capital Vitoria-Gasteiz, the Parador Argómaniz, where I've stayed several times, but Vitoria probably will not be on your route,

Maribel

Correction: the Parador in Argómaniz is in the Alava province, not Vizcaya. Too late to edit. And Vitoria-Gasteiz is the capital of Alava and the Basque Country capital. I´ve stayed at that Parador twice, so I should have noted that big mistake!! Thanks, mikelg. You saved me from embarrassment, my good friend. I'm a bit geographically challenged today.

julies

I can maybe help you a little bit with the Bilbao and other more northerly portions of your trip. Last September I did this guided, small group walking tour of the area--Asturias, Cantabria and Basque Country. I loved the area and thought ours was a good itinerary. But, it was focused on walking so that changes things for you. You may want to take a look at the itinerary anyway just to get some ideas. https://yellowwoodadventures.com/adv...spain/overview

As far as lodging, I flew into Bilbao a couple days early to recover from jetlag so had 2 nights on my own in Bilbao. I experienced a couple different lodgings and can give you my thoughts on areas. I originally booked a small, highly reviewed quaint lodging in the old quarter because the room had a balcony I could sit on and people watch. It sounded ideal and exactly what I was looking for. It turns out it was absolutely awful (think super shabby garage sale furniture), and the hosts had made an error in my booking so I was given a room with a view into the 8' wide air shaft. I refused to stay there and demanded a full refund which the host finally reluctantly gave me after my showing him my emails proving it was his error.

I needed to find a new hotel on the spot. Just my short jaunt into the old quarter showed me that this really wasn't the area I would be happy in because it was too crowded and full of nothing but bars and restaurants filled with tourists. (This impression was re-confirmed when I walked through the area later on in my trip). Instead of the original dump I booked a room at a 3* (Conde Duque Hotel) on the opposite shore of the Nervion river from the Guggenheim, halfway between the old quarter and the Guggenheim. I liked the hotel because I had a small balcony to sit on that overlooked a pedestrian street and gave me views of the people and park along the river. Then, my tour group came back to Bilbao and we stayed at a 4* hotel (Barcelo Bilbao Nervion) just a couple blocks away (and on the same side of the river) from the Conde Duque. Truth be told, I preferred the smaller 3* hotel because it seemed more intimate, but I know you are looking at 4* or higher. Both are in a really nice area that I would definitely stay in again; another block or two back from the river you are in a real neighborhood with neighborhood shops and small restaurants. The Barcelo Bibao does have what appears online to be a lovely suite with river views (I had a standard room) for not much more than $250 a night. You may want to look at it on booking.com.

You will love this part of Spain.