This was the second time we had visited madrid, we saw the hostal la macarena on our first trip and immediately knew we wanted to book it on our return. The location is second to none, right beside Plaza Mayor, 2 minutes from calle de cava baja where the best tapas bars are. You have to book directly with the hotel through the website, we payed 69 euros per night, that was paying cash, it was 79 euros if you used a card, we didn't know this so we had to get more money from the bank. staff very friendly, they don't speak much english but we managed to get by. Nothing bad to say about this place and will definately be booking again when we return to madrid.

I have stayed in many hostels in Europe and South America and received the worst treatment I have ever gotten at this hostel. My friend was due to arrive a day after me (which I told them in advance... and they confirmed) but when I went to pay, they charged me for a double fo the first night. When telling the owner and another staff member that I was being overcharged they laughed in my face, told me I was wrong, embarassed me in front of other guests, and were completely rude. They were not helpful at any other point during the stay, they did not have any good recommendations and did not have any information for my friend and I about the city of Madrid. Also, one of the main rreasons we chose the hostel in the first place was because they promised free internet and comptuer access however the internet was not working throughout our entire stay. The staff was awful and ruined an otherwise great stay in Madrid.

LOCATION: La Macarena couldn't be in a better location in central Madrid -- literally around the corner from Plaza Mayor, down the block from La Botin, the world's oldest restaurant, within easy walking distance to Plaza Oriente, Plaza Real, Opera, Sol, and an enjoyable brisk jaunt to the museums (Prado, Reina Sofia), fountains (Cibeles, Neptune), and Retiro Park. You feel the energy of the city and have the benefit of being at the center of all the action. If you forget something, need another layer, or want to drop off something you bought, chances are you're not far from your room and can easily return without it being an inconvenient sacrifice of time.

SERVICE: the 2 people we dealt with at Macarena were both incredibly friendly, helpful, kind and accomodating. They gave us a choice of a room with or without a balcony, asked if they could hold our bags for the day when we had to check out in the morning but didn't leave until later that evening, and offered advice and help with good restaurants, sights, plazas, museums, etc. (even offering to make reservations!). This is really what makes this hostal so worth staying at - such great people!

OTHER NOTES: the rooms with balconies are wonderful for getting a nice breeze and looking out on the street but significantly louder than the inside rooms; the inside rooms are nice and quiet but get little natural light. Our shower was very small, but not a huge deal. Paid about 69 Euros/night over the weekend, which was a good deal in comparison with the many others we looked at.

I'm happy to answer any questions about Macarena if you'd like more info, and have a great time in Madrid!

We decided to go to Spain on a whim, traveling there within 10 days of booking it .... all in June! How crazy was that? But our daughter was spending 6 weeks there on a study abroad, and, well ....... we wanted to go too!

So it was with some degree of surprise and delight that we realized what a gem of a hotel we managed to book, considering that the entire old city of Madrid was basically booked out by the time we made our arrangements.

First the location ... it was right by the Chuchilleros gate to the Plaza Mayor ... in the most delightful little street, full of restaurants, and most notably, the most ancient restaurant/bars in the city that are embedded in the Plaza Mayor structure itself. This does not mean that it was noisy and rowdy out there in the street, the Spanish do eat late, but they're not an unruly bunch.

The room we had was extremely small, but then we were only there for 3 nights (we broke our stay in Madrid up into 2 visits, with a trip to Valencia in between). There wasn't a lot of room for movement around the bed ... and our particular room had the tall shutter style windows that opened onto a central "courtyard" of sorts ... pretty typical of some of the very old European apartment style buildings. Another setback with some of these places is the lack of true air conditioning, however, we did have a ceiling fan, which made our nights bearable at the very least.

I remember reading reviews about the air conditioning issue in some of these old Madrid hostels (small hotels with reception on 2nd floor) back in 2007 just before we went ... and of course everyone has different thresholds for discomfort, so some of the reviews posted made places like this look horrifyingly uncomfortable ... while others said it wasn't an issue. We were there in mid-summer, and it was fine. But then again, we're reasonably fit people for our age with no major health issues. Things like this should be taken into consideration, our particular room at this type of hotel could be uncomfortable for some.

Hostal La Macarena is located on Cava de San Miguel.