Where to stay in Madrid, by what you actually want
central and loud, or quiet and twenty minutes out.
Central Madrid does not get quiet until about four. That single fact should decide your booking.
Staysupdated 4 min read
Researched
Rubén Vique · CC BY 2.0
Madrid is flat, which removes the problem Lisbon and Rome both have. What it replaces it with is noise: the centre is busy until roughly four in the morning, every night the weather allows, and no listing will tell you that.
So the decision is not really about neighbourhoods. It is about whether you want to be in the middle of it or twenty minutes away from it.
In the middle of it
Everything within fifteen minutes on foot, which in a city where traffic is the main constraint is worth paying for. The cost is that you are living inside the busiest square kilometre in Spain.
Twenty minutes away from it
Chamberí is a proper residential neighbourhood with bakeries, a market and people walking dogs. It costs noticeably less, you get more space, and nothing happens on your street — which is either restful or dull depending entirely on you.
Fred Romero from Paris, France · CC BY 2.0
Madrid is flat. That solves the Lisbon problem and creates a different one, which is noise.
- Malasaña: closest to the fun, loudest at night, smallest flats.
- Lavapiés: best value, steepest streets, most interesting eating.
- Chueca: central and busy most nights of the week.
- Chamberí: quiet, residential, better value, further from everything.
- Retiro: calm and green, and you will take the metro a lot.
Researched from published sources rather than a personal visit. Check before you go.
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