Sunotel Amaral - Madrid, Spain 

I booked the amaral through the www.spanair.com website for a stay during an extended weekend (thursday to sunday) in late july and I found it to be an excellent choice for me and my needs. I come from Sweden, am 27 years old and travelled alone. Partly chose the Amaral because of their resonably priced doublebed rooms for single person use. Generally speaking the hotel staff were very friendly and helpful. All of them spoke good english (by spanish standards excellent english) and had a good knowledge about the area around the hotel as far as tips about restaurants and so went. The room was good, nothing stellar but what you would expect for the price range. All was very clean and tidy and the pool was nice, but a little cold. The hotel is located outside of the immediate city center and metro ride takes about 5-10 minutes depending on where in the center you are going to. Only a couple of minutes to the subway though so no problem there. Also unless you have tons of luggage take the metro to the hotel from the airport, works really easy, just one quick change and short distance from metro station Cuzco to Hotel. Metro from the airport is 2?, (yes that is two Euro) cab ride apparently costs around 30?... Also since the hotel is not in the super-center of the city but rather in a comercial/residential area (seemed middle-to upper middle class and safe) it is much more quiet than the center of the city. Before booking I noted many of the hotels in Madrid had bad comments for much noice in the night, this was no big problem at the Amaral. There were some guests (i assume) that were noisy and the walls are not that soundproof but I think it must have been much better than in the center. I had no problems sleeping at least, beds were a little to hard for my taste... I personaly wanted a quiet, not to expensive hotel for a stay were I visited the museums and sights of Madrid and not primarily to party. I was also very interested in the pool since Madrid in July is very hot (we had about 38 degrees C) and I wanted to be able to take a swim when I got home from a tiring day in the city and lay by the pool. The pool area was ok, but not that special, the pool is very cold (not heated) and was open between 11-21 on weekdays and 10-20 on weekends. It sounds generous but I was usually only able to use the pool for about an hour before it closed since I was in the city during day. It would have been nice to be able to take a morning swim or a nigtly swim around 22-23 but that is not possible as the pool area is closed then. Also I did not choose the buffet breakfast that was on offer, I never had it so can't really comment on taste, it didn't look worth the 13? a pop in my opinon though. There were alternatives with just coffey and toast at something like 5? but i had breakfast at caf?es in the city instead, also an excellent caf? for breakfast just round the corner from the hotel. More ambiance as well as cheaper (2-5 ? depending on what I ate, although no buff? at that price). I would recomend the Amaral to all that want a quiet, reasonably high standard hotel at a resonable price. Specially if you would like the pool. If you are out to meet people and party all night long you may be better off in the city center but of course no problem to go into the city in the evening if you want to since there is the metro, cabs etc. Pool would I suppose make it a bonus for families with kids...

Hotel was nice, staff also and there was even a parking hall for our rental car, which was a plus. 5-10 minute walk to nearby metro stations, 15 minutes to the city, not too bad in such a bif city. Breakfast ok, cleanliness too, nothing to complain. Only minus was the sound proofing of the door, we could hear everything from the corridor and it was not nice to wake up every morning when the cleaning ladies started chit-chatting loudly at 8.00... Otherwise a good three-star hotel and quality-price ratio was fine. Would go there again.