hi! how close or far is hostal numancia from the plaza mayor, prado museum and of course the night clubs...and is it located in a fairly safe neighborhood....times a ticking...tic toc tic toc...i'm getting a little excited, now that we're in january....god willing, i have 26 days to go before i head out to madrid!!!

Hostal Numancia is located about a 10 minute walk from the Plaza Mayor and probably 20-25 minutes walk to the Prado Museum.

The neighborhood is on the edge of Lavapies which could be considered "sketchy" to some at night but it is one of Madrid´s historic neighborhoods. You can do a SEARCH of the "Safety & Security" forum simply using the keyword LAVAPIES to find more postings on the topic.

There are some lesser-known nightclubs in this area but those more known to tourists are those around the Puerta del Sol, Plaza Mayor, and Huertas areas. You´re closes to Huertas than the others.

Best of luck and enjoy your stay in Madrid!

Saludos, MadridMan

thanks, madridman, every bit of information is useful. i read about lavapies, it seems it is a decent neighborhood during the day, but i'm to be more cautious during the evening/night, especially since i'm travelling alone

i'll be staying at hostal numancia the first week of june. from their website, i can't tell if they have air conditining or not. (at US$29 per day i can't expect much anyway) is it really that bad not to have air conditioning this time of year?

I'm back from my trip to Spain and to answer my own question: lack of air conditioning wasn't an issue since there was almost no humidity. Yeah it was hot (in the 90's), but I remained dry. I just kept my windows open all the time but I drew down the shades during the day to keep the sun out--not that I stayed in my room much during the day anyway.

I felt safe leaving my belongings during the day. My room had a lockable closet but I still carried the passport etc in my money belt wherever I went.

Late at night (3am-ish) Calle de la Magdalena is kind of deserted but one block over, Calle Atocha has a good amount of people traffic. If you're uneasy about walking down a deserted street on the way to Hostal Numancia, then take C. Atocha, cut across at C. Canizares, turn right onto C. Magdalena and you'll be at the front door of the hostel.

It's on the fifth floor. If you take the stairs late at night when it's dark, just hit the light switch on the first floor and the lights on each level of the staircase turns on. Or you can take the elevator.

Here are a couple of pics to give you a better idea of what it's like here.

The "lobby"
The main hallway
One of the two bathrooms (always very clean)
Room number 12 (single)
View from my window at 3pm