We are a couple about 60. My husband is retiring at the end of October and we are leaving for Spain on November 4th for a 2 week vacation- we're also celebrating our 33 rd anniversary. My husband speaks Spanish and we have been looking forward to visiting Spain for some time. In my readings about Madrid, I have become somewhat confused by the large number of choices avavilable, and would like some help chosing a place to stay.

We are looking for a hotel (or hostel) centrally located near the sites and that is comforatble and friendly. We do not need anything fancy, and , in fact, have liked the smaller, locally run hotels when we have traveled elsewhere in Europe. We do not need the extreme low budget hostels, and want private bathrooms and elevators if the rooms are up a number of flights . From my reading, I thought that it might be fun to be in the Plaza de Santa Ana area heading east towards the Prado, but I'm open to suggestions. What is pretty important is that I am a light sleeper, and need a room that is quiet. When I read about hotels, there is often a comment that there is a lot of street noise, but this is November and I wonder if we will need open windows this late in the fall.. Any suggestions?

We are staying in Madrid 3 days and heading south to Andalucia- Seville, Arcos, Ronda, Grenada, and Malaga before heading back to Madrid for another 2 days. We will go to Seville by train, and after traveling around by car, return to Madrid by train from Malaga for the last couple of days. Any suggestions for this part of the trip would be appreciated as well.

Thanks, Madrid Man, for the wonderful forum, Margret