Madrid Lodgings But With A Twist

I'm in the middle of planning our trip to Spain in Sept/Oct of this year, so I'm looking/reading/researching everything I can. I found this site a few days ago, and the information is fabulous, so I'm hoping some one can give me their opinion.

We will be in Spain for 17 days (not counting travel time between Spain and the States), and this has evolved into the "Great Spain Road Trip of 2005." So, we will be arriving in Madrid at around 3:30pm on a Sunday, and our plan is to rent a car from Barajas airport (well, actually S/O's idea and I'm being overruled on this one!) and to spend one night in Madrid before beginning the road trip. We would be spending the last 4 days in Madrid.

My original plan was to get a hotel room somewhat close to the airport. I know it wouldn't have the ambiance, but I'm figuring on being tired, hungry, cranky, and looking for a place to crash. Plus, with the car, I wasn't certain we would want to battle Madrid traffic right off of an international flight. (Even though my S/O doesn't think it will be "all that bad") I've looked at hotels close to the airport and I'm not overwhelmed by them.

So, I'm wondering if it might be a better idea to stay in the hostal where we plan on staying on our return to Madrid. So far, I've come up with this:

Pro:

We would know the exact location of the hostal, including parking. (Will be keeping the car an extra day to drive to Segovia)

A small, family-owned hostal might be a welcome place to come back to. The idea of they might remember us?

We would be in the center of Madrid, and perhaps allow us an extra evening to view the city, even if we are exhausted.

We would have better and more varied dining choices in the center of Madrid as opposed to the outskirts.

Getting a hotel close to the airport might save us on parking fees.

Cons:

Exhaustion after a 10 hour flight would make us less inclined to want to drive very far.

Would we been too tired to really enjoy the sites around us and spend the evening sitting in a tiny room.

Being on the outskirts of the city means we can circle around Madrid to get to Toledo, rather than drive through the middle of Madrid to leave the city. (Con here is driving in Monday morning traffic - how bad can it get?)

Just curious to know what others might think the best option would be.

Gracias!

Why pick up the car at the airport? Unless you're a seasoned "Madrid driver", the drive into the city and search for the hostal and parking place might be pretty frustrating. I would spend a night at the hostal in Madrid and pick up the car the next day from a central Madrid location.

When arriving in Madrid from the US, we always spend the first night in Madrid. I will not drive the first day because of jet lag. But Madrid is so vibrant and exhilirating that I love wandering and eating my way through that first foggy day. Sitting around inside a hotel room (other than for a BREIF siesta) has never occurred to me. Relax and enjoy it.

I don't know if you've traveled to Europe before, but the last time we flew into Madrid with the intention of doing a road trip through Spain, we drove straight to Segovia from the airport, which was really not a big deal. We find that a quick cup of coffee can help you power through jet lag for a few hours. We had our kids with us, and they just fell asleep in the car. Driving into Madrid on a Sunday afternoon is probably not much of a problem either. Another time, we drove into downtown Madrid and stayed at Hostal Tijcal, right by Plaza Major, and parked right underneath the Plaza Major for 3 days with no problems at all (nothing left visible in the car, of course). I don't see an advantage in staying near the airport, but if you do check out the Osuna, which is not bad, and reasonable, with a pool and restaurant. Another option might be to drive straight to Toledo (stay at La Almanzara), which is closer to Madrid than Segovia, I believe. Yet another option is to take public transportation into Madrid and spend your first days visiting Madrid. Then rent the car to leave Madrid, and drop it off at the airport when you leave. At that point it might make sense to stay one night near the airport, depending upon when your flight leaves.

Also, 17 days is the magic number when it usually becomes cheaper to lease a brand new car than to rent one. Check out Auto Europe and Europe by Car. I believe the leasing programs are through Renault and Peugeot.
Have a fun trip, and definitely rent/lease a diesel car.

Thanks for the responses!

Picking up the rental at the airport when we arrive is not my first or second choice. However, when you travel with another person (my S/O) some compromising has to be done. He is certainly compromising a lot on his end, so I would feel bad if I demanded to have everything my way.

The reason I'm allowing for rest the first night is because I remember when I went to Israel. 19 hours on a plane, arriving over 24 hours after leaving, 45 minutes stuck in customs/baggage claim, and 45 minutes in a taxi between Tel Aviv and Jerusalem really wiped me out. I don't sleep well on planes - who really does, though? (This time I'm coming prepared with ear plugs, eye mask, and letting S/O have the aisle seat to get jostled!) By the time we got to our hotel in Jerusalem, I was wiped out. We arrived in Tel Aviv at around 3:30, but didn't get to the hotel until around 6. And what I really remember of that afternoon/evening was being extremely tired, very hungry, and just a tad cranky. Once I had something to eat and a good night's sleep, all was terrific in my world. I don't know how things will go with Madrid (shorter flight, but not by much), but I figure if I plan on feeling the same way and I'm not, then that would be a pleasant surprise. Long flights (even within the US) just really wipe me out for some reason, so I'm usually mush the first evening!

Besides, it will be S/O's responsibility to drive in Madrid. Kinda mean, but he is actually a much better driver than I am! And far less likely to aggravate Spanish drivers!

Thanks for the tip on leasing a car. I've dabbled a bit into researching that. So far I think I've only looked at Renault. I brought up the idea with S/O whose first concern was maintenance and breakdowns and who pays for what. I wasn't able to answer his questions, so further research needs to be done. I've checked out AutoEurope and am very pleased with their rates - far less than I had anticipated! I've also checked Nova, who were less than AutoEurope. In the end, I'm giving the final decision over to my S/O. He knows more about cars and what type of car we will need than I do (besides, I'm doing all the hotels and research on what to see and do!) and I think he can make a better decision than I can. I'll have to check out Peugeot and see what type of plans they have!

I had originally wanted to spend the first few days in Madrid, rather than sort of rushing through and onto the road trip. But after thinking and talking and discussing, we decided it would be better to sort of "settle" in Madrid for the last few days of our trip before leaving for home. We are trying to travel at a relaxed pace, but road trips in general can be tiring, so having those few days to just kick back and do everything or nothing in Madrid is something I'm coming to look forward to!

Funny, but we found driving into Madrid (in summer) to be a cakewalk...but we had just come from two weeks of driving in/around Paris!

I would spend the first few days in Madrid instead of the last ones. When I went to Italy, for example, I found much more tiring those days spent in the big cities like Rome than the ones I spent driving around the Tuscany... I've always found much more tiring visiting museums (although interesting) than driving and stopping in smaller cities..

JasMadrid ~ I can understand what you are saying, but the important thing to keep in mind for us is that we will be almost in constant motion on the road (1 night Toledo, 1 night Mérida, 2 nights Sevilla, 2 nights Ronda, 1 night Antequera, 2 nights Cazorla, 1 night we don't know where, 2 nights Cuenca), so I'm sort of looking forward to have 4 nights in one place. Plus, we will only have the car one day in Madrid before returning it.

And yes, big cities can be very tiresome! So, while I know there is a lot to see and do in Madrid, I've made the "absolute must-sees" the Prado and the Palacio Real. The rest of the time in Madrid will be taken leisurely.

Well, that's the plan, anyway!

I would definitely try to convince your S/O of the benefits of picking up a car in the city center rather than at the airport. It's one less line to wait in (and one less hassle to deal with) after your long flight. You'll get to your accomodations quicker to get some rest if you choose. It also makes it easier to drop off the car in the city when you come back rather than going all the way to the airport and then making your way back into the city.

Driving into Madrid isn't so bad. I'm not the world's greatest driver and managed to survive driving during the evening rush in the center of Madrid.