If you do a search in the "Hotels and Other Lodgings" section you should be able to come up with a lot of good ideas. In fact, just browse through the most recent posts in that section as many people have been asking for recommendations lately. And, hostels can be very nice and very safe and clean in Madrid, so don't necessarily rule them out either!

I agree, dont rule out "hostals" There are only a few that are the typical youth hostals where you sleep in a shared room. Most are family run 1 or 2 star hotels (or no star)that offer you a private room (with or without bathroom) for a good price. There are lots and lots in the center! There is also a website www.30madrid.com which has hostals with reasonable rates, but here on madridman is probably one of the best places to look!

try hostal La plata
www.hostal-laplata.com
i have stay there and friend too very good and central

Okay, you guys convinced me to consider Hostels. Thanks for the link to Hostal-Laplata "Pedmar." I checked out the site. It looks pretty nice actually. Does anyone have any recommendatiosn (hotels, hostals, apartments) in the Plaza De Espana area???? I have some friends who will be in that area and want to stay close by. Thanks again. This website rocks!

I don't have any particular recommendations, but if you look at the "Hostels/Hostales" link on the main page for madridman.com you will see several that are located at Gran Via/Callao or even Plaza de España. Two are "featured" by Madrid Man (so I'm guessing that Madrid Man himself has checked them out and can vouch for them??) and those would be Hostal Josefina and Hostal Tudescos. Again, I can't offer any recommendations for that particular area, I'm sorry, but you could check those out and look at the others near Plaza de España such as Hostal Astur, Hostal Besaya, Hostal Lamalonga and Hostal Granvia 44. Also, as I said before, try searching the board in the Hostales section, and you can search with the keywords "Callao" and "Plaza de España." Maybe another board member might have some additional suggestions.

¡Buena suerte!

THANKS LA HISTORIADORA!

Hi there. Regarding driven's question. Janel and others mentioned that many people stay beyond the legitimate 90 days (true) and of course, we know this is a risk. I'm not sure if any of these people have attempted travelling to other EU nations while there and if they've had problems. But the first time I went to Spain, I stayed for 4 months (overstayed 1 month) and was staying a couple weeks in England before heading back home to Canada. I decided to make a weekend trip to Norway to visit a friend (not being aware that the 90-day limit was for the entire Schengen region). The Norwegian immigration officer saw that I had already spent the allowed 90 days in Spain and promptly informed me that I couldn't enter Norway.I spent a day in their "police station" at the Norwegian airport, was fingerprinted, a file was created.I was asked if I wanted a lawyer, but that would've been if I wanted to contest and still enter the country, so I declined. They had to fax my file to somewhere or the other to determine whether I would be sent back to Canada or allowed to return to England. Scary! The Norwegians were nice to me as they realised I wasn't a criminal and did not have bad intentions, but it was still a very distressing experience and I was put on a plane back to the U.K. later that evening. Now I guess there's a "file" on me in their records, which is worrisome. They made it clear to me that it was not a criminal offence and did not affect my future travels (which is true: I've been back to Europe several times since). Maybe the people who overstay in Spain for years do not do much traveling around Europe (??), or maybe I just had bad luck. Just wanted to share an experience. Comments are welcome.

England is another place you might want to avoid with an extended stay on your visa. They might or might not care, but if they do, they could make you purchase a ticket from Spain to your home country before allowing you back into Spain. Make sure you have a working credit card with available credit just in case.
It also helps if your passport is a maze of stamps, too difficult to decipher.

Haha, my passport WAS a maze of stamps, but I just got it renewed, so it's currently empty! I had a friend stay in Madrid for 11 months, and he said he was so freaked out about getting caught overstaying his tourist visa that he didn't travel to a single country. Silly question, but if I'm traveling by Euro-rail, I'm still passing through customs correct?

I have a side question. I have an opportunity to possibly rent a place in Salamanca, on avenida de america. Is anyone familar w/this area? Is it nice and safe? Will I be surrounded by a vibrant community, shops, bars, restaurants, lively atmosphere?...THANKS!

Hi everyone,
To trinichica, sorry about your experience. After overstaying a visa I wouldnt go to the UK although tecnically its EU they dont treat it that way. They ask lots of questions. I went to the UK and I had entered spain (for the third time) but it hadnt been 3 months yet since my last arrival so it was ok and I said I was a student. Since you were going from UK to Norway, im not supprised you had problems.
There are no customs if you travel through Portugal, france, italy, netherlands, etc in my experience, I flew mainly but didnt go by train, in theory there are no customs there either. I even went to Slovenia and Croatia but the driver of our rental car was Spanish so they didnt even open our passports when we went through. Dont go to morrocco if its been over 3 months either.

To Driven: Barrio Salamanca is pretty nice and one of the most stately and expensive neighborhoods, has some nice restaurants and is still close to the more lively areas for going out at night. Id definately consider it, But I'd wait to check out the place in person before making a commitment. Or dont make a commitment for longer than a month in case it doesnt turn out to be everything you hoped.