Anyone thinking of booking a room to stay on Calle Fuencarrall in the centre be warned its completely impossible to sleep there at any time of day due to the excessive noise
you have been warned!:..............

Yikes! Sorry to hear that! But first, please tell us where in Spain is this Calle Fuencarrall?? Was it in Cuenca, Salamanca, Barcelona, Toro, Alcalá de Guadaira, Madrid, Finnesterre, or some other place?

What time of the day was this? 1pm, 6pm, 8am, 4am, 9pm? Most streets are noisier during the day than night .

What kind of noise did you experience? Was it a festival, traffic, discos, "botellónes", marching bands, 4 a.m. garbage pickup, alien invasions, or other??

And did you have an inside room or an outside room facing the street? Single, double, or triple pane windows? Were you staying at a friend's house, hotel, or hostel? Was there some special event taking place?

Saludos, MadridMan

Calle Fuencarral is a long street in Madrid that runs north from Gran Vía. The segment of most interest to tourists is the part that runs through Chueca. Fuencarral is - you should pardon the expression - the "main drag" through Madrid's gayborhood, walking distance from all sorts of cute little cafés, gay book shops, bars, rowdy dance clubs, and a few places that shock even *my* sensibilities. It's heavily traveled by pedestrians at all hours. So depending on how good you are a filtering out noise, you might want to try for an hostal near but not actually on Fuencarral.

That said, however, a friend of mine stayed at an hostal on Fuencarral (or possibly the next street over, Hortaleza) and said the noise wasn't too bad. But his room faced away from the street and had some pretty sturdy looking windows.

Personally, I prefer to stay in the Plaza Mayor area or in parts of Malasaña, and walk to Chueca when there's something going on that interests me.

Saludos from a cybercafe on the Calle de la Montera (a neighborhood that appears to be Hooker Central).

That's a bit harsh on the Fuencarral pensiones! I stayed in one there last summer and it was grand though I must admit my room "dio al interior" (is that right?). It's hardly the only noisy road in town!!

That was right.

I, too, have stayed at Hortaleza and Fuencarral hostales several times, when I didn't live in Madrid and had to attend courses or meetings.

I never had problems with noise, but I had inner rooms too.

I've stayed in C/Fuencarral! I loved it! It's true that it is noisy, but, when you are on holiday it's nice to hear some life on the streets!
Hostal Medieval C/Fuencarral 46, book it if you don't mind the landlord and lady.

x Indie

Are we all in agreement that tony lionni meant the Calle Fuencarral in Madrid? Surely there's another SOMEWHERE in Spain. How can we be absolutely positive??

I suspect we can't be totally positive. However I believe there is an area on the outskirts of Madrid called Fuencarrel (and indeed the station at the end of line 10 on the metro is Fuencarrel). This is probably why this street is called Calle Fuencarrel since it heads out in that direction. I suspect you wouldn't get this street name in other cities as there would be no logic to have this name.
Hope Tony is 'bedding down' ok in Madrid. If you need help on finding work post another letter and I'll do my best to give helpful advice (and I'm sure others will be able to help)