Hi Dart! Welcome to our ALL SPAIN Message Board and for your feedback about the above establishments.

For Hostal Chelo , no telling what was the situation with the water. Most hostels, at least those in Madrid, are in 19th century or early 20th century buildings and the plumbing can be "challenging". Also, I've yet to stay in a hostel in Spain which I would consider "something special" - the one that came the closest was an unadvertised (no sign other than a paper in the window) in Cambados in Galicia - it was most like a "home bedroom" but there wasn't any warm water and the room was cold too but it was very very homey.

My standards for hostels, taking into account the low prices and locations, are pretty basic. If the place is clean, the bed is semi-comfortable, and it's not very noisy then I'm happy. Warm water is always a plus though. Also, the only hostel where I've stayed which DIDN'T have small rooms was one 3-bed room at Hostal López and that was only because it was the last room they had - I saw that the other rooms were the typical/standard small ones. My rooms at Hostels Oporto, Cervelo, Aresol, Dulcinea, and Chelo have all been small in comparison to a hotel room, that's for sure, but to me size doesn't matter as long as it's clean, safe, and inexpensive.

Regarding the small bathrooms, this too can be a bit disconcerting for first-time Spain travelers who stay in hostels. MOST of these rooms never had bathrooms when originally constructed as the one or two common bathrooms were all "public" to the establishment and located down the hall. These "new", private bathrooms were added to the old rooms and thus shrunk the living space of the bedroom. Plus, a great percentage of their patrons are Spaniards and many of them have smallish bathrooms in their own smallish homes so I suppose they're more used to it. Finally, Spaniards tend to be a little bit smaller than the northern Europeans and North Americans (Mexico and North American carribean excepted).

I've been hearing good things about Hostal Arias in Sevilla. By noting the elevator stopping at the hostel itself tells me this is a newer building and this may be why the water issue wasn't an issue at all here.

We'd love to hear about your experiences in the other forums, Dart!!! Thanks for sharing and I/we hope you make it back to Spain someday soon!

Saludos, MadridMan