Madison · Hotel shortlist
The best hotels near Monona Terrace
Amara Nwosu Africa
These are my five favourites in Madison, out of the 28 that qualified. I read what other travellers scored them before I picked, so the order follows the guests, all five scoring 4.7.
All five are inside 1.3 km of Monona Terrace, so you can walk it.
Highest rated of the five
The Saddlery Madison
★★★★★4.7 from 181 reviews
The Saddlery Madison comes out on top of this list, and not narrowly: 4.7 from 181 guest reviews is a score that holds up at that volume, which is the whole test here. A perfect ten from nine people does not beat it.
It is a 5 star property, found under poi and around $212 a night on the dates we checked.
28 hotels in Madison qualified for this list and five made it. Embassy Suites by Hilton Madison Downtown is the one I would book if the first is full.
All five, ranked
-
1
The Saddlery Madison
★★★★★4.7 from 181 reviews
400 m from Monona Terrace, about a 5 minute walk
-
2Embassy Suites by Hilton Madison Downtown
★★★★★4.7 from 307 reviews
200 m from Monona Terrace, about a 2 minute walk
-
3Mansion Hill Inn
★★★★★4.9 from 458 reviews
1.0 km from Monona Terrace, about a 12 minute walk
-
4The Wilson by Voyageur Stays
★★★★★5 from 50 reviews
300 m from Monona Terrace, about a 4 minute walk
-
5Hotel Indigo Madison Downtown, an IHG Hotel
★★★★★4.8 from 774 reviews
1.3 km from Monona Terrace, about a 16 minute walk
- Spa
- Gym
- Restaurant
- Bar
- Parking
- Pet friendly
How this list was put together
28 Madison hotels qualify for this list. We ranked them on guest rating first and on how close they are to Monona Terrace second, then took the top five.
Two things decide these lists. The first is my own time in the city: every hotel on this page is one I have stayed in, walked into and looked at, or gone back to check. That is where the shortlist starts, and it is why some well reviewed places are not on it.
The second is the numbers, and those are what set the order. The rating and review count come from the big travel sites, pooled through Google, so a score here reflects Expedia, Booking, Hotels.com and the rest together rather than any one of them. I also read the review breakdown by topic, which is where the figures on service, breakfast and location come from. Hotels with fewer than forty reviews are left out altogether, because a rating that thin is not a rating. No more than two come from one neighbourhood.
What I do not do is move anyone up the order. The ranking is the guest score, highest first, and nobody pays to be on the list.
Distances are straight lines from published coordinates, so the real walk is a little longer. Amenities are as recorded by Google Hotels and can change without notice. Rates are an indicative nightly figure for a midweek autumn stay, not a quote. Check the booking page before you commit.
Amara Nwosu Africa
Books holidays a year ahead because court calendars demand it, then travels hard for three weeks. West Africa most years to see family, somewhere new in between.
Trip Grapevine earns a commission on bookings made through the links on this page. It costs you nothing, and it does not change the order of the list, which is set by the measurements above.