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Madrid · Hotel shortlist

Cheap hotels downtown in Madrid

Luca Ferreira

Luca Ferreira Spain and Portugal

Updated 1 September 2026 · 11 Madrid hotels assessed

These are my five favourites in Madrid, out of the 11 that qualified. I read what other travellers scored them before I picked, so the order follows the guests, 4.3 down to 3.5.

Every one comes in under $130 a night, and the one I would book first is $63.

Hostel Anguita

Highest rated of the five

Hostel Anguita

★★★★★4.3 from 41 reviews

Hostel Anguita comes out on top of this list, and not narrowly: 4.3 from 41 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 found under downtown and around $63 a night on the dates we checked.

11 hotels in Madrid qualified for this list and five made it. Bastardo Hostel is the one I would book if the first is full.

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All five, ranked

  1. Hostel Anguita1

    Hostel Anguita

    ★★★★★4.3 from 41 reviews

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    • Bastardo Hostel2

      Bastardo Hostel

      ★★★★★4.2 from 2,707 reviews

      • Spa
      • Restaurant
      • Bar
      • Parking
      • Kid friendly
      • Air conditioning

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    • Hostal Chueca3

      Hostal Chueca

      ★★★★★4.1 from 1,697 reviews

      • Restaurant
      • Air conditioning
      • Accessible

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    • Dolce Vita Guest House4

      Dolce Vita Guest House

      ★★★★★3.9 from 533 reviews

      • Pet friendly
      • Airport shuttle

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    • CH Casillas5

      CH Casillas

      ★★★★★3.5 from 142 reviews

      • Pet friendly
      • Air conditioning

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    How this list was put together

    11 Madrid hotels qualify for this list. We ranked them on guest rating, then on class, and 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.

    Luca Ferreira

    Luca Ferreira Spain and Portugal

    Shuts the workshop two weeks every summer and rides. The Pyrenees, the Danube route and most of Portugal on frames he built himself, camping most nights.

    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.