Hostal Noviciado

For 55€ it served as a handy base for our flying visit - easy walk to major sites such as Plaza Mayor, Via Grande, Prado.

Very basic, as expected for the price, but a lot of someone else's hair in our bathroom and grubby pillows.

The location of Hostal Noviciado in relation to the centre of Madrid. Easy to access the metro system and most attractions with Madrid's centre

The staff (one lady) could not or would not speak any English and rarely spoke. The room looked fine and clean but there was no cupboard to hang clothes - just an alcove in the wall with hangers sticking out. However, the room overlooks Calle San Bernardo which is a narrow but very busy main road with continuous traffic. The air-conditioning unit was not working and no control unit was present and when I tried to explain to the woman in the Hostal she just commented in Spanish that air-conditioning did not work. Their publicity did state that the rooms were air-conditioned and "your language" is spoken, both of which were totally false. I did not sleep at all on the first night because the weather was hot and the only air in the room was with the windows open but the continuous traffic noise kept me awake all night. For the subsequent nights, I left the windows open but closed the interior wooden shutters which meant no air at all was getting into the room and the room was stifling. However, it did mean most of the traffic noise was screened out. Because of the lack of air and the heat I did not sleep IN the bed once - just slept on top of the bedclothes. Hot water in the bathroom was merely a dribble - no plug in the bathroom basin. During the seven nights of my stay, the towels were not changed once and the room was never serviced.