If you read our posts about Iceland, you may remember we talked about our preference for overnight flights – that is, leaving the US in the evening and arriving in Europe the next morning. It’s a helpful way to help reset your internal clock and beat jetlag, and you don’t end up losing half a day. That being said, we found flights from Chicago to Madrid for about $750, and traveled with a small carry on and a backpack each. We’re counting Day 1 as a travel day only (mainly because we were too excited about the trip to not count the day we left as one of the days).
Through a combination of Trip Advisor and Google, we ended up choosing Hotel Petit Palace Posada del Peine. For one night, split between three of us, it cost $44.89 (in 2015 money). It was a very nice hotel in central Madrid, and within walking distance of everything.
The majority of what we did in Madrid – which we only had a day to do – was exploring the city by foot, which made it relaxing and inexpensive. We made sure to walk past Restaurante Botín, which is the oldest continuously operated restaurant in the world (since 1725!). Quite a bit of time was spent in Plaza Mayor, watching the street performers (and do so from a distance or you’ll be suckered harassed into giving them a few euros to make them go away) and checking out the shopping and cafes around the plaza. Side note – I love European plazas! They’re beautiful and there’s always a ton to do, and we don’t have things like that in the US.
One of the facades at Plaza Mayor
Ashley and Stacy in front of the statue of King Phillip III in Plaza Mayor
From the Plaza we headed to San Gines Churros, which had been highly recommended to us by a close friend who had studied abroad in Madrid for 6 months, and knew the best places to eat at. We spent some time outside of the Palacio Real, which is the official, albeit ceremonial, residence of the Spanish royal family. We wandered through Plaza España and took pictures with the statues of Don Quijote and Sancho Panza (two of the three of us had just spent a semester long class reading the entirety of Don Quijote in Spanish).
Palacio Real
The statues of Don Quijote and Sancho Panza in Plaza España
At one point in the afternoon, Ashley and I separated from our other friend and made our way to the Teleferico Madrid– the cable car that gave us our bird’s eye view of Madrid. This is a ticketed ride, but tickets only cost about $5 each and can be bought the day of at either of the cable car stations. After the ride, we wandered through the rose gardens of Parque de Retiro.
We finished our day in Madrid going to a mall-like place with local friends of our third travel buddy for typical Madrid food. Comparing my original itinerary to the photos we have, I realized that we deviated a little bit. For instance, we didn’t make it to the Puerta del Sol, which is where the famous statue of the bear and the tree is. When it comes down to it, Madrid is a very large city and there’s far more to do than can be done in one day. That being said, I also think we felt like we did see a large part of the city, and didn’t feel like we had missed a lot when we left the next morning.
Total cost for Madrid (not including food/taxis/souvenirs/etc): $50
