First time in Spain

We found ourselves gravitating to the Retiro area for the beauty of the park and the nearby museums (Prado & Reina Sofia), but we were staying up nearer to Plaza Major & the Royal Palace on the Col de Preciados. Our hotel was quiet despite the buzz on the street level with stores and restaurants.

A lot depends on how mobile you are. We walked everywhere, and that was a great part of the trip - just wandering through places and seeing the core of Madrid on each journey. It was also a good mix with our then slow meandering through museums or sitting down for a delicious meal or a bit of people watching.

Thanks so much! We plan on doing a lot of walking so that sounds great. Any specific hotels you recommend? ETA just noticed your link, thank you

Toledo is a must see. Also, recommend a day trip to Segovia.

Definitely want to atleast do Toledo. What’s the best way to get there? Bus?

The train to Toledo is much, much faster than the bus. The fare is fixed, so--unlike the Madrid-to-Barcelona trip--there's no need to rush to buy tickets. However, Spain is a country where it's not uncommon to see a lot of sold-out trains show up on the schedule. I believe Rick warns in his guidebook that the return trip to from Toledo to Madrid should be booked ahead of time so you don't get stuck in Toledo with a hotel room in Madrid. These days, I'd be a bit worried about the outbound trip, too. By the third week of June I'd be watching the Renfe website for my travel day and the previous day to be sure I didn't see trains starting to sell out.

Both the train station and the bus station in Toledo are in the lower city; what you want to see is up on the hill. There are buses going up to Zocodover Square. There's also one of those little tourist "trains" that apparently makes a loop outside the city for at least one good photo opp. Other folks like to grab a taxi and ask the driver to take them to a good overlook for the same purpose.

Thank you. Is it best to find accommodations near the train station in Madrid? Or is it walkable to there or maybe by bus

To me it’s a personal preference. Atocha station is a 15-20 minutes walk from the Plaza Mayor area. That area, is less noisy than the Plaza Mayor area, but is somewhat deserted in the evenings and there are fewer restaurants. It is across the street from the Reina Sofía museum.

We prefer the Puerta del Sol area because it is lively until the early morning and a good place to people watch.

Other less busy areas are Chueca and Recoletos. Chueca is nearer to the Gran Vía while Recoletos is nearer the Prado, Retiro Park, and Puerta de Alcalá.

Puerta del Sol sounds like a good fit for us with our 20 year old. I’ll check there for places to stay thank you

We’ve stayed at Hotel Europa a number of times and do our people watching from Cafe Europa’s outdoor seating area. I always ask for a room facing the plaza so we can stand at the room’s window and see what’s going on in the plaza.

I love the OK Hostal in the Latina area, I think. The fun social atmosphere of a hostel, including excellent meals, also has private rooms with private baths.

We liked Hotel Europa a lot. Great location. If “not too noisy” means you don’t want any street lights or sounds you’ll need earplugs and a sleep mask. You’re going to a big city.

We booked Hotel Europa, very excited!

... have a look at Catalonia -where Barcelona is the capital of- to see if anything catches your eye. One advantage of Catalonia is that is the size of Maryland, so you can move about easily.

https://www.catalunya.com/en