Hotel recommendations for Madrid

Could you let us know, more or less, the budget for hotels?

And more or less what type of restaurant you are looking for?
Spanish? Meat? Seafood? I'll be happy to help but I think I need some guidance here..

A hotel frequently mentioned, and one I’ve stayed at a number of times, is Hotel Europa at the Puerta Del Sol. We’ve stayed at others, such as Petit Palace Posada del Peine, Hotel Meliá Castilla, Hotel/Crisol Via Castellana, and what is now SLEEP'N Atocha.

To me, where you stay should be near the places you want to visit and will probably spend the majority of your time. There are hotels for all budgets.

A popular restaurant, and supposedly the oldest in Spain, in El Sobrino de Botín. It is known for its roast suckling pig (cochinillo). It you wanted to eat there, make reservations a few months in advance.

We stayed in two hotels in Madrid, both on the Gran Via very close to everything. The H10 Villa de la Reina has lovely staff, an inviting lobby where coffee and rolls are free in the morning and cava and candy in the evening. Our room was large, with a big bathroom, nice toiletries and comfy bed. We also enjoyed the Circulo Gran Via. Fancier, with a massive room and bed.

Price range for hotels is about 250 euro/night. More concerned with location than price and we can go higher for a good location. Not sure exactly which area we should have as a base. We can use public transportation as needed As to restaurants, we are open to everything.

I would tend to look at the area around Plaza de Colon, and south to the Prado.
Anywhere in the Salamanca barrio would mean many locals, streets not packed with tourists and, for many people, walkability to the museums and to Retiro Park.

Botin is very popular with tourists and if you want meat, especially suckling pig, by all means go there.
If you want lighter and more modern food, there are many restaurants in the Ibiza district, east of Retiro Park. You'll find many more locals than tourists in that area. Look, for example, at ARZABAL.

Another good neighborhood is along Calle Ponzano and nearby streets, in the Chamberi barrio. Several moderately priced, small restaurants.

One big favorite that never disappoints is LAKASA, but that's just one of so many. This is a beautiful space, menu is long, half-portions are easily ordered, and service is lovely with most staff fluent in English. I cannot think of a better place for first-time visitors, or any visitor. It's listed in the Michelin guide, but does not have a star. Prices are moderate.

https://guide.michelin.com/en/comunidad-de-madrid/madrid/restaurant/lakasa

If you want to splash out on a more elegant meal, still within normal price range, try one of these:

LUA
https://www.restaurantelua.com/menus/

Another place, strong on vegetable dishes, that never disappoints, is MANDUCA DE AZAGRA:

https://lamanducadeazagra.com/la-carta-menu.html

I don’t have a particular hotel recommendation. Rather, I would recommend against staying right at the Puerta del sol. It’s a bit too touristy, like staying in Times Square when you’re visiting NYC.

Restaurants I highly recommend:

• Baldoria: One of the best pizzerias in the world. Pizza is Naples quality, they have live music, service is excellent, and the prices are reasonable. Wouldn’t bother with pasta, pizza and pistachio cheesecake are great there.
• Bardero: This is fine dining type food at a bargain price. Everything is good and brilliantly presented.
• Casa Dani: Get the tortilla. You’ll thank me later.
• Mesón de las Delicias: Venezuelan Chinese restaurant, 10/10 for me. If you love American chinese from 50 years ago, this is a must.
• General advice: Make sure you get some tapas, go to a food market, and venture beyond the tourist core neighborhoods to get more of an authentic sense of Madrid’s incredible restaurant scene. And, look for what you like to eat, you don’t need to try churros or roast pig or whatever simply because it’s famous.

I haven't been there yet but I found an apartment on Booking. Co overlooking Plaza Mayor that has a roof terrace access along with a seating area, kitchen and washing machine. It is expensive like $300 a night.
It is my upper limit for a room though.
We thought it was worth it with the extra space and the rooftop terrace overlooking the plaza square.
We are coming off walking the Camino Portuguese and flying home from Madrid. It is our first trip to Madrid and we don't know when we will be back so we wanted to be in the center of things for the three nights we are spending in Madrid.
There was one thing that I'm dreading is with a roof terrace means a five floor walk up. No elevator. But hopefully after walking 180 miles over the Camino walking some stairs won't be too bad.

I would not stay near Gran Via or Sol. Those are some of the least appealing areas of Madrid. I'd also stay away from restaurants ion that area, with one exception, LA TASQUITA DE ENFRENTE. But that restaurant is not for everyone.

I wrote about two hotels on a currently running thread, both near the Alonso Martinex Metro station:

https://community.ricksteves.com/travel-forum/spain/madrid-hotel-recommendations