Place to stay in Madrid and Barcelona

The amount you hope to spend in dollars is even less in Euros. Maybe you can find places at that price level but it is going to be difficult.

The time of year of your trip will determine lodging cost. Mid-May through early September will be more than other times of year. We’ve stayed at Hotel Europa at the Puerta Del Sol a couples times, but it might be slightly above your budget. A budget hotel by the Reina Sofía museum is Sleep’N Atocha. It’s in a nice location for the Prado museum and Retiro Park, but a 15 minutes easy walk to the Plaza Mayor. The rooms are basic but perfectly adequate. Another chain of hotels to look at is Petite Palace. It has locations near the Prado, Plaza Mayor, etc.

Trip is march will be in Spain march 4-14

When is the trip? Although US $100 isn't a generous hotel budget for a double room in Madrid or Barcelona, you may be able to find something, especially if you're traveling during a relatively low-tourism period. A note about terminology: In Spain a "hostal" is not the same as a hostel. A hostal is a relatively simple hotel where you can usually find rooms with private bath; they just won't be fancy. A hostel is a lodging with primarily dormitory-style accommodations, though some hostels do have private rooms as well.

I use booking.com for most of my European hotel research. The reviews there have been accurate for me; you can only leave a review if you've actually stayed at the hotel. After finding a place you like, you can probably easily find its website online and compare rates to see whether you'll pay less than on booking.com. I spot-checked a random period in April, and the rates look encouraging, but of course rates do vary a lot from week to week.

The Barri Gotic is very picturesque, but there have been some recent (within the last 2-3 years) reports of street crime there that goes beyond pickpocketing. (Pickpockets are a chronic issue in Barcelona.) It might be prudent to stay elsewhere.

Ibis Barcelona Centro ( Sagrada Familia ) is in a great location near the church and 2 metro lines. Price is right

In Madrid, we stayed at Europa as well. It was 100 euros when we stayed. We liked this hotel. The service and location was excellent.

In Barcelona, we stayed at BCN Fashion House. It was lovely and inexpensive. https://bcnfashionhouse.com. It is by Plaza Cataluna and was a great location for us.

We've stayed at multiple IBIS. We find they lack character but when we need to stay at one to keep the cost lower, we have found they are VERY clean, have friendly and helpful staff and the price is typically right.

We liked the Hotel Continental Barcelona a few years ago. It is on Las Ramblas just next to Plaça de Catalunya. Your price point seems fairly low, but this place was as reasonable as I could find when we looked. We chose a balcony room and enjoyed people watching every evening with our plastic glass of complimentary wine 🙂 They had a buffet and an outside terrace area as I recall. It was conveniently located for walking and transportation. They offered me a Rick Steves discount when they saw me carrying my book in the lobby one day. It isn’t fancy but we aren’t either. Folks were helpful and friendly. Safe travels.

I'm not clear on your exact dates. If you're in Spain March 4 - 14, that's ten nights rather than eight. But it looks as if you will have viable options in both cities. One caution: In the budget price range, you can encounter very, very small rooms--often with microscopic showers; sometimes the hotel will have "small" rooms and "standard" rooms, or it may have "standard" rooms and better rooms. If your hotels have low occupancy for the periods of your stays, you may end up with a free upgrade to a better/larger room, but that's not something you can count on.

We really enjoyed our stay here. It's a little bit above your budget, but not too much, and the location is fantastic--close to the palacio, Plaza Mayor, and the market, and close to a little metro line that connects to other parts of the city.

In our case, we rented a suite that had a little kitchenette. It was a little more expensive, but then we were able to bring home leftovers from lunch to have for dinner, etc., or grab some things from the market, so there was a savings in that regard.

https://www.jardinesdesabatini.com/en/

I liked the Hotel Europa on Puerto del Sol in Madrid. Also the Hotel Moderno about a block west, essentially the same location. The Moderno might be cheaper.

I've stayed at Pensio2000 in Barcelona 3 times. It's a converted apartment with about 6 rooms, all ensuite. The owners are on-site from about 8 to 8, but can be reached by phone at any time. It's 2 flights up (the owner uses a pulley to hoist your luggage if it's too heavy for him to carry up), no real breakfast but drinks and pastries and a communal mini-fridge all the time. The location is superb - across the street from the Palau de la Música and a short walk to Placa Catalunya. Some of the rooms have small balconies with a view of the Palau. I've paid around 70E in Feb/March. In Madrid I stayed at Hotel Europa twice. Great location, great service.

In Lisbon, the place that was mostly highly recommended here on the forum was fully booked, so I ended up with a 2 room apt that was very nice for 4N. The hotel I used in Lisbon was much more expensive than your budget (or frankly mine, but since the rest of my lodgings in Portugal were really cheap, I splurged). For some reason, Lisbon hotels are very expensive.

In Barcelona we stayed at Hotel Balmes at C. de Mallorca, 216. For when you’ll be there the price is about $102. We liked the hotel and its location. It’s near Casa Batló, Casa Mila, 12 blocks from the Sagrada Familia and about a mile walk to Plaza Catalunya. It’s close to many things but far enough out that you don’t get all the crowds like you’d get closer in to Las Ramblas.

We liked the Hotel Continental Barcelona a few years ago.

Ditto. Really awesome location, on pedestrian road (Las Ramblas), near transit (Placa Catalunya), near Barri Gotic (medieval area, cathedral), near market, near seashore.

Hotel had some attractive pluses: balconies right on Las Ramblas, and a free ice cream machine!

Hotel Liabeny is a wonderful hotel in Madrid and the rates are very reasonable. It is centrally located within easy walking distance to nearly everything. The furthest we walked was to the Atocha Train Station which was 30 minutes away. The last time we were in Madrid (December 2019-January 2020) we stayed at this hotel for a week and walked everywhere we went in Madrid. The hotel is only minutes away from the Puerta del Sol and a Metro line if you want to venture farther that your feet want to take you.

There are still a number of "Hostales" (not hostels) that include budget private rooms ensuite in good locations in various cities. I think they are categorized as 2 star hotels. I found them perfectly acceptable non-luxuary smaller hotels. A number of years ago, the place I stayed in Madrid was then called Hostal Villar. It appears to have been replaced and renovated, now as Hostal Atelier at the same address, 18 Principe near Plaza Santa Ana. The price is within your budget. The location was excellent for walking to most sights and museums, cafes and restaurants. It was very near 2 metro lines with easy access to both train stations and the airport.

In Barcelona, I stayed at the Hotel de Cuatro Naciones which is right on Las Ramblas. At the time I was in Barcelona, that was a very convenient location, but my impression is that Las Ramblas might be a less desireable location today. The hotel is historic, once luxurious but now funky or quant, with photos of past glory when it hosted the likes of Buffalo Bill and his Wild West show, Einstein, and other celebrities. It looks like it is still in your price range, depending on date.

We'll be in Madrid for a week in early Apriol, so I sure appreciate everyone's advice! As for your Portugal places, we only spent $60 a night in Porto, Nazare and Lisbon, and couldn't have been happier with our places.

In Lisbon, the Lisbon City Hotel was in a very charming, Turkish neighborhood. (Excellent kababs w/ garlic sauce to die for just caddy corner.) It was just a block to the metro, and only a few stops from the city center hub. Tip: Ask for a corner room! We'd booked a regular room, based on pics that included a balcony, but our room was barely bigger than the bed and only had a window. The front desk was great, though, and moved us to a corner room that was easily 2-3 times bigger, w a desk area and a large balcony overlooking a charming old church. Suspect it would cost more than the $56 we paid, but well worth it! Front desk people were nothing but charming and helpful during our entire stay.

In Porto, we were very happy with the small studio apartment
D&S - Porto São Bento Apartment II. It was just a block to the main train station and just a block off the main drag to the Douro River. (A whopping two from the beautiful Dom Luis bridge.) The "front desk" folks across the street were so charming and helpful, so you got a near "hotel-like" experience.

Hope that helps!
Cynthia