Puerta del Sol Protest and Hotel Europa windows

Normally, the windows are enough to keep out regular noise. We’ve stayed at that hotel a number of times now and our rooms have always faced the plaza. I don’t think any hotel can account for loudspeakers.

The Puerta del Sol is the primary plaza in Madrid where most demonstrations take place and demonstrators/crowds congregate. People should take that and the potentially accompanying noise into consideration when reserving a hotel near the plaza. Thanks for the reminder.

Yes, no complaints here—we knew it was the main gathering place. We think it’s interesting to watch. I can’t understand what they are saying, but I’m enjoying all the enthusiasm!

Thanks for the report. I just booked this hotel for June and do read about the noice - but won’t have a room overlooking the Plaza. I decided I was willing to trade location for some noise. I will be watching for an update! :)

Last September we were able to enjoy the newly renovated plaza, but I’m not used to the new location of the Carlos III statue. In 2022, the plaza was a huge construction zone that was barely walkable. Years ago it took some getting used to when the Tío Pepe sign was moved from the far end of the plaza to where it is now.

We have reservations at the Europa for later this year. I asked for the same room we had last year.

Well, when we went to bed we turned the white noise machine to the highest possible volume. DH fell asleep right away. I wasn’t as tired as he was, so I was still awake at 10:35 when the protest ended. The white noise machine did a great job of masking the sound of the people who were talking through the microphone and speakers. The only really loud noise was when the crowd cheered. And even that kind of blended in with the white noise. There were police sirens at 10:35 as the protest was ending so those were loud also.

All in all, if we hadn’t had the white noise machine, we would have been quite bothered by the noise from the protest. I highly recommend bringing one or having a white noise app on your phone if you plan to stay at Hotel Europa. I’m sure that even the rooms that don’t face the square were loud with the noise of the protest.

The windows did a good job of keeping out the normal noise from the square. You just can’t always know ahead of time if there will be a protest during the dates of your stay.

There was a call for worldwide protests by the opposition leader yesterday. We had them in French cities too. In fact, protests about world situations are very common in western Europe. We have at least one every weekend, and the central square or plaza is usually the place. Of coures Barcelona and Spanish language cities had huge protests against what is happening in Venezuela.- It could be an inconvenience for some tourists, so I’m gld you brought this up. It’s either a ringside seat or something to avoid when choosing a hotel.

Other than the noise, it made it very inconvenient for people trying to cross the square. We were just returning to the hotel around 7:15, and we could easily cross. The protest officially started at 8, and by then people were having trouble. I watched numerous visitors emerge from the Sol metro stop with a shocked look on their face and then try to make their way through the crowd. That was probably the biggest inconvenience for most visitors even if they were not staying in a hotel on the square.