hostel questions for madrid

I haven't stayed in madrid, so I'm not much help. Have you checked hostels.com or hostelbookers.com? You could also just type the hostel name into google and usually you will find some reviews that way too.

check out www.madridman.com -- it has an excellent listing of the various hostals in Madrid

I usually stay in hostels, but we found Formule 1 when we were in France.
Find it at: www.hotelformule1.com (number 1, not l). They are throughout Europe. Cheap and clean.

I was born in Corpus Christi.

Had younger friends who stayed at Cat's last year....they liked it...said it was quiet. It's a little off the beaten tourist path, south of Calle Atocha, but not all that much out of the way. Right near a great little flamenco school, Casa Patas....food is indifferent, but flamenco is great! Check www.casapatas.com

La Grange (earlier poster) is right: www.madridman.com is a great source of Spanish 'hostales'. Which is fine if you're just looking for a bed for the night.

However, for hostels in Madrid, www.hostelbookers.com is a better bet. As someone else says, Cat's Hostel is a good choice, while a couple of other good cheap Madrid hostels are the Albergue Juvenil Madrid and the Posada de Huertas.

It all depends what sort of a traveler you are, and what sort of a budget you have...

As for the location: Madrid's city center is pretty small, and easy to get around on foot. All of the places I've mentioned above are brilliantly located in lively, safe parts of town with plenty of great bars and restaurants to choose from. Oh, and they're no more than about a 10 minutes stroll from the Prado. Tops.

Good luck.

Don't forget...in Spain, if you look at "hostals," you're looking at small, usually family-run, one and two star hotels....not "hostels." These are inexpensive yet (mostly) quite comfortable wth single rooms....but more expensive than most beds in a "hostel."