Ibis Madrid Centro Las Ventas

“EXCELLENT VALUE FOR MONEY with LOTS OF PUBLIC TRANSPORTATION”

WARNING: This review contains more than 256 characters. If you can read more than 256 characters without fainting like many of my younger students from FIU (Florida International University in Miami), who had a heart attack when they had to read a full page, then keep reading and you will learn s… more

WARNING: This review contains more than 256 characters. If you can read more than 256 characters without fainting like many of my younger students from FIU (Florida International University in Miami), who had a heart attack when they had to read a full page, then keep reading and you will learn something new. Since my first trip to Madrid in June 1963 when I was 19 years old, I have slept in more than one hundred places, from cheap Guest Houses (when I was a young and poor student at the Sorbonne University in Paris in the 1960s), then in HOSTALES (half a way between a cheap Guest House and a real hotel, when I was a young French professor, just as poor, after 1968) and finally in real hotels, now that I am a retired professor, poorer than ever, after 46 years of priesthood teaching French to French natives in "Great Paris" during 36 years, then extending my priesthood for 10 more years teaching at FIU, always for peanuts! But since 2016 I have been staying at this IBIS MADRID VENTAS during each stopover on my way to and back from Paris, where my sons were born and raised by their French mothers, because this Ibis offers a GREAT LOCATION, with plenty of PUBLIC TRANSPORTATION and a GREAT VALUE FOR MONEY. It is located on Calle de Julio Camba, right at the corner of Calle Alcala, just across from Ventas Plaza de Toros, where bullfight shows take place, and most rooms have a wide open view over this Plaza Ventas and Calle Alcala, which runs uphill towards Plaza Lineal, then to Canillejas, where you can take bus 101 to Barajas airport (but only T 1, 2 and 3) and bus 200 to all terminals, 1 to 4, at the same airport. Just across this IBIS, there is Metro Ventas, where you can take the subway to and from the airport, but I have a better and cheaper solution with only two busses from Terminal 4, where most big US (and also Iberia) airlines arrive and depart from. On my last trip, Sunday August 6, 2023, my nonstop Iberia flight from Miami landed in advance (as most often) at 1 pm sharp at Barajas airport in Madrid. But the time to walk, walk and walk on Terminal 4 International, then pass the Border Police with a Machine (very, very FAST!), go downstairs, take an automatic, driverless, underground train to Terminal 4 Domestic, go through Customs at a lightening speed and get out, it was already 2 pm when I took BUS 200 at the right end of T4. I paid 1.50 € on BUS 200 (WARNING: unlike Miami bus drivers, in Madrid they give change back BUT MAXIMUM CHANGE is for a 5 € note) and less than half an hour later my bus was at the AVENIDA DE AMERICA bus terminal, after going through terminals 1, 2 and 3 and taking the expressway to Madrid with a stop at CANILLEJAS. Two floors up the escalators, and about half a block later, I crossed the Avenida de America, then I crossed Francisco Silvela, walked a few more steps and took bus C-1 (CIRCULAR 1), where I paid 1.50 € again for 3 stops. A few minutes later, I got off at PLAZA MANUEL BECERRA, crossed it and walked downhill on AVENIDA ALCALA for a couple of blocks to Plaza Ventas, where this Ibis hotel is. What a good idea with those modern rolling luggage going down effortlessly! Less than 50 minutes after I took the first bus 200 at the airport, I was already in my favorite room 707, like the Boeing I used to take out of Paris in the 1960s in order to go spend my holidays with my mother in Miami Beach. After leaving your luggage in the room, you may walk uphill back to Plaza Manuel Becerra and, just a few yards before the square, you will see an excellent bakery called GRANIER, on your right, where you can have delicious croissants, pains au chocolat and an excellent espresso for a price lower than what you pay in Paris. But most places are cheaper than Paris, with the notable exception of the UK, the Netherlands and Germany! Then, if you are a good walker, you may continue on Calle Alcala, cross the Becerra place and keep going on the left hand side to Centro Goya. There, you will see a big department store called EL CORTE INGLES, where you will find virtually everything, from tobacco and food to clothes, shoes and electronics. I often do this during my trips to Ibis Madrid Ventas, and the whole journey takes me less than a couple of hours (plus the time spent at the store) because it's less than 4 miles round trip, which is around the corner for me, who walk between 5 and 8 miles almost every day in Miami Beach, even now, at the age of 80. But if you are not a good walker, you can just take BUS 146, either at Ventas, in front of the hotel, or on Calle Alcala, almost in front of GRANIER, and go to PLAZA CALLAO, where the action is, in less than 30 minutes. At Callao, you will see a famous French electronic store called FNAC, and the original EL CORTE INGLES, that I discovered in the 1960s, on a pedestrian street called PRECIADOS, which goes down to SOL, a very famous Plaza. There, you may take another pedestrian street called CALLE ARENAL, on your right, which will take you to OPERA and the PALACIO REAL. Then, you can walk back to bus 146 terminal by Callao and go back to Ventas for only 1.50 € a/o August 2023. "But wait, there is more", as they say on TV in the US. Right at the door of this Ibis, you can take another bus which will take you next to SOL, from where you will be able to walk a few blocks to PRADO MUSEUM, a place for which I published a very comprehensive review (more than 256 characters long...) right here in Trip Advisor, many, many moons ago. And, if you need water, milk or any food, you will see a SUPERCOR grocery under this IBIS MADRID VENTAS, right at the corner, on Alcala St. Finally, during this last trip in August 2023, I discovered that they put a small refrigerator in my usual room 707, which was not there during my previous trips, in November 2022, on my way to and back from Paris. In fact, I have NEVER seen a refrigerator in any Ibis hotel in Europe nor in South America (NO Ibis in the US), with the exception of Brazil, whether in Sao Paulo or in Rio de Janeiro, where they all have this mini, mini refrigerator, and now at this IBIS MADRID VENTAS. But I never saw a refrigerator in Buenos Aires, Montevideo or Lima, nor in Lisbon, Madrid (until now), London, Frankfurt, Vienna, nor in any of several Ibis where I have stayed in various French cities besides Paris. You may read my long reviews about all those locations right here, in TA. Those amenities such as big refrigerator, microwave, iron and ironing board that I always see in CHOICE HOTELS (whether Comfort Inn, Quality Inn, Clarion, etc.) in the US for around $100 US, are just a dream in Europe, so forget about it! Unlike "Ibis Styles" (green sign), which may greatly differ from one another, all traditional Ibis (red sign) hotel rooms are very much alike. There, you will get a clean, reasonably small room, about the size of a double room at the Econo Lodge Atlanta airport (but twice as big as those "single" rooms you see in budget hotels in London, which are half way between the traditional English phone booth and a small US walk-in closet!), with a queen bed, small 20 inch TV (most often with many cable stations, even in French and English), a small open shelf to put your clothes, a phone and small desk with a wooden, unpadded chair. And, of course, all Ibis rooms (whether blue, red or green) also have a fully equipped small shower room with a sink, hair dryer (NOT on blue ones), private toilet, a floor mat and two large towels (never one, never three, always two, from Vienna to London and from Paris to Buenos Aires...), usually reasonably clean and well lit. Indeed, as in all budget hotels, where you pay less than 500 € per night, you will hear your neighbor's "pillow talk" and a nasty dog will wake you up barking on the street at 3 am. But during the 2010s crisis I stayed many times in a 4 star hotel called Florida Norte, across from Príncipe Pío train station, where I heard every time that my neighbors opened or closed the zipper of their suitcase, to the point that I had the feeling they were right next to me in my room! There, too, I published a very comprehensive long review in Trip Advisor more than ten years ago. HOWEVER, due to the OUTSTANDING LOCATION, with lots of PUBLIC TRANSPORTATION, and at a reasonable rate under 100 € per night for a superior room with a nice terrace (which has a round table, two plastic club chairs plus a plastic reclining couch) and a WIDE OPEN VIEW, this IBIS VENTAS offers an EXCELLENT VALUE FOR MONEY, which has always been my creed ever since I spent my 1968 summer holidays selling vacuum cleaners in Miami, because our store manager repeated every morning that if our customers were reluctant to buy such an expensive vacuum cleaner, all we had to do was: "show them more value". In other words, the problem is not the price you pay but what you get for your money: VALUE FOR MONEY, that's the key word!

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“Great hotel”

ibis Madrid Centro Las Ventas is right opposite the Ventas Arena and the Ventas metro station. It is easily reachable and it is a very good hotel: my room had a comfortable bed and good bathroom. Insulation from outside noise was very good, and air conditioning was efficient and not noisy. Breakfas… more

ibis Madrid Centro Las Ventas is right opposite the Ventas Arena and the Ventas metro station. It is easily reachable and it is a very good hotel: my room had a comfortable bed and good bathroom. Insulation from outside noise was very good, and air conditioning was efficient and not noisy. Breakfast was good, with several choices available. Staff were helpful and friendly.

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