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Hotel Reina Victoria Reviews • Gran Hotel Reina Victoria

Tryp Hotel Reina Victoria, Madrid
Reviewed by Ferne Arfin Website: Freelance Writer Ferne Arfin

If it's Sunday between March and October, that man dressed like a bullfighter, crossing the lobby of Madrid's Hotel Reina Victoria, is a bull fighter. And he's on his way to work.

Throughout the season, visiting matadors dress and prepare here. Manolete was a regular guest, hosting lavish parties during the 1940s. Hemingway was a fan, and Prosper Mérimée wrote his novella "Carmen" in rooms here in the 1840s.

Behind the extravagant, wedding cake facade of the current, 1923 structure, the 6-storey Reina Victoria has more of a buzz than you'd expect in the mid-priced category.

The red bar, with stuffed bulls heads and photos of corridas and novilladas, may not suit everyone, but the beige and red public rooms fill up with glittering Madrilèño parties in the evening.

Guest rooms, refurbished in the 1990s, are spacious and comfortable with small sitting areas and such extra refinements as good reading lights and oversized tubs. Located within an easy walk of major museums and shops, the hotel fills one side of cafe-crammed Plaza de Santa Ana, opposite the Teatro España. Night time tapas-bar action on the plaza can be noisy, so ask to face the 16th century, Moorish Church of Santa Ana instead. A standard double is €217 year round - though it's worth searching the internet for bargains.

Skip the dull, packaged in-room breakfast and choose instead strong coffee and Spanish breads at the plaza's panaderia-pasteleria. There's no business center or reliable internet connection--which could be a problem for some. But the concierge is resourceful and, besides, if you are curious, he'll steer you toward the best seats in the Plaza de Toros.

Madrid Pictures - Click to Enlarge photos of Madrid © 2003 by Ferne Arfin, Licensed to About. Entrance to Plaza Mayor, Madrid Corral de la Moreria, Madrid Blanca del Rey Dance Troupe Madrid - Bullfighting Plaza de Toros Madrid A woman fan seller at the flea market

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