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The Intercontinental Madrid is an excellent option if you’re visiting Madrid. It’s a true luxury hotel. It deserves its 5* description.
I stayed for two nights with my family. It’s not right in the centre of the city, but everything is walking distance. I had an enjoyable weekend break.
I’m a platinum ambassador with IHG. I got a terrific upgrade to a 1 bed suite. The suite was lovely and had a great street view. It’s possibly the best upgrade I’ve had at an Intercontinental hotel.
Book your stay at the Intercontinental Madrid by IHG here.
Book your stay at the Intercontinental Madrid here.
I booked two rooms at the Intercontinental Madrid, for two nights. I was staying as a family of four. The entry level rooms are only designed for two occupants. I booked one Premium room with my 2 for 1 Ambassador Voucher (i.e. using cash). The 2nd room was booked using IHG points. 75,000 points for two nights.
If you need IHG points, you can buy them from here.
The day before arrival, I got an email from the hotel. The room I booked with the Ambassador voucher had been upgraded to a 1 bed suite. The upgrade came because I was a Platinum Ambassador.
This was a result for me, as a 1 bed suite allowed 4 people to use the room. So I cancelled the 2nd room I had booked (with IHG points).
The Ambassador 2 for 1 voucher allows me to stay for two nights and pay for one. The room I booked cost €800 for two nights (i.e. before the upgrade). I only paid for one night, so it cost me just €400. Kudos to the Intercontinental Madrid for its excellent treatment of elite members.
A 1 bed suite cost €1,200 for two nights. But I only paid €400, because I’m an Intercontinental Ambassador. An €800 saving.
I got the ambassador 2 for 1 voucher as I am an Intercontinental Ambassador. This is a paid for membership program. It costs $225 annually. It comes with the following benefits at Intercontinental Hotels:
There’s a lot of value to be had with the program. I always get more than $225 of value from the 2 for 1 voucher.
I also like the 4pm checkout. On a weekend break, a late checkout is a very handy feature. It’s much better than leaving your luggage with the hotel.
In addition, when you renew your membership, you get 15,000 IHG points. Which I value at $75.
For me, the program is a no brainer.
Sign up to Intercontinental Ambassador here.
I use an eSim for when I travel to Madrid. Only $3.99 for 7 days. For 1 GB of data. Amazing value – cheaper than coffee at Starbucks (much cheaper). There are other plans available too, if you need more data.
The eSim provider are rated 4.7* from over 18,000 Trustpilot reviews.
Buy your eSim here.
The Intercontinental Madrid by IHG is on a quiet street (Paseo de la Castellana). One of the most exclusive areas in the city, close to the Salamanca neighbourhood. Known for luxury shopping and fine dining. It’s a nice and tranquil location.
Madrid’s main attractions are within walking distance from the hotel. The Royal Palace is 2 miles away. The Santiago Bernabeu stadium is 1.5 miles away.
Public Transport is excellent too. The nearest Metro Station is Gregorio Maranon, which is 5 minutes walk from the Intercontinental Madrid.
You can get the metro from the airport, although there is no direct train. You need to make one change. The journey takes 35 minutes and costs €4. It’s not expensive at all. But it doesn’t look great if you rock up to an Intercontinental Hotel, having taken the metro!
To travel around Madrid, your best bet is probably walking or metro. You can take taxis to get around, however Madrid is a very walkable city. You’ll spend a fair amount of time in traffic and spend a lot of money.
As a warning, local Madrid taxis are really expensive. So I pre-booked a taxi from the airport. The company have a 4.9* rating on Trustpilot, from over 45,000 reviews. As they’re well priced and reliable.
To get from the airport, I paid €40 for my taxi. According to the concierge, it would have cost €70 with a Madrid Taxi.
Book you taxi here or by using the form below.
There’s so much to do in Madrid. It’s a modern European city with stunning architecture and great night life.
If there’s one thing you must see in Madrid, it’s the Royal Palace. Book your ticket here for only $26. Rated 4.6* from over 13,000 reviews. It’s the official residence of Spanish Royalty. There’s also an outdoor balcony with amazing views of Madrid.
Real Madrid are the most successful and famous football team in the world (I refuse to say soccer). Book a stadium tour of the Santiago Bernabeu here for $41. Rated 4.5* from over 20,000 reviews. Walk into the dressing, sit down on the benches and view all those trophies!
Real Madrid have won a whopping 158 trophies. Including 36 Spanish League titles, and 15 UEFA Champions Leagues titles.
Book a Tuk Tuk tour of Madrid here. The tour lasts for 1 to 4 hours and prices start at $28 per person. Tour is rated a fantastic 4.8* from over 3,000 reviews.
The Intercontinental Madrid by IHG is a large and luxurious city centre hotel. It has the following facilities:
The hotel is large and had 8 floors of rooms. There are 302 rooms and suites.
There are 3 restaurants are bars on the ground floor.
The 1st floor has the club lounge and the fitness centre.
The ground floor lobby has a bar and dining area. This area is hugely impressive and contains stunning architecture. There are high ceilings, a grand piano and large chandeliers.
This area was very popular with guests. I didn’t stay in the lobby myself, as I had access to the club lounge. No point in me paying for drinks on the ground floor, when I get them for free in the club lounge.
There’s also a small courtyard on the ground floor. This is in the centre of the hotel. This is a really nice area to sit out and eat or have a drink. There’s a large statue in the courtyard.
The names of the restaurants are as follows:
The suite I stayed in was on the 4th floor of the Intercontinental Madrid IHG. Overlooking the Castellana (the street). I was pleased with the view. The street is large and tree lined. Lots of natural light came in.
In the past, I’ve stayed at very nice city hotels and had a room looking at the interior of the hotel. This definitely spoils your stay. Read my reviews of the Intercontinental Paris and the Waldorf Astoria Edinburgh.
The Junior suite was large. It’s 40 square metres and was fine for my family of four. It had the following facilities.
There was a small welcome gift as we arrived in the room. Macaroons, chocolate covered strawberries and some small sweets.
There was also a hand written letter from the hotel. Which is always a nice touch.
The design of the suite was rustic and classic. It’s not to my personal taste, but it’s right for the character of the hotel.
The carpet had definitely seen better days! While it was clean, you can see the stains that had accumulated over the years.
There was a Krups coffee machine and a small tea selection. I didn’t try the coffee machine, as I don’t drink coffee any more.
There was no kettle. This means that you need to use the water from the coffee machine to make tea. This isn’t ideal, as the water isn’t hot enough. I chose to get hot water from the club lounge instead.
I really liked the suite. I took a lot of photos in the above slideshow. The below photo is the view from the room. And of the welcome gift and the welcome letter.
The bathroom was spacious. It had the following features:
I liked that they had a separate bath tub and shower. This is something that’s common, only in 5* hotels.
I’ve been to some luxury hotels that have a tiny bathroom with only a shower. It’s good for the hotel, as they use less space for each room. So they can fit in more hotel rooms. However, I get annoyed when I stay in a €400 hotel room, and have to use a tiny shower. One example is the Taj Hotel in Mumbai – review here. Another example is when I stayed at the Kimpton Edinburgh.
The Intercontinental Madrid also had a full complement of disposable toiletries. Shower cap, toothbrush, body lotion etc.
The Intercontinental Madrid has an executive lounge. Open from 6am to 11pm daily. The room I booked had lounge access.
Executive lounges are getting rarer and rarer. Hotels are shutting them down and replacing them with rooms and conference rooms.
An executive lounge is a pure cost for a hotel. It doesn’t make the hotel any money. It’s just a perk for those who have elite status. So kudos to the Intercontinental Madrid for keeping their lounge open.
The lounge has a breakfast service, afternoon tea and evening happy hour. Outside of those times, they have a small selection of teas, coffee and snacks available. They also offer beer at any time – which is good to know!
The coffee machine is a production sized Nespresso machine. One of the biggest I’ve seen. I didn’t try it myself, but Nespresso is obviously very popular.
The lounge is pretty small and gets very busy. So that’s something to be aware of.
I had breakfast at the Executive Lounge each morning I was at the hotel. There was a spread with the following options:
The fruit selection was excellent. Including watermelon and Spanish oranges. Given that these items are grown in Spain, they tasted great.
As a vegetarian, I had a smallish breakfast each day. Eating bread, hummus, hash browns and cheese. The bread selection was fresh and tasted nice.
My daughter had a boiled egg each morning. They made it well, and the yolk was runny. Because who likes a hard boiled egg?!
Evening happy hour was offered between 6pm and 8pm. In the Club Lounge of the Intercontinental Madrid IHG. There was a full range of drinks. Beers, wine and spirits were offered.
There was also a small variety of hot dishes. Dumplings, spring rolls, falafel and hash browns were offered. The food was taken from the freezer and reheated in the oven. Definitely not a proper dinner.
The falafel were very dry. With falafel, you really need sauce, salad and halloumi. To make it taste good.
There’s a fitness centre on the 1st floor of the Intercontinental Madrid by IHG. It’s pretty good. It’s a large gym with a lot of equipment.
It has a rowing machine, treadmills, cross-trainer and other cardio machines.
There’s a also a decent selection of machines for weight training. With dumbbells, a smith machine and a multipurpose pulley trainer.
I didn’t use the gym as it was only a short visit.
The Intercontinental Madrid by IHG is terrific. Great for luxury escapes in Spain. It’s everything a city centre, 5* hotel should be. The architecture is fantastic. My suite was large and had a lovely view. The Club Lounge was excellent too.
One of my favourite hotels in Spain is the Marriott Vacation Club in Marbella (Playa Andaluza). My review is here. A beautiful beach front resort with so many activities. Including miniature golf, padel, shuffleboard, 5 a side football and multiple swimming pools.