Where to stay in Madrid: the best neighbourhoods and hotels

Puerta del Sol is where Madrid meets. Here is the clock that rings in the New Year on national television, the bear-and-strawberry-tree statue everyone photographs, and Kilometre Zero, the plaque from which Spain's roads are measured. The arcaded Plaza Mayor is a few minutes' walk away, with the tapas and vermouth stalls of the Mercado de San Miguel just beyond.

Gran Vía runs north of Sol in a parade of grand early 20th-century façades, flagship stores and theatres, which is why locals call it Madrid's Broadway. This is the most convenient base in the city, with the metro, the museums and the palace all close, and a crop of design-led hotels with rooftop bars looking out over the domes. The trade-off is noise and crowds, so ask for a room at the back if you sleep lightly.

West of Sol, the city puts on its finery. The Royal Palace, all granite and pale stone, looks down over the Campo del Moro gardens, with the Almudena Cathedral across its forecourt and the Teatro Real, the opera house, facing it over Plaza de Oriente. Behind lie the twisting streets of the Madrid de los Austrias, the oldest part of town, where some of the city's most famous old taverns still serve roast suckling pig.

Head north and you reach Plaza de España, recently made over and ringed by big hotels in landmark towers, several with rooftop terraces that look straight across to the palace. A short walk west, the Templo de Debod, a genuine ancient Egyptian temple given to Spain, is where Madrid gathers to watch the sun go down. Down by the river, the gardens of Madrid Río make for a calmer, greener base.

Spain's Golden Age writers lived on these sloping streets between Sol and the Prado, and the neighbourhood has never let anyone forget it. Lines from their work are set in brass into the pavements, Cervantes and Lope de Vega both have streets named after them, and the Plaza de Santa Ana is ringed with terraces that stay busy long into the night.

Calle de las Huertas is the main bar crawl, but the area is more grown-up than its party reputation suggests. Hotels here tend to come with a story: a palace designed by Juan de Villanueva, the architect of the Prado; a 19th-century mansion opposite the Congress of Deputies; a boutique hotel dedicated to the arts. Sol and the Prado are each about ten minutes away on foot, and you'll eat superbly in between.

The Paseo del Prado may be the most cultured mile in Europe. The Prado holds Velázquez, Goya and El Greco; the Reina Sofía, at the Atocha end, has Picasso's Guernica; and the Thyssen-Bornemisza fills in the gaps between them. Madrileños call it the Golden Triangle of Art, and you could happily lose a week inside it.

Behind the museums spreads the Retiro, the city's favourite park, where you can row on the great lake, wander to the glass Palacio de Cristal and join the Sunday crowds, with the Royal Botanical Garden at its edge. Hotels range from the grand old Ritz to modern four-stars facing the Prado, and Atocha station, with trains to the airport and right across Spain, is close by. It's leafy, central and noticeably calmer at night than Sol.

Laid out on a tidy grid in the 19th century, Salamanca is where old Madrid money lives and shops. Calle Serrano and its neighbours are lined with the big Spanish and international labels, the apartment blocks come with wrought-iron balconies and doormen, and the eating is serious: Platea, a former cinema, is now a glamorous food hall with counters run by some of the city's top chefs.

It's quieter and more polished than the old centre, with the Retiro and the triumphal Puerta de Alcalá on its doorstep and the museums an easy walk away. Hotels lean grand, from five-star classics in historic limestone buildings to slick four-stars close to the round-the-clock airport bus. Nights out here mean cocktails and late dinners rather than clubs.

North of Gran Vía, two neighbourhoods handle most of the city's partying. Malasaña was the cradle of La Movida, the explosion of music and art that followed the end of the dictatorship, and it's still scruffy, creative and full of vintage shops, record stores and bars around the Plaza del Dos de Mayo. Chueca, next door, is the heart of LGBTQ+ Madrid and the centre of one of Europe's biggest Pride celebrations every summer.

Calle Fuencarral, a busy shopping street, runs between the two, and on the smarter northern edge around Plaza de Alonso Martínez, restored palaces and early 20th-century buildings have become boutique hotels with spas and stylish bars. Stay here if you want to walk home from dinner at midnight and keep going; skip it if you need silence before one in the morning.

The Paseo de la Castellana is Madrid's great north–south artery, lined with banks, embassies and glossy hotels. Partway up stands the Santiago Bernabéu, Real Madrid's rebuilt stadium; further north, the Cuatro Torres skyscrapers break a skyline that is otherwise resolutely low-rise, and one of them has a hotel filling its first 31 floors, with views in every direction.

Hotels here are bigger and more business-minded, and one is home to DiverXO, the city's celebrated three-Michelin-star restaurant. It's the natural choice for football fans and trade-fair visitors, and for anyone who wants quick links to the airport, including trains from Chamartín station. Don't expect old-world charm on your doorstep, though: you'll be taking the metro into the centre for that.