Cava Baja is many people’s favorite Madrid street, bursting with bar and restaurant life, but you need to be sure you want to stay here. If you are, Posada del Dragón is a great choice. There’s been a coaching inn here for 150 years, but today the rooms of this boutique hotel and bar are bright and designer-ish, with a Moorish theme. The accommodation is set around a much more traditional courtyard, and there’s a busy restaurant and tapas bar spilling onto the street out front. Make sure you get an upstairs room, either overlooking the street (great views but noisier) or the courtyard (quieter but smaller). Avoid the small ground-floor bedroom right beside the restaurant. Good food choices are everywhere on Cava Baja, but the breakfast and tapas here at the La Antoñita restaurant are worth staying in for, offering all the classics—ibérico charcuterie, Cadiz-style shrimp fritters, and creamy croquettes).