This fall, visits to the Spanish capital city teaming with wide avenues, fashionable citizens, and cafes and discos that don't hit their stride until 3:30 a.m. (you'll need that siesta after all that fiesta) can be yours for prices that are surprisingly low.
The Madrid Card (tel. 34 902 877 996,www.madridcard.com) is an ingenious system that promotes travel to Madrid allowing travelers great savings on purchases at restaurants, shops and other travel-centric places including free admission to over 43 museums. Prices for the card, which also allows for public transportation savings, include 25€ ($30) for a 24-hour card, 35€ ($42) for a 48-hour card and 45€ ($54) for a 72-hour card. You can buy the card online (expect a small discount of 4€ or 5€ when buying the Madrid Card online), on the phone or in Madrid, at tourist offices and travel agencies. In fact, the Madrid Card comes with an excellent guide to city locales.
In addition to selling the card, the Madrid Card website provides listing for many of Madrid's tourist sites, restaurants, maps, cars for hire, shopping or art walks, and day tours where the card is valid and garners you savings. For example, you get 15 percent off the purchase of "This is Madrid," an audio city tour highlighting Madrid's architecture, history, and interesting streets. For leisure lovers, the card gets you a 15 percent discount to the Hammam Baños Arabes for a relaxing day of pampering in an authentic Arab bath.
Now that you're armed with your discount card and travel guide, try Visit Spain Tours (tel. 866/878-4604; www.visitspaintours.com) for getting to Madrid and staying there. A five-day package to Madrid with departure out of New York starts at $699. The trip includes airfare, three or four nights at the Hotel NH Nacional, and hotel taxes. The five-star hotel (by European standards) is located in the heart of the Art Triangle near the famous El Prado museum. This trip departs September 7, 14, 28 and October 5 and 19, 2005. Prices are per person based on double occupancy; single travelers are charged an additional $360 for a single supplement.
Spanish Heritage Tours (tel. 800/456-5050; www.shtours.com), a travel operator in the business for over 20 years, also has some fall specials to Madrid with a few other Spanish cities thrown in. An 11-day/nine-night package that starts in Grenada before making stops in Seville, Torremolinos (on the Costa del Sol where you'll tour the Rock of Gibraltar) and Madrid, starts at $2,593 with October departures out of New York City. The trip includes stays at five-star hotels, and a guided escort who will greet passengers upon arrival at the airport in Spain and give them insight into Spanish culture and life. Get ready for a lot of walking as many of your days include city tours and museum and architecture stops. All intra-Spain travel as well as six breakfasts and a buffet dinner and all sightseeing excursions are included in the price of the trip.
Spanish Heritage (www.shtours.com/madrid/trypam.html#trypam) also has some land-only deals to Madrid that include three-nights at a host of four or five-star hotels (and one palace) starting at $279 per person throughout the fall season.
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