Ocean Drive Madrid

There was a really lovely little rooftop pool and a great location for the hotel! 👌🏻

The bathroom glass is transparent, which is inconvenient for showering.

Ocean Drive Madrid Hotel is a nice hotel right by the opera house. You can walk to the main attractions in just a few minutes. A metro station is conveniently located next to the hotel. The hotel is modernly equipped, but the quality isn't top-notch. The shower leaks, and the laminate flooring is coming up due to water damage. It's very noisy outside at night, and the windows don't seal well. You can skip the breakfast and opt for the cafes in the area instead. The restaurant is very nice, and the food is good. However, the service staff seems bored and unmotivated. The rooftop pool is a great way to cool off, and there are several spots to relax. A good hotel in the center of Madrid.

Pros: 1. The hotel's location is excellent. It's directly across from the Teatro Real (Madrid Opera House), and the metro station is right at the hotel's doorstep. You can easily walk to iconic attractions like the Royal Palace of Madrid, Plaza Mayor, and the famous century-old churrería. 2. The hotel staff are very welcoming and went out of their way to accommodate our requests. There's also a Michelin-recommended restaurant on the ground floor, but we didn't have a chance to dine there. 3. The hotel bedding is excellent, and the mattress was very comfortable. Cons: 1. Due to its prime location and the average hotel prices in Madrid, the cost is on the higher side. The actual room quality is comparable to a domestic Atour Hotel (perhaps even smaller?). 2. The room lacks proper ventilation. The shower area isn't separate, meaning your roommate has a full view of you while showering. The toilet is in a separate cubicle, but surprisingly, there's no extractor fan – I'm not sure how the hotel manages ventilation. 3. The street in front of the hotel is one-way, making it quite a roundabout drive to reach the hotel entrance. If you're in a hurry to catch a train or flight, I recommend walking a minute or two to the Opera House to catch a taxi, as there are many more available there. Don't wait foolishly at the hotel's entrance.

The city center location is excellent. The 'pool' is actually more of a plunge pool. There are only 8 sun loungers and a few seats for over a hundred guests. This led to many unhappy guests who couldn't even find a spot in the sun. There was no music either – it's definitely not a rooftop bar – the 'bar' is just a QR code scan, and then they bring drinks up from downstairs. At 7 euros for a soft drink, it's very expensive. The breakfast was decent. On Saturday, it wasn't possible to eat outside because of an 'event,' and indoors was quite small. On Sunday, there weren't enough pastries (everything was gone by 10 AM, and breakfast was until 11:30 AM), and the bread was rock hard and dried out. When I asked about it, the response was: 'In Spain, it's not unusual to serve bread from the day before'... which might be true, but not when it's completely dried out.