Las Musas Hostel

5 stars for room, 4 stars for bathroom facilities, 2 stars for free wifi.

It is not particularly difficult to find the hostel once you are familiar with your way around Madrid and let me say roads/streets in Madrid are super confusing. It took me nearly 10minutes to get oriented once I got out the metro station because there are so many small streets/roads extend to different directions. From the airport to get to the hostel, it took me about 50 min to an hour.

Once you find Calle Jesus y Maria, it is not to hard to find the hostel. You have to buzz the door bell to wait to be let in.

I stayed in a 2-person mixed bedroom. The bed is comfortable and it is spatious. There are two power outlets and two fans. I couldn't really figure out how to shut the curtain since it's extremely confusing. There are two sinks, two toilets, and three shower heads (not so stable hot/cold shower) in the women's bathroom. There are plenty of tables/chairs in the commons. They also have a big kitchen where you can store your own food in the fridge and make food. Breakfast includes basic cereal, milk, bread, and jelly. It is free. They also sell slices of pizzas for 4 euros. They also have a computer room downstairs in the basement with 7 or 8 computers with free Internet access. Couches are available in the commons and basement.

The first night of my stay, the internet was stable in the commons but it was difficult for me to pick up wifi on the 3rd floor. The second evening after my day tour, I could barely pick up the wifi in the commons after I went back to my hostel. It was stable for an hour between 10 and 11pm but the wifi was completely not functioning after 11pm in the commons or in the basement. I asked the reception desk and they told me to wait for 5minutes. I waited for awhile but it was still not working. The second morning I was still not able to pick up wifi. The staff at reception told me that I still have to wait and there is problem but they didnt know what the problem was. That was frustrating. Normally I don't mind wifi access as much because Europe doesn't have (stable) free wifi everywhere like in the United States. However, I did mind this time because I am on my study abroad program where I have to turn in a group assignment. I finished my part before I left for Madrid. My partner needed more time to work on the assignment and would email the final draft to me by late Saturday evening so I can review and offer final edits Sunday morning since the homework is due on Sunday afternoon when I will be on the flight from Madrid back to Brussels. But there was nothing I could do about it since there was no Internet. I mainly chose this hostel because of its promising (free) wifi service. However, during my stay; wifi was extermely unstable for more than half of the time I needed it and the staff couldn't offer me a good explaination. I was very disappointed by the wifi service.

The hostel is rather safe and secure. Other than getting buzzed in as they keep a close eye on who comes in and goes out of the hostel, the room is on a car keyed system. Each room has lockers. You can use your own locker or rent a locker.

The second morning I got an early morning wake up call right around 5 or 6am from people downstairs on the street. Clearly a group of people were drunk talking really loudly as they walked pass by. Somehow they decided to just sit outside our hostel and kept talking and laughing for nearly two hours. That was not very pleasant.

Since I was traveling from Brussels to Madrid, I wasn't sure if I would need my passport as my ID or just the drivers license would work as official government ID. At the airport check-in, I tried and only showed my drivers license and the staff asked if I have my passport with me. I said yes and do you need to see it. She said it's okay I trust you. So I never showed my passport flying but I needed passport for my hostel anyways. I was glad that i took it with me.

It's nice to walk around in Madrid at 830am as there are no tourists around except those with luggages trying to catch the subway metro early in the morning. You can still see lots of drunk people going home from the coming out the night before. As I was walking near Sol metro station, three people walked pass by me and I unfortunately witness one guy revealing his butt to his friends. There were also drunk people who just got out of breakfast and tried to find their way home but ended up just singing/laughing/wandering on the street with friends. According to our tour guide, if you go to a club at 12:30am and there is no one around, don't go home, it's because people haven't come out yet. People come out around 2am when it's not so hot outside and party til 6 or 7am.

Overall, I liked this hostel except it's wifi wasn't working for majority or the time during my stay. Also, some basic Spanish phrases will indeed help you get around since not everyone can understand English. I really enjoyed Madrid!

We stayed in Las Musas for 6 nights in which we had to switch rooms twice. Onces because there were bedbuggs in our room.... not a nice bed compagnon if you ask me.
The second time due to a double booking or something. The rooms are very hot and the beds are small.
It is really hard to communicate with the staff about problems because they hardly speak and understand any English or French.

What a cool place to stay. While searching online, I ran across good reviews of Las Musas. I got a private room and thank god it had AC because a heat wave engulfed the Iberian Peninsula.

If you want to meet lots of people on your trip, you definitely should stay here. The bathrooms are tiny and the walls are thin so you can hear people walking up and down the staircases or talking in the lobby.

They provide free walking tours, however I found the tour guides to be really pushing when asking for tips. Take the Sandemans free tours instead. The guides at least work for their tips by making the tours entertaining.

Nice girls at front desk, easy check in and luggage storage. Wifi is great in lobby, spotty in rooms. The bathroom ceiling leaked toilet water on us in our bathroom and the shower had no hot water. Eh. Bed was comfy and I always felt safe though. Location is okay, but not in the center.

The walking tour was not good. The guide was swearing a lot (not kid friendly) and making fun of churches. It was a waste of time. Driver to Segovia was rude. I would skip the tours here.

The room I was in, was a little too small for 6 people, but I loved that the lockers were inside the room. It made it much more convenient than some of the other hostels I'd stayed in, while traveling Europe!
I did the tapas and sangria tour and I highly recommend it, especially if you're traveling solo! It's a great chance to meet other travelers! If you have to choose, I'd go with the Flamenco tour! It was STUNNING! It's in a pretty quaint little bar, the flamenco group volunteers to come in and perform and gives a chance to ask questions, etc. Very intimate and beautiful!

I liked this place, the staff was great! do the pub crawl, internet could be improved since there are computers but if you want to use your own the internet is sketchy, this place is huge too, even though it doesnt look like it I could've gotten lost in all the hallways..white white white, but eh not so bad for a couple nights.

I stayed here in October 2012. Location was great - just about 2 blocks to the metro, and a block away is a small grocery store for water and snacks. The front staff was hit-or-miss, and it was a bit difficult with communication since my spanish is bad. There are working computers downstairs, but no cameras or mics for skype. There was a really fun bar-hop night, and I met some nice people from all over. That was the best part of my hostel trip. I also went on the walking tour of the city, which I would probably skip next time. The beds are small and so-so... I always bring my own sleep covers and pillow, but the mattress was ok. Breakfast consisted of toast and nutella, and coffee or tea. The evening staff seemed bothered by everyone, and not very helpful in the mornings. Bring your own lock for your locker (thin lock) - the keys on the ones they sell work on all the other locks.

If you're traveling with another person, I'd recommend searching around and getting a much nicer hotel for the same price.

Easy to find, Las Musas Residence is located right off of the Tirso de Molina metro stop. The staff was very friendly and gave us a ton of helpful hints on what to see/where to eat/etc. You don't get a feel of how big the place is until you put your luggage in your room and head downstairs for the nightly 2 Euro paella at 8:30 (so good!). The place is packed with travelers who are willing to share their experiences with you. Also, do the pub crawl if you want to go out and experience Madrid until the sun comes up! We met a ton of great people on this little excursion and had a blast.
Bathrooms were a bit tiny and one shower to a room of 8 made getting ready to go little long, but all in all a great place to stay in the heart of the city. Kudos to Las Musas for starting our trip off so great!

Great little place in Madrid-great location and the staff is super nice-Beds were a little hard but if you have a problem they will help you. Highly recommended.