Another of the old-style hotels in Madrid, Gran Hotel Velázquez, located in the Salamanca area of the city, has light and cheery bedrooms with quaint pastel blue and white flowery bed-covers and matching curtains. There are 143 rooms in all, including 72 suites that are super-spacious. The overall feeling of the Gran Hotel Velázquez is rather formal and conservative during the week, when the majority of guests are here for a conference or a meeting. However, the hotel takes on a more relaxed feel at weekends and has all the extras you’ll need for a leisure break. There’s even a gift shop and a hair salon. The bar, a popular meeting-place for the Salamanca crowd, has enough seating for everyone.  You’ll never be short of things to see in the area either, with Madrid’s National Archaeological Museum and the Wax Museum situated a few minutes down the road at Plaza de Colón.