The Hilton Madrid Airport was about a mile and a half from the airport, but it took about 25 minutes to get there. I thought the taxi driver was trying to rip us off, but it was a set fare. I later found out he was avoiding a toll road, so he took the long way around.

The Hilton Madrid Airport is set in a weird part of town, next to a couple of car dealerships and lots of industrial-looking manufacturing complexes. It’s tucked away from the road. It has two towers, but the back tower seems to be left, literally in the dark. Once the light from the sun goes down, they leave the lights off. It almost felt like an abandoned building in a horror movie. However, that’s not a bad thing. I thought the eeriness was a nice touch. I like my stuff creepy.

The elevator walls were glass. Therefore, you can see yourself climbing the dark tower as your elevator went up.

It was so dark and creepy. With all the doors painted black, it was hard to see where our door started and where the wall began. We had to feel the wall to find the door to our room and hope it wasn’t someone else’s room. That would have been quite the experience.

Our room was upgraded. Therefore, it was a tad nicer than a regular room. It was spacious by European standards. It had blackout drapes to cover the floor-to-ceiling windows and a coffee pot with all of your coffee and tea needs. A big flat-screen TV above a nice minibar packed with alcoholic beverages (not free, btw). The color scheme and the texture of the walls seemed outdated. It looked like a bachelor pad from the ’80s, but I’m not complaining. We had a king-size bed! Above the bed, there was an interesting art piece.

As you walk into the room, you encounter a hallway with the restroom to your left. The restroom had both a tub and a shower. It had green marble tiles from floor to ceiling. The vanity was big with a glass, see-through sink. We were given the basics, soap, shampoo, lotion, shower cap, and comb. It was nice. I always appreciate the little things in hotels. 

The furniture was basic, except for the Barcelona-style ottoman. Let’s not forget about the electrical outlets. All European-style outlets. Make sure to take your converter’s people. Totally essential.

The toilet was its own compartment. It was a slender room inside the restroom with frosted glass walls. There was a bidet across the toilet. If you wanted to, two people could use the toilet at the same time with plenty of time for conversation (haha, not recommended).

The one complaint I have is the switches. It had a master light switch and a room light switch. The master controls the lights of the entire room, including the restroom. However, there seemed to be about 20 other light switches that did the same thing or controlled something you didn’t know about. We had dimmer switches in the toilet, just in case you need mood lighting as you ‘go.’ Separate switches for the sink and the toilet plus a dimmer switch, plus a switch that looked like a dimmer switch that was actually a button or a combo of both, I’m not sure.  I felt like I needed a mathematician to turn the lights off for me. This tired brain could not deal with it at this moment.

We get to our room and immediately collapse on the bed and call it a night. With our jet lag in full effect, it’s no surprise we wake up at 4 am, ready to eat. The hotel has a breakfast buffet starting at 6:30 in the morning.  We waited… Eager to eat!

To be completely honest, this hotel seemed very far from the city center, where the center of the action is… There is nothing to walk to… However, there are plenty of cabs willing to drive you where ever you want for 20 plus Euros (which is not much). The nearest metro rail station is a mile and a half from the hotel so walking to it would take about 45 minutes… I suppose if you really wanted to you could do that. But perhaps that doesn’t matter, considering this is only a layover. I wouldn’t stay here otherwise. Would you? I would love to know.