Riu Plaza Espana

Customer Ratings & Reviews

TripAdvisor Traveler Rating

4694 reviews

• 

  Nice hotel with great location

  We stayed at Hotel Riu for our honeymoon in Spain. It's honestly a great location, with lots of restaurants and attractions within walking distance. The rooftop bar was also a nice amenity to have, though it gets quite busy. We got a King room with the City View. The room itself was pretty small, with the bed taking up 90% of it, which was a little difficult with 2 large suitcases but we made it work. The view itself was phenomenal, we loved it. Overall, we had a great experience here.

  Oct 29, 2026
• 

  Excellent Hotel

  I really enjoyed my stay at Hotel Riu Plaza España\. The location is excellent, making it easy to explore Madrid and enjoy the city’s attractions, shops, and restaurants\. The food was delicious and added to the enjoyment of my stay\. Overall, a very good experience with lovely memories\. I would happily stay here again and recommend it to anyone visiting Madrid\!

  Oct 29, 2026
• 

  Good location hotel

  This is one of the largest hotels on Gran via. It is odd that the hotel does not have awning or entrance for vehicle loading and unloading. The taxi will drop you off on the street in front and you have to drag the luggage across the wide sidewalk to get to the door. There is a person at the door but mostly to ward off non-guest trying to get to the roof top. There is a separate entrance in the back of the building to buy ticket with dedicated elevator for non-guest to go to the roof top. It is always crowded at the entrance. The lobby is small for the size of the hotel. Check-in is to the left after entering. There are six elevators which might be busy during breakfast and check out in the morning. You just scan the room card and the computer will tell which elevator to get on (A-F). The room is decent size with walk-in shower. There is liquid hand soap and lotion. Breakfast is very good with a large selection and comparable to all-inclusive resorts in Cancun. The breakfast hall spans the entire width of the building on the fourth floor. There are plenty of hot, cold foods, pastries, fruits, cereals. Juices are freshly made. There are many coffee machines scattered around. There are many servers and dishes are quickly removed from the tables. We visited the roof top once for the sunset and it was very crowded. Drinks and snacks are expensive up there and you have to pay per each round of order. The sunset is to the front of the building and is not easy to see with the crowd. There is a long queue for taking pictures with the glass balcony. The sunset view from the cliff at Templo de Debod is better. The hotel is in a good location with easy walking distance to Royal Palace, Plaza Mayor, San Miguel Market. We walked down Gran via to Puerta de Sol (protest), Salamanca, and Retiro Park. When the rooms were booked through RIU website. It said that free mini bar is included but this is not the case. The fridges in both rooms are empty. I called the front desk and they said the minibar is not free and they are not stocked because it is difficult to charge for the items. We had to buy drinking water because of this. Overall it is a nice hotel in a good location.

  Oct 27, 2026
• 

  Nice hotel but be prepared for the rules!

  It’s a lovely hotel. Excellent location, fantastic views from the roof, wonderful breakfast. But sadly the entire experience was really ruined by the insane rules everywhere. It makes for a very unwelcome and frustrating atmosphere. There are strange rules for which door to leave from (the doorman standing in front of you in front of the open door does not open the door but directs you to another door right next to it….very strange…similarly at breakfast, multiple doors and people telling you where or where you cannot go. On the rooftop, there is a person to seat you, a different person to order from and then a third person comes to take your money within a few minutes. I guess there must be people drinking and not paying, but paying for each drink each time as a group is not very relaxing. The pool wasn’t open although the weather was great as it wasn’t summer months of opening, which was a shame. I suspect the popularity of the rooftop bar bringing in so many people with selfie sticks has killed some of the general service and the overall hospitality for the paying residents sadly. Room service which was requested for asap within half an hour unfortunately came too late, at an hour later, so it didn’t happen as we had to leave. Otherwise, the room was lovely, comfortable and clean. It’s a very nice hotel, but I wouldn’t in all honesty book to come back as I felt irritated so many times and sadly all my colleagues felt the same.

  Oct 27, 2026
• 

  Great views

  A busy hotel but well organised and welcoming on arrival. We had a nice room overlooking the Plaza which was comfy and clean. On our first night we took the opportunity to visit the roof top terrace. A member of staff quickly arranged for us to sit and we were able to watch the sunset. Great atmosphere with a DJ playing. Breakfast the next morning had a good choice of hot and cold items. We found Nicolas on Customer Services helpful with our queries about bus tours, maps and restaurant bookings. As the weather was nice we visited the outside pool, this was not heated but a great place to relax. One evening we ate at the restaurant El Eden, Edna was very efficient and we enjoyed our meal. Overall a good location for sightseeing, would be very happy to revisit

  Oct 24, 2026