Backpacking In Spain: My Stay In The Scout Hostel, Madrid

I made a surprise double return to Spain in 2022. Firstly, I ended up in the summertime in both Fuerteventura and Gran Canaria – my only brace of Canary Islands to date. Then, in December 2022 when I decided to finally backpack in Cuba, the easiest flight option turned out to be a direct flight to Havana from Madrid, so here I was again! Welcome to Madrid and welcome to the Scout Hostel!

This was actually only my second time in Madrid. The first was in April 2015, just after I had become a Backpacking Centurion. This time I chose to escape the tourist hubs completely and I didn’t want to stay central. In 2015, I had done a lot of touristic stuff – Tapas tours, eating in the world’s oldest restaurant, museums, art galleries, three football stadiums, a pub crawl in downtown and I stayed in two very popular central hostels there, one being the Cats hostel.

On this occasion, I was low key and I loved the idea of staying away from the city centre, and in a “Scout” hostel for a change. Believe it or not, this was my ever time to stay in a Scout Hostel!

I was travel weary on arrival despite my experience of multiple cities and flights in a day. I went from Bangor to Belfast (car) to Dublin (bus) to Manchester (Ryanair loyal) to Madrid (Ryanair loyal) and here I was again in the Spanish capital. This trip gave me a crazy chance for a reunion with Mark Philips. Mark and I are the same age and we grew up together in Bangor in Northern Ireland. Now we found time for a breakfast coffee and even a beer together. Since we last met in 2005, both of us have been around the world and Mark now has a daughter and lives in Madrid!

Here are some of the cool things about why you should sleep in the cosy Scout Hostel.

1.Calm and Tranquil Location

This was my best calm night of sleep in years! I slept like a log and it’s the first night like that for me since COVID started. The Scout Hostel is also situated in a nice local neighbourhood! Here I could see the charms of little Spanish cafes, shops and bars bereft of commercialism! The district is calm and is called Barrio de Moratalaz, with the nearest metro station being Vinateros.

2.Helpful and Friendly

You know Scouts are friendly and I am well aware of it due to my time growing up in Northern Ireland and being in the Boys Brigade (The BB), a very similar entity which promotes goodwill. This means the staff here are helpful and friendly and of course, the place is very clean.

3.Cosy and Sleepy

I was in a dorm room for 8 people and I had a lower bunk bed in a very cosy room. I have to admit I had a very early night for once – not even a beer in Spain nor a meal out, just a quiet early night and I was in bed by 10 p.m.! As I wrote an early night and best sleep on my travels since COVID began!

4.Super Breakfast Included

The breakfast is a buffet, all you can eat and is included. I particularly liked the crusty bread that you add tomato puree to. You also put olive oil on the toasted bread (I toasted it myself – others have it raw) and add salt. Later, when I had a reunion with Mark, he also had this snack down his local bakery!

5.Wi-Fi

Wi-Fi worked fast here, at least in my room which was close to reception and also in the spacious clean kitchen. I was in room zero and bed 1! From Madrid, I would head to Cuba next which was difficult for Wi-Fi so this was a good final chance to get my online work done before heading on again. Here are a few more photos of my quick stopover in Madrid again…I even had time to visit Real Madrid’s football stadium again, under construction currently.

Here are the details for booking a room at the Scout Hostel in Madrid:
https://scoutmadridhostel.com/
Address: C. Entre Arroyos, 19, posterior, 28030 Madrid, Spain
Phone: +34 910 91 23 22
Province: Community of Madrid

Here are some videos I made during my stay at the Scout Hostel in Madrid: