Your boutique hotel might sound like it belongs in a perfume advert, but it's a really fun place to stay with oodles of character. More importantly, it is located right next to the Retiro Park and close the city's famous art museums. So today can be spent exploring on foot without straying too far from base.

You might dedicate this morning to art. The Reina Sofia Gallery is home to Madrid’s 20th-century collection, with everything from Dali through Braques. The centrepiece still has to be the phenomenally important and moving Guernica by Picasso. A 10-minute walk up the road is the Prado museum, where Spain’s old masters are kept, indubitably one of the world’s great collections, including Velazquez, Goya, El Greco, Murillo and more.

The late afternoon is then a lovely time to stretch your legs in the Retiro Park. Passing the booksellers of the Cuesta de Moyano, enjoy an aimless amble along the avenues from the rose garden to the boating lake, and from the Crystal Palace up to the impressive Puerta de Atocha, the old city gate.

The park is a great place to people-watch with a coffee, as visitors and Madrileños alike unwind in this lush green oasis.