Madrid is one of our favourite city breaks in Europe, beloved for its cultural landmarks, vivacious art scene and beautiful restaurants. These elements are also present within some of the best hotels in Madrid, where you can stay in historic palaces, art-gallery-meets-hotel hybrids or in an unassuming address with its own Michelin starred restaurant. Then there are the low-key stays, from new-gen hostels and neighbourhood apartment set-ups. And the scene is still growing – the Four Seasons and Mandarin Oriental recently opened in the Spanish capital. For the places to note, we’ve rounded up the best hotels in Madrid. For more, see our guide to the best things to do in Madrid.
The undisputed grande-dame hotel of Madrid – based on a clever idea King Alfonso XIII had just before World War I – faces Plaza Neptuno’s fountains and one of the world’s seriously great art museums, El Prado. Whether you stay here or not, save time for a cocktail in La Rotonda lobby bar beneath the famous stained-glass cupola. And have a wander around the hotel’s small museum, which reveals its life over the past century, name-dropping Hemingway, Picasso, the Rolling Stones and Dalí, who was fond of doodling on the walls.Bedrooms are defined by a restrained, Belle Epoque elegance, with a new-found focus on wellbeing – super-food ingredients on the room-service menus, white-tea-scented bathroom bottles – and beds that will swallow you up whole.
5.0
For years madrileños avoided the streets around Puerta del Sol, moaning about the deterioration of a once-grand downtown barrio that had become a monstrous building site. But since the Four Seasons opened its doors last September, the complaints have turned into compliments. Standing proudly on the corner of calles Sevilla and Alcalá, the Canadian-based group’s first hotel in Spain has arrived with all guns blazing, promising to grant the neighbourhood a new lease of life. It is already giving the capital’s smartest places to stay a run for their money. The hotel is part of a large project that includes private residences, shops and a food market, and the building’s ornate 19th-century façade and opulent interiors have been preserved, including the double-height lobby with its ivy-green marble columns and stained-glass roof. You won’t find cutting edge here, but there are no rough edges either. Everything breathes quality, from the solid walnut floors and Alpujarra carpets to the faultless sound-proofing and refreshingly user-friendly lighting systems – there’s a delicate touch in the design that seems just right for an age that has tired of glitz. Service manages the deft trick of being both briskly efficient and charmingly Spanish. The Four Seasons sets the bar high but clears it without breaking a sweat. For more, see our full Four Seasons Hotel
4.8
Neatly set just beyond the fray of one of the Gran Vía’s busiest sections, close to the boho Chueca district, this hotel is party to some of Madrid’s most classic views. A lone doorman welcomes guests up the stairs to a lift that whisks them to the chic rooftop reception, but the magic begins on the rooftop terrace, which looks over towards the angel-topped dome of the city’s famous Metrópolis building. All rooms have bespoke leather furnishings and Mallorcan bath potions, but try to book one of the prized bedrooms at the front of the hotel...
5.0
Like any brilliant hotel these days, the first thing you see is a big, inviting lobby bar with plenty of leather-covered couches, armchairs, and bar stools to sit in. The bar itself is an island, with a nifty hanging liquor shelf. The Rockwell Group Madrid designed it to be glamorous in a way that works for the hotel's history and location—in other words, not unwarranted or needlessly flashy. Also, the space is big; and in a city crammed with small bodegas and wine bars, where room to move about comes at a premium, it feels like a place you'd want to come and hang out in for a while.
5.0
The minimalist design and buzzing energy at TÓTEM Madrid draws locals in, and they stay at the bar for fizzy cocktails and Spanish wine. Before it opened as a hotel, the 19th-century building underwent a full restoration; the lobby's original wooden staircase spirals up the five floors. Today, sandwiched between the popular Serrano and Goya shopping streets and close to Paseo de la Castellana, Totem, a member of the Small Luxury Hotels of the World, has found its rightful place in Salamanca.
5.0
Ramon Freixa Madrid, one of the city's most famous Michelin-starred restaurants, really brings in the crowds, but Hotel Único Madrid is no slouch in its own right, with swanky public spaces (including a magnificent lipstick-red sculpture hanging from the ceiling). Beyond that, this posh Salamanca hotel delivers on everything that makes this neighborhood come alive: fashion, elegance, and residential design. Rooms have clearly been designed for an international crowd—you'll notice various types of power outlets. Salamanca is one of the city’s most fashionable neighborhoods, and Hotel Único couldn’t have been better designed for any other area of town.
5.0
Some of the best restaurants in London can be found outside of central London and in its thriving neighbourhoods – but if you're looking for delicious eateries for dinner, it can be hard to know where to begin. Here, we share our editors' personal London restaurant recommendations, sorted into central, north, east, south and west London restaurants. For even more, check out our favourite restaurants with gardens, pub beer gardens and London rooftop bars.
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