Its location, within the Golden Triangle described by the city’s most famous museums, is as auspicious as they come and the architecture, both inside and out, is nothing short of monumental. The hotel’s rooms and suites, even today, are suitably old-world in their inspiration, though a 2021 renovation has ensured they’re anything but old-fashioned. The named suites, naturally, are the most ornate, and the most over-the-top luxurious.

A former palatial residence divided into spacious apartments for Spanish counts and countesses, the Villa Magna made the transition to its current five-star status after an extremely thorough renovation. The modernist granite exterior might not be exactly what you expect from a royal residence, but at the Rosewood Villa Magna it’s the unobtrusive perfection of the meticulously designed interior that counts. This hotel is the perfect choice for celebrities, business travelers and tourists alike.

Leave it to the Four Seasons to take four historic buildings and transform them into one sensational showpiece. This brand is synonymous with service and style, and the Madrid property is no exception. Here, landmark architecture and historical details seamlessly blend with contemporary panache, especially in the supremely elegant guestrooms and suites. Its city center location is a boon for those exploring Madrid by foot, while the spa and pool await for some downtime.

Madrid’s got luxe old grand hotels, and it’s got striking modern boutique hotels. And in Urso Hotel & Spa, it’s got a bit of both. Set in a stately early 20th-century palace, Urso’s neo-classical architecture complements the modernist oak and marble interiors by Antonio Obrador, the celebrated Spanish designer who was also behind its sister hotel Cap Rocat, a majestic, renovated 19th-century military fortress in Majorca.

Staying anywhere on Madrid’s Gran Vía is a treat, but the new Brach Madrid, a five-star hotel designed by Philippe Starck, offers next-level luxury. The building itself, of course, isn’t new: part of the avenue’s dazzling architectural showcase, it was completed in 1922, initially housing a stylish café-bar on the street level and various designer ateliers on the upper floors.

The Spanish hotelier Pau Guardans believes that hotels should function as “engines of local communities,” a concept that guided the look and feel of his first two hotels — the Único in Madrid and the 1920s-style Grand Hotel Central in Barcelona. With his latest project, the Principal, he’s reinvigorated another grand old building, this one a Spanish Renaissance-style jewel located on a prominent corner of Madrid’s Gran Vía, adapting its spacious interiors for modern living.

The sumptuous interiors of this luxury hotel in the heart of Madrid reveal its origins as a 19th-century palace-house, from the richly decorated molded walls and ceilings to the bright and spacious rooms and suites. Add the name of its neighborhood and that of its locally headquartered parent company and you’ve got the full title: CoolRooms Palacio de Atocha. And cool they are — though you’d be forgiven for a bit of surprise at their historically informed elegance as well.

The Spanish royal city of Madrid is well stocked with opulent hotels, but one of the most luxurious is this representative of a homegrown brand: Gran Meliá Palacio de los Duques. Given the name, it may not surprise you to know that this extravagant city-center hotel was once an aristocratic residence, specifically a 19th-century palace belonging to a pair of dukes. The rooms are decorated in a color palette that’s an explicit homage to the paintings of Velázquez.

By now the idea that Barcelona is the fun one and Madrid is the serious one is simply a long-dead stereotype. But there is something to be said for the way that Madrid’s gems often lie hidden beneath a stately and sober exterior. Hotel Unico is a case in point: behind an elegant 19th-century facade in the city’s swanky Salamanca district is a 44-room boutique hotel that serves up contemporary style with a generous side of sophistication.

Once the neighborhood of Miguel Cervantes and other titans of Spanish letters, Madrid’s Barrio de las Letras is also home of Gran Hotel Inglés, the city’s oldest luxury hotel, welcoming guests since 1886. The interiors, by New York’s Rockwell Group, pay tribute to the Art Deco era, with brass accents, geometric ornaments, and rich, dark hardwood floors, along with custom textiles, lamps, and furniture. Rooms are similarly elegant with a 1920s-inspired white, bronze, and silver color scheme.

If you’ve traveled all the way to Madrid, it might seem like an unusual decision to stay in a hotel that models itself after its counterparts in New York. But stay with us on this, because Only YOU Hotel Atocha is an inspired mix of the best of the old world and new. Catalan designer Lázaro Rosa Violan has taken a historic 19th-century building, just steps from the city’s beloved green lung, Retiro Park, and fashioned it into a 21st-century interior design gem.

Picture a stately 19th-century palace that’s been transformed into a boutique hotel, one that has everything going for it: a mix of old-world glamour and modern interiors by a prominent designer in an enviable address in the heart of Madrid’s hip Chueca neighborhood. The palace was once the home of Elvira, Marquesa of Alhama, and the grand colonial architecture reminds you of that — think high archways and wooden beams, traditional azulejo tiles, marble fixtures, moulded ceilings.

The Duke of Santo Mauro’s 1895 French-style neolassical mansion is now one of Madrid’s most elegant and luxurious hotels. At just 51 rooms, and located in a largely residential district off the Paseo de Castellana, it’s intimate—a feeling magnified by the discreet nature of the service. Any number of foreign dignitaries and stars of the stage and screen prefer the Santo Mauro, but as for names, the staff aren’t talking, and except for the Beckhams, neither are the guests.

The Palace, A Luxury Collection Hotel, Madrid has been around since 1912, and has for decades been one of the most elegant hotels in a city full of grand old hotels. The Palace, though, is distinctly old-guard, and though it has been thoroughly restored by its new owners, it is still a vision straight from the Belle Epoque. The original stained-glass dome is still in place above the reception, while guest rooms are high-tech beneath their old-fashioned dress.