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An insider's guide to Madrid's top five-star hotels, including the best for rooftop bars, pools, Michelin-starred restaurants and urban spa retreats, in locations including the Chueca and Salamanca districts, near the Gran Vía, Retiro Park and Prado museums.
The Wellington is situated in the smart district of Salamanca, a prestigious location known for top Spanish and international boutiques as well as chic bars and restaurants. It opened in 1952 and has accommodated a long list of famous guests over the decades, including Ernest Hemingway and the royal families of Spain and other countries. Rooms and suites combine classic and contemporary décor with thick carpets and rust, mauve and taupe fabrics, and decadent marble bathrooms. There’s an appealing outdoor pool with spa facilities, and several excellent restaurants including Michelin-starred Kabuki and The Bar Inglés.Read expert reviewFrom£258
The five-star, ultra-stylish Barceló Emperatriz takes inspiration in its style and colour scheme from Eugenia de Montijo, a 19th-century empress who was a staunch supporter of equality for women. The hotel is feminine without being girly, which translates as a fresh approach that will appeal to frequent travellers. It feels grand and palatial but not at all fussy or stuffy. The Mutis restaurant is named after the 18th-century botanist Celestino Mutis and features striking floral panels reflecting some of the species he brought to the Royal Botanical Garden in Madrid from Colombia.Read expert reviewFrom£138Top Spanish designer Jaime Hayón has created fresh, sensual interiors using a palette of jewel and berry shades with gold details and sweeping curves. A sculpture of a giant zebra-striped bear doffing a top hat dominates the ground-floor lobby and cartoon-like masks decorate the walls in the corridors, along with flamenco-themed artworks. The hotel occupies the first nine floors of the Torre de Madrid which was built in the 1950s. It was the tallest concrete building in the world at the time and was the tallest building in Spain for three decades.Read expert reviewFrom£157The Westin Palace sits opposite the Prado and the Thyssen-Bornemisza museums. This is one of those hotels where you step through the door and enter a different world. La Rotonda, as the restaurant and lounge area under an ornate stained-glass dome is called, is a circle of elegance where locals and guests meet for coffee and drinks at all times of day. There are 467 spacious rooms and suites with classic decor, marble bathrooms, deep carpets and a bed you won’t want to get out of. The bar has been a meeting place for the great and the good ever since it opened a century ago. Read expert reviewFrom£273
The hotel’s location, on the edge of three districts, is perfect for seeing the many sides of Madrid. The hotel is a mansion dating back to 1882, and the décor has been tailored to retain this air of the past. Some of it is done to effect: framed Loewe scarfs adorn the walls, Chinoiserie vases line corridors and the rooms offer cosseting furnishings. In the 1920s the hotel used to stage plays: the irony of this is not lost; at times the main lobby can feel like a stage set. Each of the 32 rooms is different, though all share the same traditional styling. The Jardín de Orfila restaurant offers seasonal menus to coincide with the best produce. Read expert reviewFrom£320
Serious luxury has come to Madrid with this five-star hotel in a lavishly remodelled palace. Superb service, luxe materials, outstanding food and soothing design combine to create a secret haven in the heart of the city. All the staff are discreetly attentive and really look after the guests. While not huge, the rooftop pool, surrounding by decking with sunbeds and a hot tub, is very appealing and has panoramic views across the city to the mountains. The gym is open 24 hours and the Thai Room spa is an exotic, luxurious space for serious pampering with a range of top-level treatments, a sauna and a steam room.Read expert reviewFrom£345The Único is on one of Madrid’s most exclusive streets in the swish Salamanca district. With its pale gray façade, swirling black and white mosaic floors combining Bardiglio, Carrara and Thassos marble, a dramatic red sculpture hanging in the stairwell and embossed wood in geometric patterns throughout the hotel, the Único is nothing if not dramatic. The property was originally a grand residence and it still has a discreet, private feel. Ramon Freixa’s restaurant in the hotel has two Michelin stars, making this a top choice for foodies.Read expert reviewFrom£280
The Urso is in the elegant Alonso Martínez area of Madrid, a few minutes’ walk from the oh-so-trendy neighbourhoods of Malasaña and Chueca. The architect, Antonio Obrador, has conserved many original features, such as the tiles on the façade, the fabulous mahogany lift and the stained-glass windows on the staircase. Although it is in the centre of Madrid, a muted palette of cool green, grey and cream tones and delicate Japanese prints create an air of calm and discreet chicness. The Natura Bissé spa at the Urso is everything an urban spa should be, with no fussy nonsense. It offers a great dining experience too.Read expert reviewFrom£248 The five-star Palacio del Retiro is an elegantly-restored boutique hotel where period details contrast with contemporary design. This is one of the most desirable places to stay in the city, opposite the Retiro park and close to the major museums and best shops in the smartest area of Madrid. The 50 rooms and suites, many with views across the park, are all a good size and combine period architectural details such as cornicing and marble fireplaces with sleek contemporary fabrics and furniture and wooden floors. The ones on the second and third floors are the grandest and most spacious, with the Presidential Suite occupying the former library, which has mahogony-panelled walls.Read expert reviewFrom£349
If it’s central you want, this is the hotel for you. Sexy Art Deco lair meets beguiling anthropological den. The first thing you will notice about this unusual hotel is its form — a glass-encased tower studded with black Zimbabwe stone, and seamed with champagne-coloured steel beams. The lobby is a tribute to the more austere Art Deco embellishments that were de rigeuer in the 1930s: geometric and angular shapes, yes, but subdued colours; lashings of chrome. The main restaurant here is Europa Decó. Think iguana-textured leather chairs, and a chimney made of gold leaf. Dishes on the menu include hake and peas, and roast rack of lamb with creamy saffron rice. Read expert reviewFrom£162
