7 Best Hotels in Palacio, Madrid

The gargantuan alabaster spiral staircase, blue-felted billiard table hewn from solid marble, and rooftop infinity pool—the largest in Madrid—are the splashiest features at this Marriott property, even if the architect, minimalism mastermind John Pawson, put as much care into the guest rooms, which have all-white furniture and ceiling-height curvilinear headboards mirroring the hotel's 17th-century doorway. There are two celebrity-chef restaurants on site (Mexican by Enrique Olvera on the ground floor; Peruvian by Diego Muñoz on the roof), plus a lobby bar and a lounge where you can order a punch bowl in a pony-hair Jean-Michel Frank armchair. It's all scintillatingly current—and worth peeking into, even if an overnight stay isn't in the cards.

Generator Madrid might be a budget hotel with shared (up to eight-person) rooms, but it runs circles around most of the city's big-name hotels in the design department, and guests can't get enough of the rooftop bar, trendy vibes, and Instagram-ready interiors.

A colorful and casual hotel off the bustling Gran Vía thoroughfare, Indigo is best known for its rooftop lounge and outdoor infinity pool, rare features in Madrid. Guest rooms are comfortable yet rather passé, with colored backlighting, satiny throws, and outdated iPod docks—minor quibbles given the great location and reasonable price point.

In an unbeatable location across from Monasterio de las Descalzas Reales, this hotel—once the U.S. embassy and later a luxurious residential building crowded with noblemen—has the architectural bones of a turn-of-the-century mansion with its hand-carved ceilings, marble foyers, and intricate iron balconies. While the modern streamlined rooms are not exactly design-magazine material, they meet all your practical needs with good mattresses and plenty of storage space.

In this luxurious urban oasis with an expansive courtyard tucked behind Gran Vía, reproductions of famous Diego Velázquez paintings feature in every room. Don’t let the Elizabethan facade and Golden Age paintings fool you: Palacio de los Duques is a state-of-the-art property complete with Nespresso machines, Bluetooth speakers, and bedside thermostats rounding out the digs.

Macarena's decor is colorful, textural, and geometric with bold wall tones, patterned tile floors, and undulating ceiling panels in public spaces; guest rooms, on the other hand, vary widely in design and hinge on monochrome color schemes (e.g., royal blue, flamingo pink, emerald green) that make a statement. The crown jewel is the rooftop terrace complete with a cocktail bar, sundeck, and swimming pool.

In the city center, steps from the Palacio Real and Teatro Real, Mario is small with limited services but provides a welcome alternative to Madrid's traditional hotel options at a good price. It has a bold quirky style: original silk-print headboards highlight the white, gray, and black color scheme.