2 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.

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.