11 Best Hotels in The Pyrenees, Spain

A highland inn with comfortable modern rooms and spectacular mountain views, this perch is an excellent base for hiking, horseback riding, and viewing Pyrenean flora and fauna. Guest rooms have beamed ceilings, bucket chairs, and fireplaces. The restaurant, popular in its own right, has panoramic views over the valley and specializes in meat cooked over coals. 

This pleasantly kitschy inn with bright painted walls is a typical mountain chalet with flower-draped balconies and a plethora of memorabilia on display. The restaurant, Restaurante Gaby, is known for its satisfying Aragonese mountain cuisine and in particular the pheasant and wild boar civets. Call ahead for reservations: the owner often opens for anyone who reserves in advance, even if the place is theoretically closed.

This old grande dame hotel's central location and budget rates makes it a good base for exploring Jaca. The streamlined, comfortable rooms have green walls and wood furniture within a mid-20th-century structure of wood, stone, and glass. The complex includes a garden, swimming pool, and a separate dining wing.

The only four-star hotel in the area, the Aneto is handy to central Benasque and just a few minutes by car to mountain trails and skiing. It's also the most favorable for families, who appreciate the gardens and indoor pool. The design integrates the look of a classic mountain chalet with modern interior features, which may not be to everyone's taste. Its light and airy café-bar looks out over the mountains, and there are two restaurants, one serving traditional dishes, the other with fusion cuisine.

An inn for pilgrims since the 18th century, the Loizu is now a country-style hotel that makes an excellent base for exploring the Selva de Irati. The attentive service, along with a decent restaurant that caters to vegetarians, makes it a popular choice. The rooms are light and airy, and some feature slanted wooden ceilings and exposed stone brickwork. 

Just outside the old town walls, this hotel has the best views around—overlooking the Río Vero canyon and the Colegiata de Santa María. Rooms are simple but agreeably decorated in rustic reds and yellows, and the open-plan lounge and breakfast room are warm and relaxing with wood furnishings, sofas, and an open fire. The breakfast buffet brims with all manner of pastries, homemade butter and preserves, local cheeses, and cold meats. Even the olive oil is pressed from homegrown olives.

A mountain refuge and state-run hotel, this family-oriented base camp has double, triple, and quadruple rooms. The lodging and dining are basic, and they're offered at 1,981 meters (6,500 feet) above sea level within an imposing gray monolith that looks strikingly out of place. For a day's outing or as a starting point for a major hike (12 hours) to Ulldeter, above Setcases, or even a weeklong walk to the Mediterranean, this is a handy spot, although it’s accessible only by the cogwheel train from Ribes de Freser (thankfully, pricey train tickets are included in the nightly rate). Camping is also available on the grounds. Book directly with the hotel for better rates. 

Hit the reset button at this secluded, rustic retreat in an abandoned village deep in the mountains above Jaca that's the passion project of an Argentine back-to-the-land couple. Meals, which unfold in the cozy stone dining room or out on the patio with sweeping valley views, are plant-based and internationally inflected, a welcome antidote to all those stodgy stews. 

This classic mountain refuge, with sundecks, flower-fringed terraces, and a private dining room, rents a variety of rooms with typical Pyrenean details—stone floors and wood paneling and trim. It's easy to forget that some of Spain's wildest highland scenery is just a few minutes up the valley. There is also a heated outdoor pool lined with chaises, an indoor hot tub, a playground, and a small fitness area.