25 Best Hotels in The Pyrenees, Spain

Situated on a remote and wonderfully scenic stretch of the Eje Pirenaico (Pyrenean Axis Highway), midway between medieval Aínsa and the Parque Nacional de Ordesa y Monte Perdido, is this tasteful mountaintop bed-and-breakfast with verdant valley views, stone-wall rooms, and standout down-home cuisine. The British owner knows the surrounding trails through pine and oak forests like the back of his hand, and you can explore many of them without leaving the property, which spans more than 200 acres.

Hotel Sauce might be the perfect budget hotel—it has quirky wall art, mid-century modern furniture, bright and uncluttered rooms, and a location that can't be beat. Expect pleasing street views, impeccable cleanliness, and good soundproofing. The adjoining café and bar serves breakfast, homemade cakes, fresh lemonade, and cocktails.

Enjoy all the comforts and details of a high-end hotel—turndown service, outstanding hospitality, spotless cleaning—in a quiet rural mountain village of 35 inhabitants. The refurbished stone farmhouse offers perpetual views of the mountains and surrounding valleys. Floor-to-ceiling windows in the intimate dining room, where they serve a plentiful homemade breakfast and a set dinner menu (with an outstanding hyperlocal wine list to boot), provide some of the most impressive of the vistas. Other amenities include the downstairs bar highlighting local spirits, an outdoor pool, and Ritual brand toiletries.

This modern hotel has quiet, minimalist rooms and a busy downstairs bar where guests and locals mingle. The glass-enclosed lobby sits beneath the undulating white walls of the upper floors, meant to evoke the surrounding mountains. For peaceful repose, there's a well-kept garden and a terrace by the pool.

A favorite among Camino pilgrims, this hotel in a restored 18th-century building adjoining the Colegiata and the partner property, Hotel Roncesvalles, provides warm, low-lighted, stone-walled common areas and modern, comfortable rooms. Dining—think cod-stuffed piquillo peppers and assorted roast meats—is offered in the hotel and at Casa Sabina, the cozy, cheerful hostel run by the same proprietor just steps away. 

Overlooking the lovely Plaza Justicia and the baroque Santa Isabel church, this early-20th-century Art Nouveau building is a tourist sight in its own right, featuring an original Moderniste wooden elevator and a facade with wrought-iron decorations. These charming features are complemented by polished, contemporary interior decoration and a restaurant serving traditional Aragonese dishes. Rooms are functional, with all the necessary modern amenities, but they lack the charm of the rest of the building. The hotel's central yet peaceful location makes it an ideal base to stroll to the sights without feeling overwhelmed by the crowds.

Just 5 km (3 miles) down the road in Alás, this family-run hideaway is a quiet countryside respite. Every room and apartment has a private terrace with views of the valley or mountains, and there is a full-service dining room on-site so you won't have to use the car to grab dinner. The hotel's heat and air-conditioning is also proudly powered by a geothermal energy system. 

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.

Constructed and furnished in stone and wood, this mountain retreat is an ideal base camp for hiking and cross-country skiing. Rooms are simple, and the restaurant serves classical Pyrenean fare in a dining room flooded with natural light.

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.

This elegant Moderniste building has rooms over the bustling Plaça Dr. Robert on one side and over the river on the other. Some have terraces looking down at the graceful span of Camprodon's emblematic Pont Nou, with mallards splashing alongside brightly speckled (and legally protected) native Pyrenean trout. All rooms are furnished with old-fashioned simplicity.

A comfortable old favorite near Puigcerdà's emblematic lake, this spa hotel with old-fashioned decor consists of several salmon-pink spire-topped mansions arranged around a grassy central garden. It's situated two minutes from the bell tower and town market on foot, though it feels deceptively bucolic and removed from the action. 

In the old quarter, this family-run inn is unabashedly kitsch with tinsel, twinkly lights, and tchotchkes everywhere you look. Extras include freshly baked cakes, hot chocolate, and mulled wine in the evening, and the hotel does an elaborate breakfast service. Though small, guest rooms are immaculately clean and individually decorated in pastels and gingham, with painted wood furniture. 

A stately old chalet on Camprodon's grandest promenade, this lovely family-owned hotel offers a chance to live like the 19th- and 20th-century Barcelona aristocracy who spent their summers here. Guest rooms have a grandmotherly charm with blue-gray walls and heavy curtains, and those on the top floor have vaulted wood ceilings. The restaurant occupies the beautifully converted former coach house.  Adults only.

One of Zaragoza's top hotels, Palafox combines contemporary design with traditional urban service and elegance. Rooms are equipped with the gadgets you want, including flat-screen TVs and Jacuzzis, and the bathrooms are so spacious they feel like private spas. The restaurant, Aragonia, holds its own against any place in town, with various tasting menus with wine or beer pairings.

For rustic surroundings—light on luxury but long on comfort—only a two-minute walk from the ski lift, this modern-traditional construction of glass, wood, and stone is a good choice. It provides a little chalet in the mountains, with friendly staff and chalet warmth for après-ski wining and dining. The spa is small but offers a range of rejuvenating treatments you no doubt deserve after shredding the slopes.

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. 

Ideally located for exploring Zaragoza's sights, this may be an in-and-out type of hotel—somewhere to lay your head—but as an agreeable city stopover, it's perfect. The rooms are well proportioned and functional, beds are comfortable, facilities are modern, and the staff are very helpful. At the price, it's a great value.

Once the house of Gaspar de Portolà, the military officer who colonized California, this modern parador with friendly staff and an outdoor pool (seasonal) has views of the Pyrenees and is handy for exploring the Romanesque sights in nearby villages. Vielha is 2½ km (1½ miles) to the north, and the Baqueira ski slopes are 7 km (4 miles) away. The restaurant ladles out a mean civet de jabalí (wild boar stew).

These comfortable quarters in the center of town are built into the 14th-century convent of Sant Domènec. The interior patio—the cloister of the former convent—is a tranquil hideaway, lush with vegetation. Rooms are spare and simple but appointed with high thread-count bedding, and some have mountain views.

The shining star at this modern granite parador is a semicircular salon with huge windows and spectacular views over the Maladeta peaks of the Vall d'Aran. Many of the rooms also have a decent mountain view and a terrace, compensating for the somewhat functional design. The light-flooded restaurant serves Catalan and Pyrenean cuisine, such as olha aranesa and civet de jabalí (wild boar stew). There's also a spa, with heated indoor and outdoor pools and a variety of treatments.

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 stately town-house complex at the edge of the lake has some of the most sought-after rooms and food in the Cerdanya Valley. Along with lots of peace and comfort (think rooms with plush white linens and soaker tubs), the hotel restaurant, L'Estany Senzone, is worth a visit even if you're not staying upstairs.