The Palace, a Luxury Collection Hotel: First In

Character and identity

Reborn after a top-to-bottom restoration, this 1912 grande dame anchors the Paisaje de Luz, opposite the Mandarin Oriental Ritz and the Neptune Fountain, with the Prado and Thyssen-Bornemisza a short walk away. At 470 rooms it is Madrid's largest luxury hotel, organised beneath Eduardo Ferrés i Puig's wrought-iron and stained-glass dome (1,875 pieces, painstakingly relaid). Interiors by Lázaro Rosa-Violán channel a mythologised Madrid of Goya, Lorca and Hemingway. La Cúpula, under Portuguese chef Nuno Matos, is the social heart; the 27 Club bar revives the literary cocktail tradition. Service register is classical Spanish grand-hotel.

Who's it for

Bottom line

What you are paying for here is heritage made legible: a meticulous restoration that lets you actually feel the building's 1912 bones, from the Mauméjean dome to the Palace-beige façade. Book a suite in the higher categories (the Neptuno is the benchmark) to get the full Rosa-Violán treatment with marble fireplaces and parquet. Worth timing around an exhibition at the Prado or Thyssen.