Hotels

Spain’s got plenty of homegrown hotel talent, but right here in Madrid the Hong Kong–based Pavilions group makes a strong impression. The Pavilions Madrid manages to be both central and a little bit reserved, thanks to a location on a side street just off the Plaza de Colón. And while there are bigger and more opulent luxury hotels in the Spanish capital — the Pavilions tops out at 28 rooms and suites — there’s little to find fault with in the experience here.

The service is friendly but highly professional, as you’d expect from a hotel group with Asian roots, while the visual style is perfectly tailored to Madrid, with design by Studio Marincola Architects and artwork curated by Galería Alvaro Alcazar. The rooms are exceedingly stylish, some dark and sober in the typical Spanish luxury style, others brighter and more colorful; all feature plenty of space, including usable seating, as well as lush bathrooms with rain showers and thoughtful details like Nespresso machines and well-selected books for a bit of lazy in-room browsing.

A hotel of this size might be able to get away without a proper restaurant, but the Pavilions features Guillermina, a modern Mediterranean restaurant in an attractive space with a bit of a garden vibe. The Pavilions won’t replace Madrid’s great five-star palace hotels, but for many of us, it’s an eminently worthy alternative.