In short… The most centrally located boutique hotel—Gran Hotel Inglés is a family-owned, with a lot of thoughtful and lovely details.
The vibe… The Gran Hotel Inglés, Madrid’s oldest hotel, which opened in 1886, once attracted an international creative crowd—Virginia Woolf and Matisse, among some of its most famous guests. But it gradually lost its allure and two of its five stars until new owners, Carmen Cordón and Ignacio Jiménez, restored and reopened it in 2018. It doesn’t get more center-of-town than this—it’s on a narrow street filled with restaurants and bars, including the legendary sherry bar, La Venencia, literally across from the hotel. The staff are very kind–I actually threw my back out and in the middle of the night was in extreme pain, and they immediately sent up an ice pack.
The rooms… The first room they gave us looked onto a shaft and was quite dark, so I asked if they could move us. The next room was well appointed–nice color palette and minimal. The bathroom was really big and had a nice tub, which came in handy for my aching back.
The food and drink… We had an epic lunch filling the table with tapas, and the coldest draft beer. The bartenders in the evening made great martinis, and the breakfast buffet was very impressive, served in a bright room that feels like a grand country kitchen.
Date of stay… October 14-16, 2022
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