The Principal Madrid, Small Luxury Hotels

The Principal Madrid, Small Luxury Hotels

On Gran Vía's sixth floor, the Ático Restaurant's terrace opens onto rooftops and skyline that most Madrid hotels only glimpse from lower windows, and one floor above, a private garden gives guests a quiet clearing between the buzz of the avenue and the sky. The Principal Madrid holds a distinction few local rivals can claim: it was the first luxury hotel to open directly on Gran Vía itself, and Condé Nast Traveller UK later named it Best Hotel in Spain. Behind its restored facade, 76 rooms spread across six floors. Rooms move from Deluxe doubles through Superior, Junior Suite and Standard Suite categories, with minibar and bathrobe concentrated in the Deluxe and Superior tiers. Staff switch between English, Spanish, Italian and French without pause, useful for anyone here on business as much as pleasure, and the conference hall and meeting rooms see steady weekday use. Downstairs, a spa, sauna, solarium and massage room sit alongside a gym and a library, small compensations for travelers who would rather not leave the building after a long flight. Edificio Grassy, the Church of San Jose and the House of las Siete Chimeneas are all close enough to reach on foot. None of this comes free of friction: parking runs 39 euros a day, a 200 euro deposit is taken per stay, and pets are not permitted, so anyone travelling with a dog or counting every euro should look elsewhere. But for a woman arriving solo for a design conference, or a couple stretching a work trip into a long weekend, the rooftop garden, the Gran Vía address and a genuinely multilingual front desk are hard to match anywhere else in the city. The Principal Madrid sits on Gran Vía with a rooftop garden and terrace restaurant few Madrid hotels can match. Staff work across four languages, and the spa, gym and library fill quieter hours. Parking costs extra and pets are not allowed.