Madrid, Spain

Barceló Torre de Madrid

Price per night from$192.09

Price information

If you haven’t entered any dates, the rate shown is provided directly by the hotel and represents the cheapest double room (including tax) available in the next 60 days.

Prices have been converted from the hotel’s local currency (EUR177.55), via openexchangerates.org, using today’s exchange rate.

Style

Mid-century Madrid

Setting

Sixties skyscraper

Housed in an iconic concrete tower – a former record-holder for ' the tallest in the world' – city-centre hotel Barceló Torre de Madrid has been brought delightfully up-to-date by renowned Spanish designer Jaime Hayón. Within, interiors are perked up by playful artwork, such as a top-hat-wearing, zebra-striped bear sculpture, and a colour palette of berry and avocado, accented with gold. Order cachaça-based cocktails in the lobby bar, Asian- and Spanish-inspired dishes in the modern restaurant, and Ayurvedic-inspired treatments in the diminutive spa. The tower's title may be lost, but you can still experience the high-life: see the city spread out below from your floating vantage point in the eighth-floor pool, or the floor-to-ceiling windows of your room.

Smith Extra

Get this when you book through us:

The hotel's signature Power Girl cocktail for each guest and use of their top-tier concierge service

Facilities

Photos Barceló Torre de Madrid facilities

Need to know

Rooms

258, including 31 suites.

Check–Out

Noon, but flexible, subject to availability. Earliest check-in, 2pm.

Prices

Double rooms from £167.35 (€195), including tax at 10 per cent.

More details

Rates usually exclude breakfast (the lavish buffet is €25 for adults and half price for children).

Also

Deluxe Rooms are wheelchair-accessible, as are the hotel’s common areas. There’s a lift to all floors.

At the hotel

Spa, fitness studio, free WiFi throughout and laundry services; guests staying in suites have access to a snack-stocked lounge. In rooms: TV, iPod dock, tea- and coffee-making facilities, Pure Herb bath products.

Our favourite rooms

All rooms are mod-minimalist and have wooden floors, large windows, Jaime Hayón-designed furniture and herringbone-tiled bathrooms. Snag a suite to be guaranteed a bath tub; and, for the best city panorama, request a room with a wraparound balcony.

Poolside

The heated indoor pool is up on the eighth floor and has views over Madrid. A lifeguard is on duty from 10am to 6pm, and children’s pool hours are from 10am to 11.30am.

Spa

Book into one of the spa’s two treatment rooms for beautifying facials, exfoliating body scrubs, Ayurvedic-inspired treatments, and relaxing massages, all with Ella Baché products. Work up an appetite for the hotel’s decadent breakfasts (or tapas, later in the day) with a quick morning session in the hotel’s Technogym-equipped fitness room.

Packing tips

Bring your modish Sixties-inspired best and you’ll fit right in with the mid-century-inspired design.

Also

Guests staying in suites have access to an exclusive executive lounge, where drinks and nibbles are available throughout the day.

Children

All ages are welcome. Baby cots and buggies are available on request, and babysitting can be arranged.

Food and Drink

Photos Barceló Torre de Madrid food and drink

Top Table

Aim for a table near the floor-to-ceiling windows for views of the bustling Gran Vía and ample people-watching opportunities.

Dress Code

Sport flamenco reds in flirty Sixties silhouettes.

Hotel restaurant

Somos restaurant is helmed by chef Juan Rioja and has something of a split personality; at lunch the cuisine is a salute to Spanish market fare, with an informal smattering of small plates, whereas the evening menu fuses Japanese, Mexican, Peruvian, French and Spanish dishes to create a wholly unique offering. We’re particular fans of the marinated tuna with avocado hummus and the roasted pork and pineapple in a Korean-style marinade. Desserts are exceptionally good, so apply a tapas mindset and order both the smashed lemon tart and the almond cake with orange ice cream; we certainly did. At breakfast you’ll find a buffet of healthy options, including fresh fruits and spirulina-laced smoothies, made-to-order dishes and piping-hot coffee. 

 

Hotel bar

Garra Bar has sage-green walls and glittering city views from its floor-to-ceiling windows; saunter up to the gold and marble bar to order cachaça-spiked ginger mules and the Elderflower Paradise that’s muddled with mint. Garra Bar opens at 10.30am Monday to Friday and 11.30am on the weekend. Sunday to Tuesday it stays open until 1am, and Wednesday to Saturday until 2am.

Last orders

Break your fast like you’ve been flamenco dancing all night; a sizeable buffet is served from 7am to 10.30am during the week and 8am to 11.30am on the weekends.

Location

Photos Barceló Torre de Madrid location
Address
Barceló Torre de Madrid
Plaza de España, 18
Madrid
28008
Spain

Barceló Torre de Madrid’s central location – on the edge of Plaza de España – makes it the perfect base for exploring all of Madrid’s districts.

Planes

Adolfo Suárez Madrid-Barajas airport is 20 kilometres away; hotel transfers can be arranged for €80, and our Smith24 team can sort your flights.

Trains

Madrid’s largest train station, Atocha, is 10 minutes away by car. Trains frequently arrive here from Barcelona, Seville and Valencia.

Automobiles

Walking and public transport – Plaza de España, Ventura Rodriguez, and Noviciado metro stations are just a skip away from the hotel – are the easiest way to get around the city, but if you plan on venturing into the countryside, to explore mountains and tiny towns such as Aranjuez, where the Spanish Monarchy vacationed during the spring, it’s best to hire a car. On-site valet parking is €28 a day.

Worth getting out of bed for

Stroll down the Gran Vía – the theatre- and shop-lined street that never sleeps – to the Metropolis Building, or browse the stalls at Mercado de Motores for trinkets new and old, before making your way to the Museo del Prado for your fill of Bosch, Titian, El Greco, Rubens, Velázquez and Goya. Modern luminaries, such as Miró and Bacon, are on display at the Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía, where Picasso’s Guernica hangs. Thyssen-Bornemisza Museum houses Europe’s largest private art collection, with works spanning the 13th to 21st centuries.

Local restaurants

Tapas, tapas everywhere: ‘little and very often’ is the motto to adopt when dining in Spain’s capital city. Pull up a seat and stay awhile at tapas bar Juana La Loca; crowd-pleasing plates include courgette rolls with salty cod brandade, smoked eel with Iberian bacon, and shredded duck confit with honey. La Contraseña has a glass-roofed patio and strong-as-a-bull G&Ts; favourite dishes include peppery white asparagus and deep-fried aubergine with honey. Eatery El Viajero is split into three sections: there’s a Mediterranean eatery, with a terrace on Plaza de la Cebada, on the ground floor, a cocktail bar one level above that, and a tapas bar in the restaurant’s roof garden. Order a house-special mojito while your dinner is cooked to perfection on the criollo grill.

 

Local cafés

La Chocolatería San Ginés has been perfecting its churros con chocolate for more than a hundred years; stop by to see if they've succeeded – several times, if you need more convincing. For an against-the-grain menu of vegan hot-chocolate, tempting carrot cakes, herbal teas and cocktails, check out the scene – which is often accompanied by live music – at Anticafé.

Local bars

Gin aficionados will feel right at home in cosy Shuzo’s (+34 (0)914 35 9171), and Hemingway enthusiasts can visit his old haunt Museo Chicote – although it’s a far swankier cocktail club these days. Traditional sherry bar La Venencia serves nothing but the sweet stuff; step through its wooden doors into a compact space where photography is not allowed, tips are not accepted and your bar tab is tallied in chalk marks; it’s old school in its attitude.

Reviews

Photos Barceló Torre de Madrid reviews
Jane Kim | In the picture

Anonymous review

I arrived in Madrid coming off two (yes, two) hours of sleep. So the journey was an uphill battle for myself, Mr Smith and anyone else who had the misfortune of dealing with me in that state. But, things soon improved as I was greeted at stylish stay Barceló Torre de Madrid by its comically large zebra-striped bear, who tipped its hat to me as a warm welcome. No, I wasn’t hallucinating from tiredness: the hotel is sprinkled with artist-designer Jaime Hayón’s quirky touches, every piece an easter egg waiting to be discovered on each floor. 

A – human – greeter led me to the hotel’s full reception on the second floor, which felt as different as night and day from the somewhat surreal one at ground level. This was a calm and soothing space, decorated in dreamy pastels and vibrant pops of color. I had arrived a little early in the day, which gave me little hope of climbing into bed in the near future, so when the receptionist informed me that my room had already been prepared, I almost hugged her. I was finally home.

After a much-needed nap, Mr Smith and I were refreshed and ready to go, only to discover that we had arrived on a dangerously windy day, which meant sightseeing would have to wait. We happily retreated back to the room to admire the views of the city from our window, and the rest of our day was an unexpected reminder that when you’re travelling, sometimes the best possible thing you can do for yourself is to relax and recharge.

Come dinnertime, the wind was still keeping us in hibernation. Thankfully, the hotel’s Somos Garra restaurant is a destination-dining spot, with a seafood-focused menu and more beautiful views overlooking the Plaza de España. The unexpected star of our meal was dessert: French toast with vanilla sabayon and basil sorbet. Do. Not. Miss. This. Afterwards, we once again retired to our room in a warm, fuzzy state – we hadn’t left the hotel all day, but we didn’t mind a single bit. Drowsily mapping out the next day’s adventures in Madrid, my transformation from disgruntled New Yorker to excitable tourist began to take place.

After enjoying the delicious array of items from the hotel’s breakfast buffet the next morning, we finally headed out for a day on the town. We were delighted that the Barceló was within walking distance of city highlights, such as the Royal Palace of Madrid and the Temple of Debod. The hotel used to be one of the tallest buildings in Spain, too, so we could use it as a north star to navigate by when we wandered off route – an unexpected yet extremely useful perk, as much as possible of the city on foot.

Our stay at the Barceló was absolutely wonderful for all of these reasons, but to be honest, I was sold from the very beginning: from gummy bears at the front desk to the magical towels in the bathroom (that used some sorcery to dry me off in less than two seconds) to the menu of pillows (the bellhop graciously delivered three options to our room). The subtle details differentiate good hotels from great ones, and I found that to be true with Barceló in so much of what they did. They didn’t try to overwhelm you with fancy extras, but equipped you with everything you’d need to make your stay memorable and comfortable. The city was there for us, if we wanted it to be; but we were also in our own little world here.

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Price per night from $192.09