Palacio de los Duques Gran Meliá

Palacio de los Duques stands between Plaza de Oriente and Gran Vía, which is to say between the two Madrids: the ceremonial one of palaces and squares, and the louder one of theatres and late dinners. The hotel takes Velázquez as its reference and follows the idea properly, setting classical imagery against contemporary furniture and a great deal of pale, luminous cloth.

It could have been oppressive. Instead it reads as a Madrid house with a good collection: a garden in the middle of it, a roof terrace above, lunch under the trees and a grand café for everything else. Madrid de los Austrias begins at the door, and the walk back at two in the morning is one of the pleasures of staying here.

Between Oriente and Gran Vía

One direction from the door leads into Madrid de los Austrias, the old royal quarter of squares, arcades and the palace itself. The other leads to Gran Vía, where the city keeps its theatres and its noise. Very few addresses sit that precisely on the seam, and the practical result is a hotel from which almost everything worth seeing in central Madrid is reachable on foot, at the hours Madrid actually keeps.

A house with a collection

Classical art is the through line, including the large-scale images that fill the guest rooms, balanced by gold-toned curtains, pale bedding and furniture emphatically of this century. The combination works because neither half apologises for the other. After a morning among Madrid’s galleries the effect is peculiarly satisfying, as though the paintings had followed you home. RedLevel categories add a further tier of accommodation and service for those who want it.

Garden below, rooftop above

The garden is the rarer of the two. Enclosed, planted and central, it holds Jardín de los Duques and turns lunch into something closer to an afternoon, while Los Duques Grand Café keeps the indoor hours. Upstairs the roof terrace changes the subject entirely, with the tiles and domes of the royal quarter laid out below. Thai Room Wellness handles the recovery, which a city this demanding eventually requires.