Hotels Madonna Has Stayed At

A dining room dating to 1919, dressed in blue with gold moldings and crystal chandeliers, captures El Palace Hotel Barcelona’s enduring taste for ceremony. The former Ritz, a short walk from Passeig de Gràcia, puts that heritage to work at Amar Barcelona, where chef Rafa Zafra’s seafood-focused cooking includes nods to the hotel’s earlier menus. Afternoon tea brings live piano music to the historic main hall, while breakfast is served in El Jardín, an indoor garden with black-and-white décor and wrought iron details. Upstairs, the Rooftop Garden adds another dimension: greenery, open-air dining and a guest-only swimming pool, with views across Barcelona toward the Sagrada Família.

A Chihuly chandelier in the Foyer gives Claridge’s a fitting introduction: design is central to this Mayfair hotel, where Victorian grandeur and Art Deco geometry shape the public rooms. The bedrooms carry that range further, spanning Victorian, Deco, and contemporary styles rather than following a single decorative template. Afternoon tea in the Foyer & Reading Room remains one of the hotel’s defining rituals, while the intimate Fumoir has been serving cocktails since 1929. The spa adds another architectural draw, with a heated pool beneath a multi-vaulted ceiling supported by stone columns. Outside, Brook Street and Davies Street place guests among Mayfair’s shopping streets, within easy reach of Hyde Park.

A vintage coffee truck in the lobby and a vinyl collection in the VIP Lounge give The Cumberland a playful streak that suits its musical identity. With 900 bedrooms at Marble Arch, this is a London hotel on a substantial scale, with plenty happening under one roof: Spanish tapas at Lírica, cocktails at SOUND Bar, and Gordon Ramsay’s Hell’s Kitchen. Hyde Park is on the doorstep, and the Park View rooms make the most of that setting with views across the park. For guests in Executive King rooms and suites, the lounge adds a more personal diversion: records to play, an ice cream machine, and refreshments throughout the day.

English gardens provide the design thread at The Dorchester: their colors and motifs shape the rooms and suites, while an extensive art collection explores the British landscape tradition. Outside, Hyde Park stretches across from the hotel’s Park Lane address in Mayfair, with Bond Street’s boutiques nearby. That connection to its surroundings gives this grand London hotel a character beyond its dining credentials, which include contemporary French cuisine at the three-Michelin-starred Alain Ducasse restaurant. The Promenade supplies a more everyday rhythm, serving breakfast, afternoon tea and dinner with live music. Together, these spaces make the hotel as much a place to spend an afternoon or evening as a base for exploring London.

Hand-painted trompe l’oeil marbling and chandeliers give The Lanesborough’s Withdrawing Room its elaborate character, with Wellington Arch framed beyond the windows. That taste for Regency decoration carries through the hotel’s individually furnished rooms and suites, each with dedicated butler service around the clock. Interior designer Alberto Pinto directed the renovation of this historic mansion at the edge of Hyde Park, where the setting puts Knightsbridge and Sloane Street shopping within easy reach. There is good reason to linger inside, too: chef Shay Cooper’s Lanesborough Grill centers its modern British cooking on seasonal produce from across the country, while the Library Bar keeps a collection of rare spirits.

The May Fair’s former Grand Art Deco Ballroom now houses the Palm Beach Casino—a particularly vivid link to the hotel’s beginnings in 1927. That appetite for theatrical design carries into its suites: the Schiaparelli takes inspiration from Elsa Schiaparelli’s favored fuchsia and the surrealist era, with a freestanding limestone egg bath and an integrated fireplace. With more than 400 rooms, including 37 suites, this is a substantial London hotel with plenty happening under one roof. May Fair Kitchen pairs Japanese and Italian cooking, while the bar serves cocktails throughout the day. Outside, its Stratton Street address puts Green Park, Berkeley Square, and Bond Street within easy reach.

Palm Court’s crystal canopy sets the tone at Mandarin Oriental Ritz, Madrid, a Belle Époque palace where the dining rooms are as much a draw as the address. Beneath it, the all-day restaurant serves contemporary interpretations of Ritz classics under chef Quique Dacosta’s direction. His two-Michelin-starred Deessa occupies the Alfonso XIII room, with a terrace overlooking the Ritz Garden. The hotel sits between the Prado Museum and Retiro Park, placing art and open space close at hand. Upstairs, accommodations range from courtyard-facing rooms to suites overlooking the Prado and Plaza de la Lealtad, with marble bathrooms and a classic approach to interiors that carries the palace’s character into the private spaces.

An art collection that includes Jacky Puzey’s textile-inspired installation gives Rosewood Villa Magna a distinctive point of view on Madrid’s craft and culture. Its interiors draw on early 20th-century design and pay tribute to the former Anglada Palace, lending a residential character to this address on Paseo de la Castellana. Rooms overlook the gardens or boulevard, while the rooftop houses open up views across Madrid. Food is another reason to spend time here: at Amós, Jesús Sánchez interprets Cantabrian ingredients from sea, mountain, and farm; Flor y Nata offers a more casual stop for coffee and pastries. Beyond the hotel, Salamanca’s galleries, ateliers, and family-run bakeries extend the cultural thread into the neighborhood.

A stained-glass dome made from 1,875 individual panes gives The Palace its architectural centerpiece, with a palm-shaped chandelier suspended beneath it. Each pane was dismantled, cataloged and restored as part of the renovation that brought this 1912 hotel into The Luxury Collection in 2025. Designer Lázaro Rosa-Violán’s interiors draw on the Belle Époque and Roaring Twenties, alongside preserved marble, historic tapestries and original architectural details. Beneath the dome, La Cúpula serves contemporary Spanish cooking and afternoon tea. Outside, the hotel’s Plaza de las Cortes address places Madrid’s museums within walking distance; selected rooms overlook the Neptune Fountain or the Spanish Parliament, giving the city a presence well beyond the public rooms.

El Quijote, the Hotel Chelsea’s century-old Spanish restaurant, gives this West 23rd Street address a living connection to its past, with a menu drawing on the Basque Country. Dining remains central to the hotel’s character: Café Chelsea serves French-American bistro fare, while Teruko brings a sushi bar and seasonal Japanese cooking to the subterranean level. Upstairs, accommodations range from compact, 200-square-foot queen rooms to suites with full kitchens and dining areas. Marble bathrooms recur throughout, with high ceilings, soaking tubs, and Manhattan views in selected categories. The Lobby Bar welcomes neighbors as well as overnight guests, making the Chelsea a place to spend an evening even without checking in.

Wood-burning fireplaces and landscaped terraces give The Lowell the character of a private Manhattan residence, with select accommodations offering those distinctly domestic pleasures. This family-owned hotel on East 63rd Street has 47 individually appointed suites and 27 rooms, their interiors inspired by designer Michael Smith’s residential style. Its setting between Madison and Park Avenues places Central Park and Madison Avenue’s boutiques within easy walking distance. The residential character extends to a Club Room reserved for hotel guests, while Majorelle brings a more elaborate flourish: marble columns, vaulted wood-arched ceilings and a year-round garden frame French Mediterranean cooking with Moroccan influences. Together, these spaces give the hotel a particular Upper East Side identity, rooted in apartment living and neighborhood dining.

Three restaurants sharing six Michelin stars make dining central to the identity of Four Seasons Hotel George V Paris. Christian Le Squer’s modern French cooking at Le Cinq anchors the lineup, while Le George takes an Italian-Mediterranean direction and L’Orangerie serves seasonal menus beneath a glass canopy overlooking the marble courtyard. The setting carries equal weight: a 1928 Art Deco landmark in the Golden Triangle, just off the Champs-Élysées. Inside, La Galerie’s collection of 19th-century art and the Parisian Suites’ classical or Empire-style works give the hotel a distinctly formal character. Some suites open onto terraces with Eiffel Tower views, adding a broader Paris panorama to a stay centered on art and the table.

Karl Lagerfeld’s Grands Appartements give Hôtel de Crillon a distinctive design pedigree behind its Neoclassical façade on Place de la Concorde. Art runs through the hotel, with sculpture, painting and photography by established and emerging artists sharing space with its historic architecture. The rooms take a residential approach, pairing custom art and comfortable furnishings with marble bathrooms; suites add bespoke furniture, textiles and individually selected objets d’art. Tucked-away courtyards offer a quieter setting within the property. For an evening overlooking the square, Les Ambassadeurs serves cocktails alongside live music, with a terrace beneath the arcades—a place to appreciate the architecture as part of everyday hotel life.

Acoustic guitars in the guest rooms give an early clue to Le Royal Monceau - Raffles Paris’s artistic temperament. Philippe Starck’s reworking of the hotel carries that spirit through interiors filled with contemporary art, while suites draw on the lines and colors of the 1940s and ’50s, with books and messages scrawled on lampshades adding personal touches. The collection extends beyond the bedrooms: more than 300 works, a contemporary gallery and the 99-seat Katara Cinema make culture part of a stay. On Avenue Hoche, near the Arc de Triomphe and Parc Monceau, this hotel has welcomed artists and writers since 1928; its present-day character gives that history a tangible expression.

Royal blue in the lobby, a grand staircase and rooms furnished with silks and antique art give the Ritz Paris its richly layered character. César Ritz chose a private mansion on Place Vendôme for the hotel he opened in 1898; he and his wife, Marie-Louise, approached it as a vast private home, mixing periods and French decorative traditions. That residential idea still gives shape to a stay, from individually styled accommodations to the wood-paneled Salon Proust, where books and armchairs frame afternoon tea. Outside, the Grand Jardin extends the hotel’s sequence of salons into greenery, with magnolias, a fountain and wooden alcoves along a trellis gallery.