PRICE:
Frommer's Highly Recommended

This stately hotel was built around 1900 to house the hundreds of passengers flooding into Madrid through the nearby Atocha railway station. In 1997, a well-respected nationwide chain, NH Hotels, ripped out much of the building's dowdy interior, reconstructing the public areas and bedrooms into a smooth, seamless decor that takes maximum advantage of the building's tall ceilings and large spaces. The entrance area impressively boasts a marble hall with Gothic columns and an overhead glass copula. In the bedrooms the Belle Epoque trappings of another day have been replaced with modern designer decor, even avant-garde art, giving the units a welcoming ambience, and those facing the exterior enjoy good views of the Botanical Gardens. Rooms also come equipped with immaculately kept bathrooms. Today the Nacional is a destination for dozens of corporate conventions.

Copyright: Excerpted from Frommer's Madrid, 3rd Edition, (c) 2008, Wiley Publishing, Inc.

Find Hotel Deals on Yahoo Travel»