César Ritz's 1910 Belle Époque palace facing the Prado, restored to within an inch of its origin and held to the Mandarin Oriental standard. The Golden Triangle of Art outside the door.
"The hotel César Ritz built in 1910 to be the equal of his Paris and London properties — restored over four years and reopened in 2021 as Mandarin Oriental's Spanish flagship. The most decorated hotel in the country."
The Ritz Madrid opened in October 1910 with a personal commission from King Alfonso XIII to César Ritz — the Swiss hotelier whose properties in Paris and London had already become reference points for the European luxury hotel — to bring the same standard to the Spanish capital. The Belle Époque palace, designed by French architect Charles Mewès in collaboration with the Spanish architect Luis de Landecho, opened on Plaza de la Lealtad facing the Prado Museum, and operated continuously for the next 109 years as the address against which Madrid's other hotels were measured. In 2017 it closed for the most ambitious historic-hotel restoration in modern Spanish history; it reopened in April 2021 as the Mandarin Oriental Ritz, Madrid, after a four-year, reportedly €110 million programme overseen by Mandarin Oriental and the Olayan Group.
The restoration kept the Belle Époque shell — the white-stone façade, the original entrance hall, the ironwork of the central staircase, the 1910 stained-glass dome over the lobby — and entirely rebuilt the interiors behind it. The room count was reduced from 167 to 153 to give every category of room a proper proportion; corridors were widened; the original ballrooms and salons were brought back to use as restaurant, bar, and event spaces. The Mandarin Oriental design team — led by French architect Gilles & Boissier — produced what is, by general critical consensus, the most successful Belle Époque hotel restoration in Europe in the past decade. Every visible surface has been redrawn; every visible surface looks as though it has been there for a century.
The hotel's restaurant programme is its strongest single argument. Deessa, in the original 1910 dining room and led by Quique Dacosta, holds two Michelin stars and runs several multi-course tasting menus across Wednesday-to-Saturday lunch and dinner services. Palm Court, in the central glass-domed atrium that is the most photographed space in the hotel, runs all-day dining and the city's most discussed afternoon tea. Pictura runs the rooftop terrace dining; the Champagne Bar runs the late-night programme. There are five restaurants and bars in total, all overseen at the executive-chef level by Quique Dacosta. The spa — a 1,000-square-metre underground installation that was one of the most expensive elements of the restoration — includes the city's only proper hotel hammam, an indoor pool, and a treatment menu that draws on Mandarin Oriental's Asian heritage applied to Spanish ingredients.
The Mandarin Oriental Ritz, Madrid was awarded three Michelin Keys in the inaugural 2024 Michelin Hotel Guide — the highest hotel rating then available, and the only three-Key property in Spain. Five years from its reopening, it is the most visibly successful luxury hotel restoration in continental Europe and the address against which the Four Seasons Madrid is most directly compared. The two hotels are different propositions: the Four Seasons is the modern five-star applied to a historic shell; the Mandarin Oriental Ritz is the historic five-star restored to its origin and brought up to current expectations. Choose accordingly.
For honeymoons that should feel like staying inside a Belle Époque painting, the Mandarin Oriental Ritz is the room. The Royal Suite — the 200-square-metre signature suite overlooking the Plaza de la Lealtad — is one of Europe's great hotel rooms; the Premier and Deluxe rooms are more modest in scale but no less considered in finish. The hammam, the indoor pool, dinner at Deessa, and the Palm Court for breakfast under the dome are a complete honeymoon programme without ever leaving the building.
The Mandarin Oriental Ritz is the most theatrical anniversary venue in Madrid — every space in the hotel rewards a celebration, from the Champagne Bar at the start of an evening to the Palm Court at its end. A two-night anniversary booking with a Deessa tasting menu, a hammam afternoon, and a private after-hours visit to the Prado (a five-minute walk away) is the kind of programme the concierge has prepared a thousand times.
If you are proposing in Madrid, the Royal Suite balcony at the Mandarin Oriental Ritz at sunset, with the Plaza de la Lealtad below and the Prado to the right, is one of the most cinematic proposal settings in continental Europe. The concierge handles flowers, photographer, the Champagne, and a Deessa table to follow without making any of it feel boilerplate. Lead time three weeks; specify the suite category at booking.
Plaza de la Lealtad 5
28014 Madrid
Spain
Golden Triangle of Art, facing the Prado
153 rooms & suites
Premier Rooms from €1,000/night
Deluxe Rooms from €1,200/night
Royal Suite from €15,000/night
Check-in: 3:00 PM
Check-out: 12:00 PM
Originally opened: 1910
Reopened as Mandarin Oriental: April 2021
Deessa (2 Michelin stars)
3 Michelin Keys
1,000m² spa with hammam
Indoor pool
5 restaurants & bars
Palm Court under glass dome
From €1,000/night. Premier and Deluxe rooms book first; Royal Suite requires three months' lead time in season.
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