The Best Hotels Near Mesón del Pastor, by the Record
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A restored stone tower between Barcelona and Valencia, set among olive groves and vineyards in the little-known Aragonese region of Matarraña. This 18-room luxury boutique hotel earns three Michelin Keys with weathered stone walls paired against sleek modern interiors, warm neutrals, and textures doing the heavy lifting. The spa runs on a natural spring, and the restaurant sources everything from the surrounding farms, which, given what surrounds it, is less a philosophy than a short walk.
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A semi-ruined 15th-century castle in the Teruel countryside, restored by a couple who walked away from Madrid publishing life and never looked back, this remote rural hotel holds a Michelin Key. Rose gardens, fireplaces, olive trees, and a grand piano set a frankly unashamed romantic tone. Rooms have exposed brick and reading nooks; suites add wood-burning stoves and deep baths. The nearest other hotel is a long drive away, which is rather the point.
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Wooden cubes cantilevered over a limestone bluff in rural Aragón, each with a glass wall and a private terrace staring into the middle of nowhere. Consolación is a boutique hotel built around the shell of an old hermitage, and the contrast between ancient stone and sleek modern fittings, sunken slate baths included, is very much the point. The restaurant runs an open kitchen you can wander past at odd hours. Getting here requires a car and a commitment.
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The stonework and structural bones of an old paper mill in the Matarraña hills are still very much in charge here, which is the point. Somnifabrik is a 14-room rural hotel where no two rooms are the same because the building refused to cooperate with uniformity. The surrounding area, with Valderrobres and Beceite nearby, offers medieval architecture and river gorges that most visitors to Spain have quietly missed. There's a spa and restaurant on site.
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The Matarraña region gets compared to Tuscany often enough that you stop rolling your eyes and just accept it. Mas de la Costa is a luxury boutique hotel built from an old stone farmhouse, surrounded by olive and almond groves with the Els Ports de Beceite peaks beyond. Suites have fireplaces and timbered ceilings; bathrooms are tiled by hand in Granada. The honesty bar sits inside the wine cellar, which is either very trusting or very clever.
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The fanciful spires and parapets of this late-19th-century Catalan palace look less like a hotel than a fever dream of a building, which is part of the point. Inside, the original ornate rooms have kept their opulence while a newer wing adds ten suites in clean, unadorned lines with local timber. A spa and hydrotherapy center rounds things out. The old carriage house holds a Michelin-starred restaurant, and a culinary school for guests reluctant to go home hungry.