The Best Hotels Near Casa Garras, by the Record
-
An 85-foot trunk of rolled stone climbs the full height of the atrium, which tells you immediately what kind of hotel this is. Across from Bilbao's Guggenheim, the Artist is a design hotel where the furniture is a literal museum of 20th-century pieces and the lobby bar channels 1930s New York with Art Deco details and monthly jazz. The Michelin Guide awarded it one Key. Athletes, models, and architects fill the rooms, and they all dress accordingly.
-
-
A green aluminum and glass facade cuts a minimalist silhouette on the Alameda de Mazarredo, roughly midway between the Guggenheim and the Museo de Bellas Artes. The Miró is a boutique hotel done in whites and creams against black marble and dark carpet, with full-length windows and rooms spare enough to feel almost sculptural. The lobby bar is quiet and good for a drink with a newspaper. No restaurant, but Bilbao makes that easy to forgive.
-
-
The building was once a bank headquarters, and you can still feel the mid-century weight of it in the lobby. This upscale hotel on Gran Via runs to spacious modern rooms, a full spa, and a rooftop terrace with vertical gardens and city views. Eneko Atxa oversees the restaurant, where updated Basque cooking anchors a menu backed by local wines. The kind of place that makes Gran Via feel like it was designed around the hotel, not the other way around.
-
-
Sailboats from the Puerto Chico marina are the view from this small boutique hotel facing Santander's bay. It's a compact, personable stay with clean contemporary interiors, and the location does a lot of the work: the Cantabrian Maritime Museum and the Palace of Festivals are essentially next door, the beach is a short walk, and the bay itself is listed among the most beautiful in the world, which the sailors apparently already knew.
-
A 17th-century palace in the foothills of the Pasiego Valley, restored into an eleven-room boutique hotel where the antiques are the decor, not the theme. The interiors lean into an old-money ease without feeling like a museum, and fourteen acres of gardens surround an indoor-outdoor pool with valley views. A small spa and a fine dining restaurant running Cantabrian tasting menus round out the picture. The Michelin Guide awarded it one Key.
-
An old stone farmhouse outside Bermeo, converted into an eight-suite hotel where the brothers who run it have sourced nearly everything from local farmers, artisans, and winemakers, down to the soap. Exposed stone walls and wood-beamed ceilings sit alongside Scandinavian-inflected furniture and standalone soaking tubs, and the larger rooms add wood-burning stoves. The farm-to-table restaurant gives you a reason to come back inside after a day hiking the green Basque hills.