Hotel América

A simple, country-comfy hotel actually inside the Alhambra in Granada

Everybody visits Granada to tour the vast Moorish castle complex called the Alhambra, and the chance to stay in the Alhambra would be like a bit bunking down at Vatican City or sleeping inside the Tower of London.

Not that staying in the Alhambra is a secret. Everyone who does a little research on Andalucia quickly discovers the famous and fantastic Parador de Granada on Alhambra grounds. Then they see that it is expensive (from €311—though online you can find it for as little as €190), and routinely books up a full year in advance, and they move on to find a place elsewhere in town.

Little do they know about the Hotel América.

This is a private summer home from the 19th century turned into a Victorian hotel in the 1920s (in the Garzón family since the 1930s), and it, too, is inside the gates of the Alhambra, just steps away from its more famous neighbor, the parador, and 100 yards from the Court of the Lions.

The chance to sleep over inside the quiet grounds, when all the tourists have melted away and the sounds revert to bird song and the quiet babble of fountains, is one of those travel experiences of a lifetime.

So much the better that the America is also pretty gorgeous inside: all wood-beamed ceilings, exposed brick and stonework, and Moorish accents.

In keeping with the calm, quiet atmosphere, there are no TVs (but there is free WiFi).

The 17 rooms overlook either the garden courtyard shaded by grape vines, or the Royal Street of the Alhambra, with the Alhambra gardens and Sierra Nevada mountains in the background.

At the high end of rates for this round-up, it's a bit of a splurge—but in this case it is undoubtedly well worth it.

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