AC Hotel Palacio de Santa Ana by Marriott

Class: Deluxe

Style: Modern design

Rooms: 102

It’s enough to make other countries swoon with envy. The United States, for example, seems to have trouble getting interesting hotels open even in some of its biggest cities, while Spain, on the other hand, has chains like AC Hotels, who manage to install swanky, stylish boutique hotels like this one, the Palacio de Santa Ana, in places like Valladolid, which for all its charms can hardly be said to be a major metropolis.

So you feel almost spoiled, walking into this 18th-century monastery on the banks of the Pisuerga, through the glass-roofed courtyard strewn with sleek modernist sofas and up to your room, all hardwood floors, half-timbered ceilings and glossy monochrome minimalist décor. It’s the kind of hotel that could get away with all sorts of rustic clichés by rights of its scenic location and cloistered quiet, but instead takes the high road, with interiors as fully realized as any sophisticated urban boutique.

It’s the top hotel in town, by a long shot, with a fine Castillian restaurant overlooking the banks of the river as well as a pool, a fitness center, and more meeting space than you probably care to know about. Quite a find, if you’ve got an excuse for traveling to Valladolid, and hotel enough to serve as its own excuse if you don’t.