Built back when the Atocha train station was still called Mediodía, this is one of the rare hotels left with true single rooms as well as plenty of doubles, triples, and quadruples. The large rooms are especially handy for families. Like all older hotels, accommodations vary. Some have marble floors, while others have artificial wood parquet; some have older porcelain fixtures in the bathrooms, others have modern tub-showers. Some guests find the variation annoying, but we chalk it up to character, and if we don’t like the first room we’re shown, we ask nicely to see another. The location is terrific—rooms on the back actually overlook the Reina Sofía (there’s a perfect view from the balcony of Room 405), while rooms on the front look across the street to the Atocha train station. The “social lounge” on the ground level is a good place to entertain business associates or new travel friends.