María Cristina Hotel: the luxury hotel that guards the secrets of Hollywood in its depths and seduces the most sophisticated of travelers
María Cristina Hotel: the luxury hotel that guards the secrets of Hollywood in its depths and seduces the most sophisticated of travelers
The María Cristina Hotel, a Luxury Collection Hotel, is an extraordinary juxtaposition of complementary elements: design and heritage, tradition and modernity, action and reflection. All of these attributes coexist and define the spaces and services of one of the emblematic five-star hotels of Europe. In the establishment’s century of history, it has managed to flow with trends and circumstances that were not even imaginable when it was conceived in the midst of the Belle Époque, back in 1912.
The most select members of European aristocracy and Hollywood cinema have passed through this hotel’s nooks and crannies. After its inauguration, supported by Queen María Christina, the hotel soon became the playground of the court. Its prosperous beginnings, in which it hosted fashion shows by Coco Chanel and many elegant celebrations, were followed by the difficult years of the Spanish Civil War, when it even became a military headquarters.
But it was in 1953, after the arrival of the International Film Festival of San Sebastián, when the hotel went from being a renowned accommodation option to a universal icon. The reason for that popularity, in addition to the attention and care that the hotel has always offered guests, comes in the form of famous names. Directors like Alfred Hitchcock, Federico Fellini, Francis Ford Coppola, Steven Spielberg, Woody Allen, and Roman Polanski and actors like Audrey Hepburn, Elisabeth Taylor, Sophia Loren, Brad Pitt, Anthony Hopkins, Richard Gere, and Meryl Streep have all spent the night at the María Cristina in years gone by.
A decade ago, the hotel undertook a major renovation project to continue hosting the stars of tomorrow – both famous and anonymous. In 2023, under the leadership of renewed management, this emblematic hotel is successfully pushing the boundaries of hospitality and luxury, demonstrating that the art of living is a formula rooted in comfort, courtesy, and epicurean pleasures. The magic of actress Bette Davis, who spent her last days in a suite that today bears her name, can still be perceived in the María Cristina’s elegant halls and rooms. Pure fascination.
María Cristina Hotel
Paseo República Argentina 4, San Sebastián.
Tel.: +34 943 43 76 00
