Palmas de Alba

Palmas de Alba stands on Calle San Diego, inside the Walled City, and holds thirty guests across eight bedrooms. The number that tells you most about it is thirty beds in those eight rooms: several of the bedrooms are duplexes, a king below and two doubles above, which is how the house takes a group of thirty without ever putting anybody on a sofa. Nine bathrooms serve them. There is a pool and a jacuzzi, a professional bar and a lounge, so an evening can start and finish without leaving. The duplex arrangement suits families with older children and groups travelling in clusters rather than pairs — everybody keeps a room, and the room keeps a door. Palmas is one of a group of houses within the walls, each built around a pool, a proper bar and somewhere for everyone to gather at once.