Since 1947
They say that in hotels, as with people, the first impression is what counts. The one that leaves a mark, the one that marks the future of the relationship, in this case that of hotel-guest.
The designer Diane von Furstenberg referred to that first contact in this way:
“That moment when you enter your hotel room, close the door and you know that there is a secret, a luxury, a fantasy. That there is comfort. That there is tranquility.”
You may have seen Hotel Carlos V walking through the historic center of Toledo, next to the Alcázar. Or on the Internet, on this same website. And we have to tell you that no, we are not able to even remotely explain the impact that a traveler receives when they cross the door of neo-Mudejar architecture towards our reception.
Anyway, let's try it. Let's start at the beginning.
Hotel Carlos V opens its doors becoming, without knowing it, the oldest hotel that is still open today in all of Toledo.
The building, which was originally going to be a hospital, has always lived protected by the spectacular Alcázar and the great theater, located just a few steps from our door.
The famous film director Luis Buñuel appears in Toledo to film Viridiana, the film that gives its name to our meeting room.
Almost ten years later he returns and films Tristana, with Catherine Deneuve as the protagonist, an actress who stays in one of the rooms of Hotel Carlos V.
From that moment on and thanks to the proximity of the theater and the international success of Toledo, actors and actresses of the stature of John Wayne, Rock Hudson, Rita Hayworth, Fernando Fernán Gómez, Emma Cohen, Arturo Fernández or a very young Johnny Depp.
Something happens here.
Perhaps the building was originally going to be a hospital. Or that actors and actresses from all over the world have stayed here, and athletes like Alfredo Di Stéfano, Gento or Bahamontes. Or that we are the oldest active hotel in Toledo. Or that we serve breakfast in a Mudejar-style restaurant where countless familiar faces have passed by.
We don't know, but although Hotel Carlos V is a modernly decorated hotel, it still preserves a magical atmosphere that makes those of us inside feel as if time did not pass.
Charles I of Spain and V of the Holy Roman Empire dominated his empire in the 16th century from Toledo, an elevated rock surrounded by the Tagus, absolutely impregnable: the Catholic bastion.
What name but his would we choose to refer to an accommodation that grows in the shadow of the Alcázar, the work of the ancient emperor who best represents the military power that the capital of La Mancha always had?
Hotel Carlos V and Toledo have always gone hand in hand. From its founding in 1951 until today, the best days of the former imperial capital have always coincided with the splendor of our hotel.
Today, Toledo is the destination chosen by travelers like you who come all year round in search of history, legends, leisure and great gastronomy.
And we want you to discover it with our help. We want you to feel that first inexplicable impression we were talking about. May you experience for yourself the pleasure of sleeping in one of our 68 rooms. May you have breakfast in the morning in a room with Mudéjar architecture and be more aware of the decoration than the buffet. Let you go up to our roof to contemplate the most beautiful face of Toledo while you touch the sky with your hands. And that you take with you an indelible memory of her because if we achieve it, we will have fulfilled our mission.
