By chance, many years ago, I happened upon the Parador de Cuenca – an attractive and imposing building on the Hoz Del Huecar gorge that was, in the 16th century, the San Pablo convent and is now a Parador hotel. I decided to stay the night and had a fascinating time exploring the old chapel and glazed cloisters and having a civilized sherry in the pretty courtyard as the sun went down. This first encounter with a Parador piqued my interest and set me on a path to search for the best of the best Paradors.

While I haven’t yet visited all ninety three Paradors, I have spent time in most of the historic properties and am working my way through the coastal and natural park locations. In the process I have become a fan of the organization that offers travelers such exquisite places to stay. I am particularly impressed with the skillful conversions that retain the best of the ancient while adding cutting-edge modern architecture and décor for style and comfort. Not all of the Paradors fall under this category: some are dated and ready for upgrading, but this work is impressively underway throughout the network with nineteen properties currently being worked on. I was curious about the diversity of the Paradors, how they came into being and who was behind the plan for the breathtakingly eclectic transformations taking place.

The history of the Parador organization is fascinating. Those who visit Paradors are fortunate to be experiencing the vision of Marques de la Vega Inclan who, in 1910, was given the job of creating a hotel network. Initially the idea was to improve tourism to Spain by building some special hotels for visitors and in 1926 the first Parador was opened in the Gredos Mountains. Almost as a secondary idea, it was decided to try to make use of the many historic buildings that were in disrepair throughout the country. The project from this point on was to establish new Paradors in historical buildings, significant historic towns and in areas of natural beauty. In the 1920’s, thanks in part to the impetus of the Latin American Exposition, the project got underway in earnest with the renovation and transformation of many monumental and historic buildings into Parador hotels. As the country grew, so did the network of Paradors. This expansion and tourism in general came to a grinding halt during the Civil War. Some of the buildings were damaged while others were used as hospitals. With peace came renewed expansion and in the 1960’s the number of Paradors went from forty to eighty three. A restructuring of the organization occurred during the 1980’s when some significant properties from the Entursa public chain of hotels were added to the Paradors network. These important properties included the Hostal de Reyes Catolicos in Santiago de Compostella (purported to be Spain’s oldest hotel (1499) and the Hostal de San Marcos in Leon (both now five star Parador hotels). In the early 1990’s an organization was formed to focus on quality, profitability and efficient maintenance and operation of the entire network of hotels – the Paradores de Turismo de Espana. New strategic policies were implemented to bring the Paradors up to the highest standards, including an ongoing commitment to environmentally-friendly practices, implementation of new technologies, and research and development initiatives. These policies seem to be working very well indeed with a noticeable improvement in customer service, more comfortable and efficient rooms with wifi or internet access, and, importantly, improved cuisine.

Since the idea was first floated more than eight decades ago - to create exceptional hotels for visitors to Spain - today’s updated goal is very similar …to provide visitors with "history, nature and gastronomy with service of the utmost quality, but also with the technology and comfort of a twenty-first century hotel" (from the Strategic Plan 2009-2012). The planned expansion for the next decade is impressive with five Paradores currently under construction in Lorca, Morella, Corias, Veruela and Ibiza and nine Paradors in the architectural planning stage. At this rate I may never catch up.