19 Hotels That Used to Be Churches, Temples, and More
Abadía Retuerta Le Domaine, Sardón de Duero, Spain
The 12th-century Abadía Santa Maria de Retuerta is one of only two such Benedictine abbeys that survived the Napoleonic invasion. Surrounded by acres of vineyards near the banks of the River Duero (a 25-minute drive from Valladolid), the beautiful stone abbey is now a luxurious 30-bedroom hotel and foodie paradise. The restaurant at Le Domaine, Refectorio Restaurant earned a Michelin star when it first launched under the helm of Andoni Luis Aduriz, founder of the two-Michelin-star restaurant Mugaritz in San Sebastián. The hotel was voted the top hotel in Spain and Portugal in last year's Readers' Choice Awards survey.
Fontevraud L'Hôtel, Anjou, France
The Royal Abbey of Fontevraud, a UNESCO heritage site, has had many lives. Founded in 1101, it served for centuries as the center of a renowned monastic community. In 1804 Napoleon turned it into one of France’s most infamous prisons. In 2013, thanks in part to a €16 million ($19.6 million) investment from the Région des Pays de la Loire, it remade itself again, this time as a 54-bedroom design hotel. Designers Patrick Jouin and Sanjit Manku sensitively reimagined the interiors of the Saint-Lazare Priory to create the ultra-modern spaces of the hotel. The furniture was designed specially for the hotel and produced by artisans from the region. Even the honey soap found in the bathrooms was made in the village of Fontevraud.
Kruisherenhotel Maastricht, Netherlands
The Kruisherenhotel is a reflection of this southern Dutch city’s ever growing vocation as an international arts center. Famous for its fine arts and antiques fair, Maastricht has an increasing number of contemporary art galleries, too. So not only is there demand for the Kruisherenhotel’s 60 luxurious rooms created out of a former 14th-century church and cloister by Dutch designer Henk Vos, but the same high-brow international audience is also receptive to funky decors and furniture by a brand name designer (in this case, German Ingo Maurer). The reception area and a wine bar occupy the original nave and apse of the church, while a superb open-walled breakfast room and library fill an upstairs mezzanine. The edgy mix of ancient and avant-garde continues in the rooms, too, with oak parquet floors, Artimide lamps, chaise longues and sofas, and, in some, statement type works of modern art.
At The Chapel, Bruton, Somerset, England
Bruton is a typically quaint southern English town in the countryside, populated by ancient cottages. But it’s also home to an emerging art scene, of which At The Chapel is the hub. The building has been at various times: a coaching inn, a Victorian chapel, and a hippie commune and recording studio— reportedly frequented in the 1960s by Genesis and Tangerine Dream. Today it is a restaurant with rooms, a bakery, and a wine store. The restaurant (pictured) is flooded with light from the original 20-foot chapel windows.
- Readers' Choice Awards2024 Readers' Choice Awards Survey
San Domenico Palace Hotel, Taormina, Sicily, Italy
Formerly a 15th-century monastery, this hotel now doesn’t seem to have a problem embracing vice. There are two fully stocked bars (including one next to the pool), three restaurants, and gardens with plenty of hidden corners where lovers can sequester themselves. Set on the slopes of Mount Etna overlooking the Ionian Sea, rooms are converted monk's cells flanking long, arched corridors (some with private terraces).
Sozo Hotel, Nantes, France
Only a few years old, this 28-room hotel is set within the soaring space of a 19th-century chapel in Nantes, a handsome old port city at the mouth of the Loire that is one of the fastest-growing urban centers in France (and home to one of the country's biggest botanical gardens). Public spaces and guest rooms have bright white walls, cool gray granite pillars, vaulted ceilings, and a suitably austere ambience. There's not a lick of fanciful, colorful stained glass here.
- Readers' Choice Awards2024 Readers' Choice Awards Survey
Mandarin Oriental, Prague, Czech Republic
Built on the site of a former 14th-century monastery in Malá Strana, the Renaissance and Baroque hotel seamlessly blends history with cutting-edge modern amenities. Its 99 individually designed rooms are understatedly plush, with parquet floors, vaulted ceilings, and polished-limestone bathrooms. The Gothic spa’s glass floors reveal the ruins of a chapel below. At Spices Restaurant and Bar, we love the peking duck and foie gras spring rolls, or the melt-in-your-mouth sea bass, which is cooked in banana leaves and served with Kerala curry.
Augustine, A Luxury Collection Hotel, Prague, Czech Republic
The location of this hotel—in and around an ancient Augustinian monastery in the scenic Malá Strana district, between soaring Prague Castle and the calm Vltava River—is its best selling point. Numerous cultural and archaeological concerns delayed the 101-room hotel’s opening for years, but the result is worth the wait: The accommodations may be in the former monks’ quarters, but instead of monastic austerity there’s a tasteful sense of modern luxury. Rooms are decked in rich fabrics in warm earth tones and dressed up with elements of local design, such as reproductions of Pavel Janak’s angular Cubist timber chairs and elegant chaise lounges from designer Adolf Loos. The Augustinians retain ownership of the buildings, and guests can take a tour of the historic library, monastery, and chapel with one of the monks who still live in the separate monastic quarters.
- Readers' Choice Awards2024 Readers' Choice Awards Survey
Courtesy Monastero Santa RosaMonastero Santa Rosa Hotel & Spa, Amalfi, Italy
A restored 17th-century monastery three miles from Amalfi, hotel is a testament to the engineering ingenuity of its builders. All 20 rooms, in the former nun's quarters, have views of the Gulf of Salerno below, and the spectacular infinity pool is positioned to capture both Ravello and Positano in either direction up and down the coast.
Convento do Espinheiro, Évora, Portugal
Évora, an ancient UNESCO-recognized walled Portuguese city near the country’s border with Spain, may be best known for its Roman temple (surprisingly dinky). The real reasons it’s such a great destination are the dense fabric of white-washed Baroque churches; gentle, timeless ambience; clean air—the sky’s so full of stars at night, you can almost pick them; and, most recently, the Convento do Espinheiro, a lovely 59-room resort hotel created from an 1834 monastery on the outskirts of town.
- Readers' Choice Awards2024 Readers' Choice Awards Survey
Courtesy Sofitel Legend Santa Clara CartagenaSofitel Legend Santa Clara Cartagena, Colombia
This former 17th-century convent mixes elements of its past (exposed wood ceilings, beautiful arched walkways) with modernity in a very graceful way. Set within walking distance of the Palace of the Inquisition and about a seven-minute walk to the water, it's a super-sized hacienda, complete with a courtyard toucan. Rooms are either contemporary or colonial-style; the newer ones offer views of the pool or the Caribbean, while colonial suites have antique furniture and overlook the Old Town or interior gardens. To play at being pious, check out Restaurant 1621, once the Clarist nuns’ dining room, that now serves French-inflected cuisine.
Courtesy of Hotel MonasterioBelmond Hotel Monasterio, Cusco, Peru
A national historic landmark, this 16th-century former seminary just blocks from the city center is both serene and deeply luxurious. Guest rooms have views of the main courtyard as well as architectural quirks like sloping ceilings and paintings in gilded frames. In the lobby bar, sip a cocktail while a jazz musician plays. The antique refectory of Tupay has exquisitely prepared and presented dinners featuring international dishes; a buffet breakfast with a view of the main patio is served at Illariy. Belmond's Palacio Nazarenas is located close by, a former convent, and another excellent, historic choice in Cusco.
- Readers' Choice Awards2024 Readers' Choice Awards Survey
Courtesy Marriott International, Inc.JW Marriott El Convento Cusco, Peru
If the altitude of Cusco wipes you out, El Convento will provide pumped-in oxygen to your room along with its other amenities. The namesake convent dates to the 1500s and archeological ruins are maintained on property. Décor continues the old-new pairing, with stylish rooms and public areas. Weavers in the courtyard give demonstrations and must-have textiles are available for purchase.
Hotel El Convento, San Juan, Puerto Rico
This former convent, in the heart of cobblestoned Old San Juan, next door to the Western Hemisphere's second oldest cathedral, is a welcome refuge from the hot Caribbean sun (especially in the hotel's small rooftop plunge pool). Construction began for the Carmelite nuns in 1646, and it was only in 1962 that it opened its doors as a hotel—Rita Hayworth is reported to have been one of the first guests to walk across the beautiful Andalusian tiled floors under local mahogany beams.
- Readers' Choice Awards2024 Readers' Choice Awards Survey
Hotel Casa Santo Domingo, Antigua, Guatemala
Only 45 minutes from the Guatemala City's international airport, this former convent has some jaw-dropping views of volcanoes Agua, Fuego, and Acatenango in the distance, but it's the abundance of history that really stands out. The hotel's museum exhibits a collection of colonial items including sculptures and silver religious objects found on site. Large rooms occupy the former dormitories for nuns.
L’Iglesia Hotel, El Jadida, Morocco
In Northern Africa, the L’Iglesia is located in a UNESCO-classified site—the medina of El Jadida, a 16th-century fortified town about 60 miles south of Casablanca. The hotel’s 14 rooms are split between the city’s old consular headquarters and an ancient Spanish church. Both buildings were carefully restored and decorated with a nod to Morocco’s glamorous 1930s heyday. The Salon, the hotel's central meeting area, occupies the former nave of the church and is filled with antique rugs, vintage wireless radios, and trinkets sourced from markets and dealers across Morocco.
- Readers' Choice Awards2024 Readers' Choice Awards Survey
The Temple Hotel, Beijing, China
The Zhizhusi temple and its surrounding buildings were in ruins when the team behind The Temple Hotel stumbled upon them down an alley near Beijing’s Forbidden City in 2007. During the renovation, restorers discovered centuries-old ceiling frescoes and wood panels hidden behind layers of paint and plaster. Their work regenerating the temple complex won the hotel a UNESCO award for conservation. The compound reopened in 2013 as an eight-bedroom hotel, restaurant, and art gallery. The Imperial Suite is the crown jewel of the hotel’s bedrooms, marrying the temple’s ancient woodwork with modern design elements.
Courtesy Church Boutique HotelChurch Boutiqe Hotel Nha Tho, Hanoi, Vietnam
In the center of Hanoi's Old Quarter, Hoan Kiem, this unusual hotel is almost directly opposite St. Joseph's Cathedral, a new-Gothic splendor opened in 1886 as residences for the clergy. Best value rooms are named after St. Gilda and St. Augustine; those with king beds take after Joseph. A small spa has excellent reflexology and massage treatments and La Petite Eglise restaurant serves fusion Asian fare.
- Readers' Choice Awards2024 Readers' Choice Awards Survey
Courtesy Monastère des AugustineLe Monastère des Augustines, Quebec City, Canada
A sleek spot to stay in the middle of Old Quebec City, this hotel occupies a wing of the Hôtel-Dieu de Québec teaching hospital (built in 1639), the first on the continent, north of Mexico. An onsite museum explores the history of the Augustinian Sisters, their social involvement and their work caring for the sick, as well the evolution of modern medicine. Guests can sign up for all-inclusive packages that highlight relaxation and renewal techniques, sleep regeneration tutorials, and a broad range of wellness programs. Simple but stylish and modern rooms, 65 in all, are without televisions—and visitors are encouraged to leave their modern mobile devices and computers with reception until check-out.