Spain on Screen: Lawrence of Arabia's Seville, The Night Manager's Return and a Money Heist Rooftop

Spain has spent decades standing in for somewhere else. Its deserts played the American West in a generation of spaghetti westerns, and Seville played Cairo in one of the greatest films ever made. Lately, though, Spanish hotels have been getting roles as themselves.

Hotel Alfonso XIII, Seville: Lawrence of Arabia (1962)

David Lean chose Seville to stand in for the film's Cairo and Jerusalem, and the city's grandest hotel, the Hotel Alfonso XIII, was part of the disguise. Built for the 1929 Ibero-American Exposition and named for the king who opened it, the hotel has the tiled courtyards and horseshoe arches that let Andalusia pass for the Middle East on screen. Peter O'Toole played T.E. Lawrence in his breakthrough role, and the film won seven Academy Awards, including Best Picture and Best Director.

Hostal de La Gavina and Gran Meliá Torre Melina: The Night Manager (Season 2)

Tom Hiddleston's Jonathan Pine returned in 2026 for a second season of The Night Manager, and Spain played a major part. On the Costa Brava, the Hostal de La Gavina, a byword for Riviera-style glamour since it opened in 1932 and a favourite of Hollywood stars in the 1950s, was a key location, serving as a gun club, tennis courts, a restaurant and a hotel. Dalí and Ava Gardner both signed its guest book. The hotel is seasonal, open from April to October. In Barcelona, the season's dramatic early hotel scenes were filmed at the Gran Meliá Torre Melina.

Four Seasons Hotel Madrid: Money Heist

Dani, the restaurant at the Four Seasons Hotel Madrid, was used for a scene in Money Heist (La Casa de Papel), the Spanish crime drama that became one of Netflix's most-watched non-English series ever. Dani is the hotel's rooftop brasserie, run by three-Michelin-starred chef Dani García, with views across the city's rooftops. The hotel itself opened in September 2020 after a seven-year restoration of seven historic buildings near the Puerta del Sol, and it has since been named to The World's 50 Best Hotels list.