"Spread across four open-air buildings on sprawling grounds, Hotel Magdalena is the latest from Austin’s homegrown hospitality firm Bunkhouse. The property occupies the former site of the Austin Opry House and is in a part of town long frequented by the city’s musicians, including Willie Nelson. The hotel pays homage to the neighborhood’s roots (rooms are decorated with works by local music photographer Scott Newton) while also drawing on Austin’s swimming hole culture. A 900-square-foot pool echoes the city’s popular Barton Springs, and tiered garden beds planted with cypress and sycamore evoke the Barton Creek Greenbelt. With their cool concrete floors, high ceilings ribbed with sustainable timber, and tiled bathrooms in glossy pop colors, the lake-house-like rooms are a respite from the heat. Conceived and executed largely by women, Magdalena is welcoming and intuitive, a fitting nod to its namesake, the patron saint of the ladies." - Mandy Ellis, Allison Bagley
