Anyone have any comments or suggestions for us?

We have picked two hotels in Colonia Sant Jordi but do not want to make a reservation unless we are sure about the location for a pleasant town to explore,some sightseeing in the area, beaches and visiting Palma as a day trip.

Thanks.

Marianna

Hey, Marianna.

I read your post a week ago, but have neglected to log in until now to reply - sorry.

My wife and I spent a week in Mallorca in June 2011. We did not stay in or visit Colonia Sant Jordi specifically, so I can't help with any details there, but we did explore many other parts of the island. It may give you some ideas or otherwise.

Below is the link to my trip report - it may give you some ideas or otherwise.

http://www.fodors.com/community/europe/back-to-spainto-the-birthplace-of-mayonnaise.cfm

Please let me know if I can help in any way!

Have fun!

Robbie

Hi Robbie,

Just seeing this today. I loved reading your report and the pictures are fabulous! We are looking forward to going.

Thanks for posting with the link to the report.

Marianna

Yes, I have many, many times.

It is an unassuming sleepy little place that is split into.

The west side is close to Es Trenc beach which on a calm day can be up with the best beaches in the world. It one of the few in Europe that compares to anythin in the Carribean.

http://prospain.wordpress.com/2010/09/22/beach-playa-es-trenc-mallorca/

On the Conlonia side of the beach that are some pretty low end resort style hotels.

The best side of Colonia is the east side with a sleepy fishing port and great beach. On the beach there are 3 or four up market beach shabby and very chic cafe/ restaurants. For lunch they serve seafood piled high on your plate. At night there are 4 good restaurants.

A great walk is to go east along the coast.

One of the richest families in Spain (Son March)(as in the chain of banks) bought (or was given) the whole southern end of Mallorca. If you look at google earth you will see how little is developed. The advantage is that they couldn't buy the beaches and so you can walk very close to the sea along side their fences to incredible, unspoilt quiet beaches.

I love Colonia.

Didn't know anyone else knew about it!

Ask if you have any more questions, we have been to Mallorca 20 times plus.

Love it!

Suggestions for hotels :

All great.

http://www.theothermallorca.com/

That is a big budget for the area. Suggest

https://www.caprocat.com/en/index/another-world.html

If it is free.

ttt

Hi DickieG, thanks for the info.

Can you name some names of hotels you recommend?

We are thinking of staying at Hotel Villa Chiquita on Calle de la Esmeralda. Do you know anything about it? It is a small hotel but looks very nice. I am not sure if it is on the east or west side of Colonia Sant Jordi.

Can you also recommend specific restaurants (for lunch and dinner) with great food and nice views?

Thanks.

Hi Marianna

It is on the west side of the town. That side is a new development and is around a 20 minute walk fom the rest of the town/harbour.

I don't know what you would like out of your stay but I will describe Colonia from my perspective.

It is a small sleepy summer resort by with established working harbour and very few older houses. You wouldn't go there for the architecture. It is very close to the 3 best beaches on the island and in high summer it tends to attract the higher end of Palma's residents on either day trips or to their holiday homes. Unlike some of the coastal resorts on the island there are few northern European visitors. To generalise, the beach restaurants seemed to be full of 40 something Spanish business men, in smart beach wear, on mobile phones wishing they were at work whilst their wives chatted away. Nice feel.

I think that is why we love it, because of the above description. I can't stand the concept of Brits abroad or resorts swamped by them.

There are a few good restaurants at night but all the action takes place as I mentioned before at the posh beach restaurants which are open during the day. I presume many of the Spanish visitors go back to Palma at night or eat in their homes.

The town has had a fortune spent on it with a new tree lined promenade and a new sealife visitor centre which is free. You can take boat trips out to the nearby Cabrera islands which were a French penal colony but are now a wildlife reserve.

The hotel you mentioned, isn't our cup of tea as we prefer more country style hotels.

I suppose it depends on what you would like out of the visit. If it is a relaxing break at what looks like a very good hotel with great facilities and some of the best beaches in Europe. Your suggestion is perfect.

However, that side of town is fairly sterile and seems to constantly be under contruction with new developments.

If you do want a more Mallorquin experience take a look at some of the inland hotels which The Other Mallorca offer. The local government subsidised many of the farmers to benchmark their operations with those in Tuscany. As a result many of the rural Finca hotels are pretty high end offering good service with local touch but still showing modern Spanish style.

I would be absolutely sure of what you want in a location.

Colonia could be perfect but it could also be the opposite.

In terms of the usual generalisation about volume and weather. Mallorca is a huge island and very rarely do you feel as if it is busy as the road network is very developed. Compare this to say Sardinia where,as we have found, there is one road in and out of a whole coastal region, resulting in huge our long traffic jams each morning and evening.

The weather is fairly stable at around 30oc in summer, as an island it has an inbuilt temperature control.

Thanks for the detailed description, DickieG.

We wanted to stay in a small hotel with sea views, updated rooms with balconies and pleasant surroundings and close to restaurants, shops, etc. We did the research and found Villa Chiquita and it seemed to fit our requirements. We did google earth amd toured the hotel area and it looked nice.

I hope we made a good choice. There is very little here on Fodor's about Mallorca. There are only a few reviews about Villa Chiquita on TA but they were good reviews. Honestly, some of the other hotels in the area did not appeal to us at all, especially the high rise ones.

As for the "posh beach restaurants" - are these on the beach closer to the town and harbor? If I understand correctly, these restaurants close for dinner but there are 4 good restaurants open for dinner in that area. Can you give us a few names?

Again, thanks so much for your help.

Marianna

The hotel does look pretty much what you are looking for, the only aspect that may disappoint is the surrounding area which as I said before has spent much of the past 10'years under construction.

Porto Blau has really good seafood, as does s'Arrosseria.

My concerns are that we never stay in Saint Jordi and SJ may be a little disjointed for you. We always stay in Porto Petro which is half an our further from then airport.

This may be a better option for you as it has a good 4 star hotel which is part of the Blau chain. It is the only hotel in town and so you aren't surrounded by lesser hotels like in SJ. It also has a succinct centre with a lovely harbour.

http://www.tripadvisor.co.uk/Hotel_Review-g1010182-d574543-Reviews-Blau_Porto_Petro_Beach_Resort_Spa-Porto_Petro_Majorca_Balearic_Islands.html

Porto Petro

http://www.panoramio.com/m/photo/6064706

Half the fun of an evening out is a stroll around town. Colonia is great during the day as the beaches are incredible but the walk from the hotel you suggest is a little spartan.

The walk from the Blau in Porto Petro into town is around 15 minutes an is almost entirely around the lovely huge harbour.

If and when to do get there (Mallorca) spend some time in Palma and try to make it to Santanyi just inland from the coastal towns, it is a lovely market town.

Thanks for the information - very kind of you to take the time to respond.

We will have a car so we do plan to go to Palma and visit towns along the east coast. Porto Petro looked very nice!

I hope that we will enjoy our location choice in Colonia Sant Jordi and that we will not be disappointed. That's part of traveling though - go to a place you have never been, check it out and decide where you would stay when you visit again. Hopefully,though, the location will be okay for the few days we are there.

We just returned from our vacation to Lisbon, Praia da Luz and Mallorca. Wonderful trip!

We enjoyed our visit to Mallorca and staying at the Villa Chiquita in Colonia Sant Jordi. The area had beautiful beaches, good restaurants, and was a pretty active place with more people visiting than we expected.

The hotel was in a great location (one small spot under construction next to the hotel but no work was being done while we were there) with our room having a balcony and fabulous views. We happened to be there on the last night of a celebration and we were delighted to see the fireworks from a window in our room.

We drove towards the west and east and explored a few villages on both sides of Colonia Sant Jordi.

We never got a chance to visit Palma except to get to the airport so we will do that on another trip. We definitely plan to return to Mallorca some time in the future.

Thanks to those who responded to my questions. Very helpful!

Hi Marianna!

I have been following this thread and am glad you reported back.

We too will be visiting Mallorca for the first time next month and will be staying near Ses Salines, not far from Colonia Sant Jordi. Even though it will be a short trip for us (4 days only),coming from Portugal (Porto) with a brief stop in Barcelona, I am so looking forward to visiting this island.

Thanks again!

Hi JoyC,

We thoroughly enjoyed our 3 day visit. We wished our son and DIL could have continued from Portugal to Mallorca since we thought they would have loved it as well. Next time.

We drove through Ses Salines and went to Cap Ses Salines - very intesting.

Enjoy your trip!

Marianna