Good_Will

We will be travelling to Mallorca in September for the first time.

In planning for the trip I see that there are many large touristy hotels at waterfront locations. They seem rather difficult to compare.

We enjoy walking, beaches, food, nature, culture and history and would be grateful for some Fodorite advice on where we should stay for 5-6 days.

Thank you for any suggestions / recommendations.

Robert2533

Some idea of a budget would be helpful. Some hotels on Ibiza can be expensive, but nice, others can be overrun with less than ideals clients who tend to trash the place.

Good_Will

We are 4 to 5 star, not 6 - looking for something that is not glitzy or overcrowded, historic is generally good - if not run down, location always important, in the case of Mallorca close to beach is relatively important, quality of beds always important, enjoy walking long distances so if a property is out of the way then that is good too.

HG001London

http://www.hotel-laresidencia.com/we...usiness&cr=lrs

in the northerm mountains is very nice, u can walk down to Cala Dei which is a beautiful cove with a couple of restaurants and very nice clear turquoise water.

Deia is small but beatifuly witha few restaurants and a couple of cafes-its very relaxing

If not

http://www.hotelsalvia.com/

is Soller is a more busy town with a nice vilagge as well as port (tram link between)

Both of these place are away from the busy areas neae Palma, but i would chose this area over the other bit in a second. Proper beatiful Mallorca. If u can rent a car would be helpful to explore the island

Good_Will

Thank you HG001London. While I like the location of Hotel Residencia, it is really six star pricing ++

Hotel Salvia looks more in our price range.

Just taking a look at the terrain there on Google Earth to see where we could walk to / nearest place to swim on the coastline etc.

We are staying with old friends for the first 3 nights in Palma. They recently moved there and have a car, but we would like to try a different location for 3-4 more nights where we could then invite our friends to visit. Thanks once again for helping me with my research.

HG001London

I would definitely reccommend Soller, the village in the mountains has a lovely feel with plenty of restaurants and bars and the port is quite buzzy again with lots of little bars etc etc. Yes sorry i hadn't stayed at the residencia but i watched a show on the BBC which visited there and it looked amazing. We went past while we were there and it was very nice indeed!!

Soller has a lot more going on then Deia which is really just a tiny hamlet. We loved Soller and were very glad we were based there, Soller itself has 3 or so beaches very popular with the locals and you can drive to plentry of other ones near by. There is also an excellent bus(air conditioned coach) service that goes to the other villages, and you can take boats from soller to the more remote ones.

while not of the tourist map, it retains a very mallorcan vibe.

http://www.visitsoller.com/en/index.php


info on port

http://www.tripadvisor.it/Attraction...c_Islands.html

HG001London

oh an Palma itself is really very nice, i was more meaning the beachy places nearby like magaluf which in my opinion u should stay clear off!

Good_Will

Thank you again HG001London. I am beginning to understand that the island is much larger than I thought and it seems to have its own culture.

lincasanova

I was looking at this place for our next visit.. it's gorgeous and not too expensive. I have been to this area and it is really beautiful.

http://www.hoposa.es/Hoteles/Hotel-N...a-San-Vincente

traveller1959

You got already excellent advice. The west coast of Mallorca is the most beautiful (an least crowded) part of the islands. There are many very beautiful hotels. La Residencia is certainly one of the best. I also like this one (near Soller):

http://www.canai.com/espanol/ca-n-ai.html

Good_Will

Wow San Vincente looks great.

I am going to contact our friends who have recently moved to Palma.

I will report back on any hidden secrets they have found since their move there.

Thanks lincasanova

lincasanova

I'm sure your friends will be able to help you out probably more than we can!

annhig

HG - i see that your i-pad's still trying to make you speak italian.

Good-will - anywhere i could suggest has already been mentioned!

we stayed in the north of the island at Alcudia which has a nice beach and is reasonably close to lots of the nice places mentioned above, but has a lot of very touristy hotels along the coast, so probably not what you are looking for.

Good_Will

Thank you Ann.

The friends, who are introducing us to Mallorca, have only resided there for a short time. They are musicians based in Paris and retreat to Palma whenever they can.

We hope to learn more about their discoveries in Mallorca when we speak with them over the next few days.

At the moment I am trying to fit 6 days into the timetable with entry and departure by air.

Thank you for your endorsement of the very helpful advice about the north and that others have provided here. You are right about our dislike of touristy hotels and crowded beaches.

We now have all that here in Sydney.