La Residencia is two old manor houses, Son Canals and Son Moragues, on the hillside at the edge of Deià, among terraced olive groves facing the village and the Tramuntana. The houses date from the 16th and 17th centuries and opened as a hotel in 1984. Four decades on it remains the classic Deià hideaway: honey-coloured stone, pale green shutters and 67 rooms and suites, one of them a villa in the village.
No two rooms are quite alike. Expect whitewashed walls, old beams, Mallorcan antiques and, in many, a four-poster bed. The Classic Doubles are small, at 21 to 29 m². Outdoor space is certain only from the Deluxe Junior Suites up. They are not in the old houses but in the Tramuntana building, set into the hillside above the spa and opened in 2009, and every one, 50 to 55 m², has its own large tiled terrace over the village and the mountains. The Executive Junior Suites in the same building add a plunge pool. The single Tower Suite fills the old defence tower of Son Canals over three floors, up a narrow stone staircase, with a telescope and a tiled roof terrace on top. At the top sit the Matthew Williamson, Miró and Sheridan suites, each with a private pool, and Villa Robert Graves, three bedrooms in the village.
What makes it the classic is how much of Deià's own story it carries. The village has drawn painters and writers since Robert Graves settled there, and the hotel keeps that going with the Sa Tafona gallery, an art studio and a sculpture studio with resident artists, and 33 works by Joan Miró on the walls of the restaurant named after him. Dinner at El Olivo is in an old olive mill that still has its press, or on a terrace facing the village in fine weather. The resident donkeys lead walks up through the groves to a stone shepherd's hut above the sea, and the village church on its hill is five minutes away on foot.
The trade is the hillside. Built into the slope, the hotel has steps between its buildings, and getting from reception to the top of the grounds can take more than one lift. The sea is a pebble cove about 26 minutes downhill on foot, with a shuttle in summer for the climb back. Extras are priced to match the rooms, 185 euros for a 50-minute spa treatment, and the hotel closes from mid-November to mid-March. Book it for a slow week of art, walking and long dinners, with children in summer when the kids' club runs, and spend the money on a terrace.
