The catch at La Residencia, A Belmond Hotel
Five things stand between the photographs and the stay. None of them is hidden, and none of them outweighs a terrace facing Deià in the village painters and writers made their own, but each one decides whether this is your hotel.
On our shortlists
- Best family hotels in MallorcaDeià on the doorstep and a Smile Club for 4 to 12s, May to September
- Best spa hotels in MallorcaSix treatment rooms, three with terraces, and a heated indoor pool
- Best quiet hotels in MallorcaOlive terraces and art studios on a hillside at the edge of Deià
- Best hotels with a view in MallorcaA tiled terrace of your own facing Deià and the Tramuntana
It is built into a hillside, and reaching your room can mean steps and more than one lift.
La Residencia is two old manor houses and the buildings added around them, set into the slope beside the main road at the edge of Deià, with its gardens and terraced olive groves climbing the hill. Paths and steps link the buildings. Every level can be reached by lift, but getting from reception to the top of the grounds can take more than one, and the Tramuntana building, which holds the Deluxe and Executive Junior Suites, sits on the hillside above the spa. Steps are a recurring complaint. The Tower Suite is the extreme case: three floors in the Son Canals tower, entered at ground level, with the bedroom up a narrow stone staircase, a sitting room on the floor above and the roof terrace above that.
What to do. If stairs are a problem, say so when you book and ask how your room is reached from reception. Leave the Tower Suite to someone who likes a staircase.
The sea is a pebble cove 26 minutes downhill on foot, and the shuttle runs only in summer.
There is no beach at the hotel. The nearest water is Cala Deià, a small pebble cove below the village: 1.9 kilometres and 26 minutes downhill on foot, and the walk back is all uphill. By car it is 9 minutes. The hotel runs a shuttle between its door and the cove in summer only, and the beach at Port de Sóller, Platja d'en Repic, is 18 minutes away by car. At the hotel itself, swimming means the outdoor pools and the heated indoor pool in the spa; if a day by the sea is the point of the trip, every one of them starts with a hike or a drive.
What to do. In summer, ask for the shuttle times when you arrive and take it at least for the climb back. In spring and autumn, ask whether it is running and otherwise plan on the car or a taxi, and treat the walk down to the cove as an outing rather than a swim before breakfast.
The entry rooms are small, and below the Deluxe Junior Suites a terrace is luck.
The Classic Double is 21 to 29 m² and the Superior Double 30 to 36, both with a shower over the bath and neither with outdoor space. The Deluxe Doubles, Junior Suites and Superior Junior Suites are bigger, and some or many of them have a balcony, a small garden or a terrace, but none is promised one, and only some have a separate shower. Outdoor space is guaranteed only from the Deluxe Junior Suite up, in the hillside Tramuntana building. For a stay from Tuesday 11 May 2027, a Superior Double was 1,805 euros a night with breakfast and a Deluxe Junior Suite 2,655: 850 euros a night for the certainty of a terrace facing Deià.
What to do. If the view is the point, book the Deluxe Junior Suite rather than hoping. If the budget stops lower, the Junior Suite is the best of the rest: many have outdoor space, and it cost less than the Superior Junior Suite on the same dates.
It closes for four months, and the edges of the season run on fewer kitchens.
The hotel shuts for the winter: it closes on 15 November 2026 and reopens on 16 March 2027, and the closing date for 2027 has not been announced. Inside the season, not everything runs for all of it. The poolside Tramuntana Grill serves lunch from April to October and dinner from May to September only, the Smile Club for children aged 4 to 12 runs from May to September, and the cove shuttle runs in summer. El Olivo moves indoors in bad weather. March, April and early November are the cheapest times to stay, and at the edges of the season El Olivo and Restaurante Miró are the hotel's kitchens for dinner.
What to do. Families should come between May and September, when the club runs. For a cheaper week of walking, come in spring or early November and eat some nights in the village, where Groenk opens every day of the year.
Everything beyond the room is priced like the room.
The hotel's own menus set the level. At Bar Miró an espresso is 9 euros and a cappuccino 14; at Restaurante Miró, pa amb oli is 22 euros, the rice dishes 36 to 48 and the main courses 32 to 46. In the spa, a 50-minute signature treatment is 185 euros and massages of 50 to 80 minutes run from 210 to 280 euros. High prices for lunch and drinks are a recurring complaint. What every stay does include is worth knowing too: free valet parking, wifi, water and soft drinks from the in-room bar, the daily complimentary activities and, in summer, the shuttle to the cove.
What to do. Eat lunch in the village, three to five minutes away on foot, where many of the tapas at Xelini are under 10 euros, and keep the hotel for dinner at El Olivo and a drink at Bar Miró.
Who should skip it
Anyone who struggles with stairs, anyone who wants a beach at the door, and anyone who needs the room rate to be most of the bill. Also families outside the summer months, when the children's club is closed, and anyone planning a winter break: the hotel is shut from mid-November to mid-March.
Who should book it anyway
Anyone who wants Deià itself. The village that has drawn painters and writers since Robert Graves settled there is on the doorstep, and the hotel carries its story: 33 works by Joan Miró on the restaurant walls, dinner at El Olivo in an old olive mill or on its terrace facing the village, donkey walks through the olive groves and painting and sculpture classes in the hotel's own studios. Book a Deluxe Junior Suite for the terrace, say if stairs matter, eat some nights in the village, and the hillside becomes the point of the place rather than its price.
The catch elsewhere in Mallorca
- Four Seasons Resort Mallorca at FormentorFormentor peninsula
The building is new: the 1929 hotel was gutted in 2021, its last walls came down in 2022 and it was rebuilt to look from the bay much as it did, so the history is in the name, the site and the old garden steps rather than the rooms.
- Castell Son ClaretEs Capdellà
The hotel closes from mid-November to mid-March, Sa Clastra stops serving at the end of October, and the 2027 calendar sells stays of three nights or more.
- Cap Vermell Grand HotelCanyamel, east coast
Not on the beach: Canyamel's sand is 1.8 km down the hill, 25 minutes on foot and a climb back
- Can FerreretaSantanyí
It is in the village, not on the sea: the nearest beach, Cala Santanyí, is a 7-minute drive, and parking at the hotel is charged by the day.
- Es PrincepPalma, old town
The view starts above the entry room: the 22 m² Standard sits on the lower floors facing a narrow lane, and the Superior looks over the city.
- Can CeraPalma, old town
No pool: the water here is a hot tub in the spa, and the nearest beach, Can Pere Antoni, is a 16-minute walk.
- L'Avenida HotelSóller
Closed from November to the end of February, with a three-night minimum stay from May to September.
- Maristel Hotel & SpaEstellencs
The basic Cosy Rooms are twins whose window may face a courtyard or a wall, and the sea view costs extra.
- Fornalutx Petit HotelFornalutx
Stairs and no lift in the old convent, in a village of stepped, cobbled lanes: hard work with heavy bags or bad knees.
Compared with
Car hire in Mallorca
TIB's 203 bus stops a minute's walk from the door, but Valldemossa, Sóller and Port de Sóller are 16 to 19 minutes away by car, and valet parking is free.
Read the car hire guideOpens Expedia’s car search at that airport for your trip dates, or for a week starting a fortnight from today. You book and pay with Expedia.
Questions people ask
Good questions about La Residencia, A Belmond Hotel
What are the downsides of La Residencia, A Belmond Hotel?
Five things stand between the photographs and the stay. None of them is hidden, and none of them outweighs a terrace facing Deià in the village painters and writers made their own, but each one decides whether this is your hotel. It is built into a hillside, and reaching your room can mean steps and more than one lift. The sea is a pebble cove 26 minutes downhill on foot, and the shuttle runs only in summer. The entry rooms are small, and below the Deluxe Junior Suites a terrace is luck. It closes for four months, and the edges of the season run on fewer kitchens. Everything beyond the room is priced like the room.
Who should not book La Residencia, A Belmond Hotel?
Anyone who struggles with stairs, anyone who wants a beach at the door, and anyone who needs the room rate to be most of the bill. Also families outside the summer months, when the children's club is closed, and anyone planning a winter break: the hotel is shut from mid-November to mid-March.
Our verdict
The Tramuntana classic, booked for the art, the olive groves and a terrace facing Deià, if you can live with the stairs. Check availability for a Deluxe Junior Suite.
Last checked: October 2026