Mallorca has three kinds of view, and each hotel here sells one. In Palma it is the sea and the cathedral, from just inside the old sea walls. At Formentor, on the island's northern tip, it is the Bay of Pollença over the pines, above a public beach. In the Serra de Tramuntana, the mountain range UNESCO listed in 2011, it is stone villages and terraced slopes: Deià on its hill, or the valley below Estellencs running down to the sea.
At all four the view is a room category. Es Princep sorts its rooms by where the window points, Four Seasons Resort Mallorca at Formentor keeps the sea for its Sea-View categories on the third and fourth floors, La Residencia, A Belmond Hotel promises a terrace from the Deluxe Junior Suite up, and Maristel Hotel & Spa sells five of its ten categories on the sea. Book the room named for the view. Season decides too: Es Princep is open all year, and the other three close for the winter.
Es Princep stands just inside Palma's old sea walls, above the Baluard del Príncep, and its seven room categories differ less in size than in where the window points. The Deluxe Lateral Sea View has the sea off to one side. The Premium Sea View is the first to face it head on: floor-to-ceiling windows across the bastion and a belt of pines to the water, about 200 metres away. On the top floors, the Junior Suite Sea View and the 55-square-metre Signature Palma Sea View Suite face the sea too.
The roof is the wider view, and every guest shares it: the open bay ahead, the cathedral rising over the old-town roofs to the west, and a pool with an infinity edge kept for hotel guests. On sunny mornings a late breakfast goes up there from 10.30, with the bay in front of the table.
The room to book
Premium Sea View
30 m²€801 a night
The first category sold on a full view of the sea, 30 square metres over the bastion and the pines, and it costs less than the Junior Suite, which faces the old town or the walls.
Every room and suite at Four Seasons Resort Mallorca at Formentor has a terrace on the bay side of the building, so the question is what that terrace looks at. The sea-view categories all sit on the third and fourth floors, the top two, above the pines. The Pine-View Rooms, on the second to fourth floors, look into the gardens and the trees, and the Grand Pine-View Room on the second floor catches the sea in part, through the pines.
The full view of the bay starts with the Sea-View Room, 40 square metres with glass walls that fold back onto the terrace. The Grand Sea-View Room adds about ten square metres, a sofa bed and loungers outside, and the Sea-View Suite a separate living room and a double-length covered terrace facing the sea. Below the terraces, the old garden steps run down through the pines to Platja de Formentor, nearly a kilometre of public sand.
The room to book
Sea-View Room
40 m²€2,300 a night
The cheapest room with the bay in front of it, on the third or fourth floor above the pines, in the same 40 square metres as the entry room, which faces the gardens.
Check the confirmation says Sea-View, not Pine-View, and ask for the fourth floor, the top one. With a child older than an infant, book the Grand Sea-View Room.
La Residencia, A Belmond Hotel stands among terraced olive groves on the hillside at the edge of Deià, and what it looks at is the village on its hill and the Tramuntana. In the old houses no two rooms are alike, and below the Deluxe Junior Suites a terrace depends on the room you are given.
At the Deluxe Junior Suites it becomes a promise. They are in the Tramuntana building, set into the slope above the spa, and each has its own large tiled terrace, with a table and chairs, facing the village and the mountains. The Executive Junior Suite in the same building adds a plunge pool to that outlook. The one Tower Suite climbs a narrow stone staircase in the Son Canals tower to a tiled roof terrace over the mountains and the coastline. And on fine evenings, El Olivo serves dinner on a terrace facing the village.
The room to book
Deluxe Junior Suite
50 to 55 m²€2,655 a night
The first rung where the terrace is promised: every one has its own large tiled terrace with a table and chairs, facing Deià and the mountains.
Maristel Hotel & Spa stands on the inland side of the coast road through Estellencs, a stone village on the Tramuntana coast, about 150 metres above the water and a kilometre from it. What it looks at is the valley running down to the sea, with a wedge of water at its foot, seen over the road and the village roofs. Five of its ten categories are sold on that view: Sunset Hideaway, Dreaming Sea, the Sea Junior Suite, the Suite Terrace and the Suite Penthouse.
The pool has it too, with the Pool Bar beside it, and the Sunset Cocktails Terrace is the place for a drink as the light goes. For a terrace of your own, the 40-square-metre Suite Terrace looks over the valley and the sea. The hotel takes guests aged 16 and over, and it is the least expensive of our ten.
The room to book
Dreaming Sea
about 25 m²€199 a night
Big double-glazed bay windows on the valley and the sea, a 210 cm king or two singles, and a balcony in almost every room: the room the hotel builds around the view.
In Fornalutx, in the Sóller valley, the mountain-view double with a private balcony faces the terraced slopes of the Tramuntana, and breakfast is on a patio terrace facing the same mountains. It sells winter nights too.
The Junior Suite Valley View puts a furnished terrace over the green Canyamel valley, and breakfast is served on a terrace over the same valley.
From about €500 a night
Questions people ask
Good questions about Mallorca
Which hotels in Mallorca have a sea view?
Three on this list sell rooms on the sea. Es Princep, in Palma, faces it head on from the Premium Sea View, the Junior Suite Sea View and the Signature Palma Sea View Suite, over the bastion and the pines. Four Seasons Resort Mallorca at Formentor looks over the pines to the Bay of Pollença from its Sea-View rooms and suites on the third and fourth floors. Maristel Hotel & Spa, in Estellencs, looks down the valley to a wedge of sea about a kilometre off, from Sunset Hideaway, Dreaming Sea, three suites and the pool. La Residencia, A Belmond Hotel adds the coastline from the Tower Suite's roof terrace.
Which Palma hotel has a rooftop view of the cathedral?
Es Princep. Its top-floor terrace looks over the open bay, with the cathedral rising over the old-town roofs to the west, and the pool beside it is kept for hotel guests. The terrace bar is open to everyone from 10.30 in the morning until dusk, calm by day and busiest at sunset, so book a table for the evening. On sunny mornings a late breakfast is served up there from 10.30 to 11.30; book it in advance. Can Cera, in the lanes behind the cathedral, has a roof terrace of its own, with loungers looking across the old town's rooftops.
Can you book a room with a view in Mallorca in winter?
In Palma, yes. Es Princep is open all year, and its rates are lowest in winter, February especially, so the sea-view rooms cost least then. The other three on this list close for the winter: Four Seasons Resort Mallorca at Formentor is open from mid-March to the end of October, La Residencia, A Belmond Hotel from mid-March to mid-November, and Maristel Hotel & Spa from early March to around the third week of November. For the mountains in winter, Fornalutx Petit Hotel sells winter nights, with rooms facing the Tramuntana.
Which rooms at La Residencia in Deià have a terrace with a view?
At La Residencia, A Belmond Hotel, every Deluxe Junior Suite has one: a large tiled terrace with a table and chairs facing the village and the mountains, in the Tramuntana building on the slope above the spa. The Executive Junior Suite in the same building adds a plunge pool. Below that rung, some Deluxe Doubles, Junior Suites and Superior Junior Suites have a balcony, a small garden or a terrace, but the category does not promise one. Some Deluxe Suites face the pool area rather than the village, so ask which way yours faces.
Do all rooms at the Four Seasons in Formentor have a sea view?
Every room and suite at Four Seasons Resort Mallorca at Formentor has a terrace on the bay side of the building, but the sea view belongs to the Sea-View categories, all on the third and fourth floors, which look over the pines to the Bay of Pollença. The entry Pine-View Room, on the second to fourth floors, looks into the gardens and pines, the Grand Pine-View Room on the second floor has a partial sea view, and the Garden-View Room with Plunge Pool looks at the garden. The full view starts with the Sea-View Room, and the Grand Sea-View Room and the Sea-View Suite share it with more space.
How did you choose these hotels?
Independently, through extensive research, trusted sources and first-hand visits. Hotels cannot pay to be included, and every one of the ten has to exist for a different reason.
The view
