Can Cera, Es Princep and L'Avenida Hotel. Can Cera is 6 minutes' walk from Palma Cathedral and 5 from Plaça Major. Es Princep is 3 minutes from Parc de la Mar and 9 from the city beach. L'Avenida Hotel is 4 minutes from Sóller's main square and 5 from the station for the tram and the train.
3 of our ten · Hand-pickedHotels cannot pay to be hereLast checked: October 2026
Three of our ten let you leave the car behind: two in Palma's old town and one in Sóller. Formentor, Canyamel, Santanyí and the south-west foothills are far easier with one. In Palma the car only gets in the way: the old town is a camera-controlled restricted-traffic area, EMT's A1 bus comes in from the airport for 5 euros, and from Plaça d'Espanya, 20 minutes' walk from Plaça de la Reina, the wooden train reaches Sóller in an hour and TIB's buses cover the island.
Sóller is the mountain version: a working town in the Tramuntana whose historic centre is a low-emission zone and whose car parks charge up to 9 euros a day from March to mid-November, with a tram to the sea and a train to Palma. Choose Palma for the cathedral, the markets and dinner on foot at any time of year. Choose Sóller, between March and October, for the mountains at the end of the street.
Can Cera is the closest of our ten to the cathedral, on Carrer de Sant Francesc in the lanes of the old town. Step out under its stone arches and Plaça de Santa Eulàlia is two minutes one way, Plaça de Sant Francesc two the other. The Banys Àrabs are 4 minutes on foot, Plaça Major 5, the cathedral 6, Plaça de la Reina at the foot of the Born 7 and the Olivar market 11. Eight good places to eat are within 9 minutes, from Ca'n Joan de s'Aigo, the chocolate house founded in 1700, 4 minutes away, to DINS Santi Taura and its MICHELIN star.
A car would only get in the way. The house has no car park, the airport is about 18 minutes by taxi, and Can Pere Antoni, the city beach, is a 16-minute walk. It is open all year, and cheapest from November to February.
The room to book
Signature Junior Suite
45 m²€727 a night
45 m² with a private gallery looking into the planted courtyard: after a day in the lanes, the room where the city stays on the other side of the arches.
Es Princep stands in La Calatrava, the quiet south-east corner of the old town, just inside the sea walls. Parc de la Mar begins 3 minutes away below the walls, the cathedral is 11 minutes on foot and Plaça Major 13, up through the lanes. Can Pere Antoni, the city beach, 750 metres of dark sand with lifeguards in summer, is 9 minutes' walk east along the front.
Dinner needs no taxi either. DINS Santi Taura, with a MICHELIN star, is 5 minutes away, the tapas at Ben Trempat 8, Quadrat's garden patio 9 and Bodega San Antonio 10, and Zaranda, with its own star, is in the building. The airport is about 12 minutes by taxi, the shortest run of our ten, and the hotel is open all year, with its lowest rates in winter, February especially.
The room to book
Premium Sea View
30 m²€801 a night
You spend the day walking Palma; this is the first category that faces the sea head on, 30 m² looking over the bastion and the pines to the bay.
L'Avenida Hotel puts a mountain town on foot. From Gran Via, a quiet street on the edge of Sóller's old centre, the main square is 4 minutes' walk and the station 5. The wooden tram leaves from in front of it for the half-hour run to Port de Sóller, with a second stop by the market 4 minutes away, and the train takes about an hour to Palma.
The hotel serves lunch but no dinner, and the town covers it: Ca'n Boqueta's Bib Gourmand tasting menus and Ca'n Pintxo are 3 minutes away, Cas Carreter, Alemany and Café Sóller 4, and the hotel will book your tables before you travel. Walkers have Biniaraix, where the stone path up the Barranc begins, half an hour away on foot. It is adults-only, with 12 rooms, and opens from March to October; March, April and October are its cheapest months.
The room to book
Double Room Garden
20 m²€336 a night
One of two ground-floor rooms in a house with no lift, with a table and chairs by its door and the pool beside it: no stairs at the end of a day on foot.
La Residencia, A Belmond Hotel has Deià on its doorstep: the village church is about 5 minutes on foot, five places to eat are 3 to 5 minutes away, and TIB's 203 bus to Palma, Valldemossa and Sóller stops about a minute from the hotel.
Fornalutx Petit Hotel is two minutes from the square of a stone village in the Sóller valley, with five places to eat within five minutes on foot and Sóller a 46-minute walk down the valley. It sells winter nights too.
From about €180 a night
Questions people ask
Good questions about Mallorca
Can you stay in Mallorca without a car?
Yes, in Palma or Sóller. In Palma, EMT's A1 bus runs from the airport to the centre for 5 euros, and Can Cera and Es Princep are 18 and 12 minutes from the airport by taxi. From Plaça d'Espanya the Sóller train and TIB's buses reach the rest of the island. In Sóller, L'Avenida Hotel is 34 minutes from the airport and arranges a taxi; TIB's 204 runs to Palma in 30 to 40 minutes, the train in an hour, and the tram reaches the beach at Port de Sóller in half an hour. The bay of Alcúdia works without a car too, though none of our ten is there.
How far is Palma Cathedral from the old-town hotels?
Can Cera is 6 minutes' walk from the cathedral, with Plaça Major 5 minutes and the Banys Àrabs 4. Es Princep, just inside the sea walls in La Calatrava, is 11 minutes from the cathedral and 13 from Plaça Major, up through the lanes, with Parc de la Mar 3 minutes away below the walls. Both are open all year, and from either one every meal of the trip can be on foot.
Can you drive into Palma's old town?
Only with the hotel's help. The old town is a camera-controlled restricted-traffic area, and hotels inside it register guests' cars with the city. Es Princep is cleared to use the streets: staff take the car at the door and park it underground, with a height limit of 1.80 metres and a charge. Can Cera has no parking, and sends drivers to the public car park on Avinguda d'Antoni Maura, 8 minutes' walk away. Since 22 December 2024 central Palma has also been a low-emission zone, and foreign-registered cars must register online five days ahead.
Can you walk to the beach from Palma's old town?
Yes. Can Pere Antoni, the city beach east of the cathedral, is 750 metres of dark sand with lifeguards in summer, 9 minutes on foot from Es Princep and 16 from Can Cera. It is a city beach, so for the island's coves you will want a car or a bus for the day. From Sóller, the tram does the job instead: half an hour to Port de Sóller, whose beach is 800 metres of sand and fine pebbles on a sheltered bay.
How does the Sóller tram work from L'Avenida Hotel?
The wooden tram, in service since 1913, departs from the stop in front of Sóller station, 5 minutes on foot from L'Avenida Hotel, or from the market stop, 4 minutes away. It takes half an hour to Port de Sóller and costs 10 euros each way, with tickets on board. It runs hourly from 8am and every half hour from 11am to 7.30pm, and the last tram back from the port leaves at 9.05pm, so a port dinner is an early one or a taxi home.
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 hideaway
