Can Cera

Can Cera is a noble house on Carrer de Sant Francesc, in Palma's old town. It was built in the middle of the 18th century and remodelled at the end of the 19th. You come in from the lane under two low stone arches into a small cobbled courtyard planted with palms, and a marble staircase with an iron balustrade climbs from the back to the salons. A hotel since 2011, it was redone during the pandemic closures and reopened in 2021: Carl Hansen and Jean Prouvé furniture and Davide Groppi lamps against the old stone, ceramics by Jaume Roig and esparto tapestries by Adriana Meunié. The MICHELIN Guide gives it two Keys.

There are 14 rooms in five categories. Deluxe, the first rung, runs from 28 to 37 square metres, with the original stone floors and beams. Premium is 37 to 40, some of them looking into the courtyard, and the Junior Suites, 40 to 45, are sold on large windows and light. The Signature Junior Suite has 45 square metres, its own gallery over the courtyard and deep blue Mallorcan fabrics. At the top, the 60 square metre Suite Can Cera, which the hotel says was the house's ballroom, has a four-poster, carved woodwork, hand-painted tiles from Palma's La Roqueta works, active from 1897 to 1918, and a private terrace of 15 square metres.

The reason to book is how little of the city gets in. Past the courtyard, the house is laid out for the guests of 14 rooms: a work room with a long oak table, a red salon with a black marble bar, a library. The spa has a Finnish sauna, a steam room and a hot tub, and you can reserve all of it for yourselves at no extra charge. A roof terrace with loungers looks across the old town's rooftops, and La Vermutería serves tapas every day until half past ten at night. The hotel takes no guests under 14. Outside, the cathedral is six minutes' walk away, Plaça Major five.

The trade is that this is a town house, not a resort. There is no pool, and the nearest beach, Can Pere Antoni, is a 16-minute walk. There is no car park either: drivers use the public one on Avinguda d'Antoni Maura, eight minutes away on foot. Deluxe rooms vary by nine square metres within the one category, and the entry rung runs from about 335 euros a night in winter to about 550 in May. Book it for Palma on foot, for a couple's long weekend, or for the city nights at either end of an island trip. If you want a sunbed by the water, book the coast.