The catch at Can Cera
Five things stand between the courtyard and the stay. None of them is hidden, and none of them undoes an 18th-century house of 14 rooms in the middle of Palma, but each one shapes the trip, from the way you arrive to the month you come.
On our shortlists
- Best adults-only hotels in MallorcaNo guests under 14, 14 rooms, a spa for two and open all year
- Best design hotels in MallorcaProuvé, Carl Hansen and Groppi lamps in an 18th-century Palma house
- Best central hotels in MallorcaPlaça Major 5 minutes on foot, the cathedral 6, dinner within 9
- Best quiet hotels in MallorcaFourteen rooms behind stone arches in old Palma, guests 14 and over
There is no pool, the spa is one small room, and the nearest beach is a 16-minute walk
The water at Can Cera is a hot tub. The spa is a single compact room with a Finnish sauna, a steam room and a small hot tub, and the roof terrace has loungers but no pool; there is no pool anywhere in the house. The nearest beach, Can Pere Antoni, begins about 1.1 kilometres away along the sea front, a 16-minute walk from the door. What the spa offers instead is privacy: you can reserve all of it for yourselves at no extra charge, and treatments are booked at reception. In July and August that is the trade to weigh before you book: a private session in a hot tub, not an afternoon on a sunbed.
What to do. Ask to reserve the spa for a private session when you confirm the room; it costs nothing extra. Keep the swimming for the coast, or for Can Pere Antoni, 16 minutes away on foot.
There is no car park, and the nearest public one is eight minutes away on foot
The hotel has no parking of its own. Drivers are sent to the public car park on Avinguda d'Antoni Maura, below the Born, an eight-minute walk from the door, and from there you walk your bags through the old town to Carrer de Sant Francesc. None of this matters if you arrive without a car: the airport is about 18 minutes away by taxi outside the rush, and every place on this hotel's where-to-eat page is within ten minutes on foot. It matters if you planned to collect a hire car at the airport and use the house as a base for the island, because the car will spend its nights eight minutes away.
What to do. Take a taxi from the airport and pick up a hire car on the day you leave Palma for the coast, not the day you land. If you do drive in, leave the car at the Antoni Maura car park and walk.
The entry Deluxe runs from 28 to 37 square metres, and the rate does not say which you get
The hotel sells five categories across 14 rooms, and the cheapest has the widest spread. A Deluxe is anything from 28 to 37 square metres inside one rate, with the original stone floors and beams. Nor does every room look into the courtyard: only selected Premium rooms do, and the Signature Junior Suite is the category that comes with it, from a private gallery. For Tuesday 11 May 2027 a Deluxe was 551 euros a night with breakfast, a Premium 621 and the Signature Junior Suite 727, so the gallery over the courtyard and at least eight more square metres cost 176 euros a night over the entry rate.
What to do. If floor area matters, book a Premium, at 37 to 40 square metres, rather than hoping for a large Deluxe. If the courtyard is the point, book the Signature Junior Suite.
In June and September it costs twice what it does in winter
Can Cera is open all year, and its prices follow the seasons. The typical lowest nightly price is about 314 euros in November and December and about 323 in January and February. It rises to about 404 in April and 530 in May, July and August, and peaks at about 620 in September and 629 in June, the dearest months; October 2026 sits at about 584. Breakfast is a second variable: the hotel sells room-only rates as well as rates with breakfast, so the lowest price on a given night may not include it.
What to do. Come between November and March for about half the June price; the salons and the spa do not depend on the weather. Whatever the month, read the rate line for breakfast before you pay.
Dinner in the house means La Vermutería, and several tables nearby keep short weeks
The house has one restaurant. La Vermutería is open every day from 12.30 to 10.30 at night with tapas, salads, sandwiches and a short list of mains: Don Bocarte anchovies are 18 euros and a lamb shank 28, or there is a tapas menu at 48 euros a head for two or more. It is built for sharing plates rather than a long dinner. Outside, several of the tables on this hotel's where-to-eat page close early in the week. DINS Santi Taura serves dinner from Tuesday to Saturday only, El Camino closes on Sunday and Monday, Celler Pagès closes on Sunday and serves dinner only from Wednesday to Saturday, and Bar Espanya closes on Sunday. La Bodeguilla and Bar Bosch open every day.
What to do. Book DINS and El Camino before you travel. If you land on a Sunday or a Monday, La Bodeguilla, nine minutes away, serves from 1 to 11 every day without a break.
Who should skip it
Anyone who wants a pool, a beach at the door or a car parked outside; families with children under 14, whom the hotel does not take; and anyone who needs a guaranteed size from the entry rate. Also anyone planning several dinners in, because the house's one restaurant is a tapas bar with a short list of mains.
Who should book it anyway
Anyone who wants Palma on foot and a quiet house to come back to: a planted courtyard behind two low stone arches, salons laid out for the guests of 14 rooms, a roof terrace over the old town and a spa you can have to yourselves at no extra charge, with the cathedral six minutes away and every table on the where-to-eat page within ten. Book the Signature Junior Suite, come in the cooler months if you can, and everything above is the price of living inside the old town rather than beside it.
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.
- La Residencia, A Belmond HotelDeià
Built into a hillside, with steps between buildings and sometimes more than one lift to reach your room
- 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.
- 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.
Questions people ask
Good questions about Can Cera
What are the downsides of Can Cera?
Five things stand between the courtyard and the stay. None of them is hidden, and none of them undoes an 18th-century house of 14 rooms in the middle of Palma, but each one shapes the trip, from the way you arrive to the month you come. There is no pool, the spa is one small room, and the nearest beach is a 16-minute walk There is no car park, and the nearest public one is eight minutes away on foot The entry Deluxe runs from 28 to 37 square metres, and the rate does not say which you get In June and September it costs twice what it does in winter Dinner in the house means La Vermutería, and several tables nearby keep short weeks
Who should not book Can Cera?
Anyone who wants a pool, a beach at the door or a car parked outside; families with children under 14, whom the hotel does not take; and anyone who needs a guaranteed size from the entry rate. Also anyone planning several dinners in, because the house's one restaurant is a tapas bar with a short list of mains.
Our verdict
Can Cera earns its place on the courtyard, the spa you can have to yourselves and an old-town address you can walk everywhere from. Pay for the Signature Junior Suite, and save the beach days for the coast.
Last checked: October 2026