The catch at Can Ferrereta
Four things stand between the photographs and the stay. None of them is hidden, and none of them is a reason to pass on the house, but each one changes how you plan the trip: the car, the calendar, the room and who comes with you.
On our shortlists
- Best adults-only hotels in MallorcaAdults and over-14s only, a 25-metre garden pool and a heated spa pool
- Best design hotels in MallorcaLissoni, Wegner and a Plensa bronze in a restored 1774 manor
- Best spa hotels in MallorcaSa Calma's heated 10-metre pool, hammam and sauna, for over-14s only
- Best quiet hotels in MallorcaA Santanyí manor behind tall doors, for adults and over-14s only
The sea is a drive away, so the stay needs a car
Can Ferrereta is in the middle of a market town, not on the coast. Cala Santanyí, the nearest beach, is a 7-minute drive and 3.8 km by road; the harbour at Cala Figuera is about 9 minutes, Cala Llombards 11, the nearer car park for Mondragó Natural Park 13 and Es Trenc about 25. Palma airport is about 42 minutes away. None of it is a walk. Parking at the hotel is charged by the day, and the hotel's transfers cost extra too. Inside Santanyí everything is on foot: the square, the church, the shops and dinner.
What to do. Hire a car for the whole stay and budget for the daily parking charge. For a morning without it, the hotel hires out bikes and keeps a bike station for guests' own; Cala Santanyí is 3.8 km by road.
It closes for the winter, and May costs twice what early March does
The hotel closes from late November to early March: the last night on sale this year is 21 November 2026, the first next year 4 March 2027, and nothing in between can be booked. Within the season the price moves a long way. The same Deluxe Room costs more than twice as much on a May night as in early March. April sits at about two-thirds of the May price and June climbs higher again, while the last weeks before the November closure come back to a little over half. The suites move the same way, the Terrace Suite included.
What to do. Go in early March or the first three weeks of November for the house at around half the May price, or in April for about two-thirds of it. On cooler days the spa's 10-metre indoor pool is heated; book it ahead, because the spa takes reservations for everything.
Not every room is in the old house
The house on Carrer de Can Ferrereta is one of three buildings on a long plot that runs back past the garden pool. The Deluxe rooms are on the first and second floors of the old house, with beams and wooden floors, and the two Can Ferrereta Suites are in it too. The Terrace Suites are on the garden level of the new building at the back, with plain plastered ceilings rather than beams. The Nest, the smallest room at 27 m², is on the ground floor looking onto a private-use street, and the Privilege category is sold with any of four outlooks, the street among them.
What to do. If beams, arches and the church outside the window are the point, book a Deluxe Room or a Can Ferrereta Suite. If a garden of your own matters more, book the Terrace Suite and accept the new building as the price of it.
Nobody under 14, and every room is sold for two
The hotel takes adults and children over 14 only. All nine room categories, from the 27 m² Nest to the Pool Suite, are sold for a maximum of two guests, so a couple with a teenager needs two rooms and a family with younger children cannot stay at all. There is no kids' club and no family room. With 32 rooms and suites in all, two rooms on the same dates in May or June are worth securing early. The other side of the rule is a quiet house: nobody at the pool or in the spa is under 14.
What to do. Families with teenagers should book two rooms as soon as the dates are fixed. With children under 14, this is the wrong house, however good the garden looks.
Who should skip it
Anyone who wants to walk to a beach, families with children under 14, anyone travelling between late November and early March, and anyone who will not drive. Also anyone paying for a Terrace Suite in the hope of the old house's beams and arches, because the suites are in the new building at the back.
Who should book it anyway
Anyone who wants a real Mallorcan town around them rather than a resort: the Wednesday and Saturday market three minutes from the door, an 18th-century manor restored in the town's own stone, a 25-metre garden pool with a Plensa head beside it, and dinner in the old wine cellar. Hire the car, come in spring or autumn, choose your building, and every catch above becomes something you planned for.
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
- 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.
Car hire in Mallorca
Santanyí's square is three minutes on foot, but every beach is a drive, Cala Santanyí the nearest at 7 minutes, and parking at the hotel is charged by the day.
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 Can Ferrereta
What are the downsides of Can Ferrereta?
Four things stand between the photographs and the stay. None of them is hidden, and none of them is a reason to pass on the house, but each one changes how you plan the trip: the car, the calendar, the room and who comes with you. The sea is a drive away, so the stay needs a car It closes for the winter, and May costs twice what early March does Not every room is in the old house Nobody under 14, and every room is sold for two
Who should not book Can Ferrereta?
Anyone who wants to walk to a beach, families with children under 14, anyone travelling between late November and early March, and anyone who will not drive. Also anyone paying for a Terrace Suite in the hope of the old house's beams and arches, because the suites are in the new building at the back.
Our verdict
Can Ferrereta earns its place on the house, the art and the garden pool, in a real town rather than a resort. Book the Terrace Suite for a garden of your own, and keep a car for the coves.
Last checked: October 2026