The catch at Maristel Hotel & Spa

The Maristel stands on the inland side of the Ma-10, the coast road that is also the village's main street, about 150 metres above the water and a kilometre from it. From the pool and the sea-view rooms the Mediterranean is a wedge between two wooded slopes at the end of the valley, seen over the road, the parked cars and the roofs opposite. It is a real view, not a panorama. Five of the ten categories are sold on it: Sunset Hideaway, Dreaming Sea and the three dearest suites. The Cosy Room's window may face an interior courtyard, a wall or a narrow alley, and the other four look over the village, a garden or the mountains. The rooms are simple, some of them are showing their age, and guests on the road side mention the traffic.

The hotel has no parking of its own. Cars go on the street, where the signs and the yellow lines decide where you can stop, or in the village's free public car parks, 100 to 200 metres from the door, which have charging points for electric cars. In season those spaces fill up, and recent guests mention how quickly. You will want the car all the same. Palma airport is 49 minutes away by road, the last part on the winding mountain road of the coast; Banyalbufar is 10 minutes, Valldemossa 33 and Palma Cathedral 48. The TIB 202 bus to Palma, by way of Banyalbufar and Esporles, stops at the door.

There is no sandy beach at Estellencs. Cala d'Estellencs is a small working cove of pebbles and large rocks under weathered cliffs held together by wire netting, reached at the end by a concrete ramp and steps. It is 1.7 km from the hotel and 150 metres lower: 23 minutes on foot down a steep lane and a climb all the way back, or 5 minutes by car. It is exposed to the north and west winds. For a swim without the climb, the hotel's own water is a small outdoor pool of about 46 m² and the heated indoor pool in the spa.

The spa is one of the reasons to come: a heated indoor pool with a swan-neck cascade, bubble jets and a counter-current, a Finnish sauna, a Turkish bath and sensory showers. It is not open house. Entry is booked at reception for a one-hour thermal circuit, it is included in some rates and not in others, and massages are booked and paid for separately. Breakfast works the same way. The buffet, with local produce, freshly baked pastries and a vegan corner, runs from 7:30 to 11:00, and on a room-only rate it costs about 15 euros a head.

The hotel takes no guests from late November to early March: the last night on sale in 2026 is 20 November, and the first in 2027 is 5 March. Inside the season, dinner needs a little planning. The Maristel Bistro serves every evening, and four places in the village are within six minutes on foot, but each keeps its own days. Montimar, the restaurant on the square, closes on Monday and takes its winter break from 22 October to 2 March; Sa Tanca closes on Tuesday; Vall-Hermós closes on Wednesday and at 18:00 every day. Giardini, on the road out towards Banyalbufar, is the one that opens every day. Everything else is a drive.