Hesperia Villamil Hotel

To get to this island in the Mediterranean, you need to take a connection from the US. We opted to depart from Dulles on an 8 AM flight ib British Airways (despite the airline catering strike, all was acceptable) to London, and spend the night at Heathrow, at the Marriott Renaissance. The following morning we departed early (7 am flight) on BMI (no strike, but charged a fee for any beverage or food served; pick something up at the aiport if you must, and carry it on board). We arrived in Palma at appox. 10:15 local time – it is one hour ahead of London, 7 hours ahead of the east coast. The drive was a bit confusing, but easy. Because the hotel sits on a boulevard that is one way, you must drive past the particular cove in this town, to ‘come back’ to the entrance. Although it is a non-pretentious entrance, the lobby is lovely, but not very big. Marble floors and counter tops where Reception is located, there or small groups of oversized chairs for guest to gather. The hotel seems to be made up of 2-3 bldgs. that ‘blend’ together. The back of the hotel sits up on a hill from the beach, there are multiple terrace levels, of which our room and the main lobby are located. There are two floors above us for accommodations (2) and one below with about a half dozen rooms. Obviously, the higher you go, the better your view of the sea. We learned the first morning, that our room is directly below the dinning room that services breakfast, as the sound of tables and chairs being moved on the terrace woke us between 7 and 7:30 am every day. There is a lovely pool, and a separate building that houses the steam room and very large Jacuzzi’s and whirlpool baths. To the far end of the main terrace there are stairways and path’s to the beach. Rather than have a boardwalk, there is a cement walk for pedestrian a traffic only, which lines the beach and the row of hotels that sit in this rather large cove. All in all there are a half dozen hotels, some of which look as if they were poured into the side of the hillside. The grounds at our hotel are lovely, well manicured. Trees block most of the rooms from a full, unobstructed view of the beach and the water. The quality of the sand is good, fine almost and golden in color. The water at first, seems clear, but once you get in about 3 feet deep, it is green, the color of algae. It is not like the Caribbean water we are so fond of. There is a small wake, but everywhere you turn there are people playing paddle ball or floating on rafts, as you the water is shallow for quite a way out. Towards the end of our visit, the sea became rough with waves, not very high, but enough to accommodate the surfers. This was due to the rain that occurred the last few days of our trip. Out of the front of the hotel we found many places to eat, drink, souvenir shop. In particular, there is a jewelry store caddy corner to the hotel that had a nice, reasonably selection of Majorcan Pearls (these are manufactured on the island and are world renown). Also, out of the front door, and to the right, is a ceramic shop that sold more than just the touristy nick knacks, but some very nice, very REASONABLY priced hand made ceramics. We bought a medium sized bowl, a pitcher for Sangria, and a candle holder shaped like a turtle. When the charge came through, it only cost around US$ 40. Had we realized the low cost, we would have purchased more! After spending time on the island, and visiting some of the other areas, we were very pleased with our hotel selection, both for the location and the comfort. It was not the most expensive, nor was it the cheapest, but very comfortable. There are more room categories than listed on the web site, so contact the hotel and ask! I would strongly recommend a car so you can see other places on the island, as well as drive to other villages or Palma to dine. There are many fine, gourmet (Michelin 1 and 1-2 star) restaurants on the island. The ONLY reason I could not rate this hotel higher is the food – the coffee sucked – tasted lake bad instant, and the food (everything that was freshly prepared) was over salted, to the point that I could not eat it. Breakfast was fine, it is hard to mess up a croissant! Having looked as a few other hotels that we briefly considered in other cities/locals on the island, we made the right selection. If you are looking for a good beach, and somewhere to stroll to just to leave the property, this is it. Service was excellent!