Mallorca has two entirely separate tourist economies and they barely touch. One runs along the bay west and east of the airport: Magaluf, Palmanova, S'Arenal, high-rise, package, and busy from May to October. The other is Palma itself, a working Mediterranean city of 400,000 with a gothic cathedral, a medieval Arab quarter, an art scene and some of the best eating in Spain.
They are twenty minutes apart and most visitors to the island never see the second one. Which is fortunate, because the casco antiguo, Palma's old town, is one of the more pleasant places to spend three days in Europe, and it has almost nothing to do with the Mallorca of the brochures.
Why the old town rather than the coast
The casco antiguo is a compact grid of narrow streets between the cathedral and the Plaza Mayor, built around Arab foundations and filled with courtyard palaces, most of which are private and a few of which are now hotels. The pattern is consistent: a plain stone facade on a lane, a heavy door, and behind it a patio with a staircase, a well and orange trees.
Staying inside it means you walk to the cathedral, the Bellver castle bus, the markets, the tapas streets around Santa Catalina and the port. You are also in a real neighbourhood rather than a resort strip, which means the restaurants are priced for residents.
The alternative worth considering is Portixol, a converted fishing village fifteen minutes east along the seafront, which has the water without the resort development.
The nine below are grouped accordingly.
Inside the casco antiguo
Courtyard palace conversions on the medieval lanes, mostly small.
Sant Francesc Hotel Singular occupies a seventeenth-century palace with a cloistered courtyard, a rooftop pool looking at the cathedral and a garden with a five-hundred-year-old olive tree. It is the best hotel on the island and the most complete expression of what these buildings can be.
Sant Francesc Hotel Singular
Casco antiguo · 5★ · $$$$
Cloistered palace with a rooftop pool at the cathedral
Check availabilityCan Cera Hotel is a restored noble house near the cathedral with a courtyard, a small rooftop pool and twelve rooms. It is the most personal of the palace conversions.
Can Cera Hotel
Near the cathedral · 5★ · $$$
Twelve rooms in a restored noble house
Check availabilityPalacio Ca Sa Galesa sits in a fifteenth-century building with a private garden, a hammam in the cellar and rooms furnished with antiques rather than design pieces. It is the most traditional stay in the old town.
Palacio Ca Sa Galesa
Behind the cathedral · 5★ · $$$
Fifteenth-century house with a cellar hammam
Check availabilityEs Princep - The Leading Hotels of the World occupies a palace close to the cathedral with a rooftop pool, a spa and the largest rooms inside the walls. It is the pick if the palace conversions feel too small.
Es Princep - The Leading Hotels of the World
Old town edge · 5★ · $$$$
Largest rooms inside the walls with a rooftop pool
Check availabilityCan Alomar Hotel sits on the Passeig del Born, the main boulevard, above the shops, with a rooftop terrace and a very good restaurant. It is the most convenient position in the old town.
Calatrava Hotel, Mediterranean Sea House is a design-led conversion on a quiet lane with a courtyard and a small pool, and it is the best value inside the casco antiguo.
Calatrava Hotel, Mediterranean Sea House
Old town lanes · 4★ · $$
Best value courtyard conversion in the centre
Check availabilityHotel Cort occupies a corner on the Plaza Cort facing the town hall and its thousand-year-old olive tree, with a terrace that is the best people-watching in Palma.
Nakar Hotel sits at the edge of the old town with a rooftop pool and bar looking over the cathedral and the bay, and it is the tallest hotel down here, which is the whole point.
Nakar Hotel
Old town edge · 4★ · $$
Tallest rooftop here, over the cathedral to the bay
Check availabilityPortixol
Portixol Hotel & Restaurant occupies the seafront in the old fishing village east of the centre, with a pool, a good restaurant and the sea across the road. It is fifteen minutes from the cathedral by taxi or a pleasant forty-minute walk along the water.
Portixol Hotel & Restaurant
Portixol · 4★ · $$$
Old fishing village with the sea across the road
Check availabilityWhat we have left off
The Tramuntana village hotels are excluded, and one of them is the most beautiful property on Mallorca. They are forty minutes over the mountains, which makes them a destination rather than a base for Palma.
What to do
The cathedral is the reason. La Seu sits above the water with the largest gothic rose window in the world, and Gaudi worked on the interior. Go in the morning when the light comes through the eastern window.
Walk the Arab baths, the Bellver castle for the view, and the Miro foundation west of the centre, which is the artist's studio kept as it was.
Eat in Santa Catalina, the neighbourhood immediately west of the old town, around the market. Then take the wooden train to Soller through the mountains, which is an hour each way and the best thing on the island.
Drive the Serra de Tramuntana coast road to Deia and Valldemossa. Swim at Cala Deia. Both are within an hour of Palma and neither resembles the southern bays.
Practical notes
Palma airport is 15 minutes from the old town and is very busy in summer, with long queues at peak times.
May, June, September and October are ideal. July and August are hot and the island is at capacity. Winter is mild, quiet and the city is at its best for a weekend, with many coastal restaurants closed.
The old town is pedestrianised in parts and parking is difficult; take a taxi in and hire a car only for the days you leave the city.
Explore 4 & 5 Star Palma de Mallorca Hotels
Questions people actually ask
Is Palma different from the rest of Mallorca?
Substantially. It is a working Spanish city with a serious food scene, and it is twenty minutes from resort strips that have nothing to do with it.
Old town or beach?
Old town for the city, Portixol for the water with the city still close. The southern resort bays are a different holiday entirely.
How many nights?
Three in Palma, or use it as a base for a week with drives into the Tramuntana.
Is it worth going in winter?
For a city weekend, yes; it is mild and empty. For the coast and swimming, no.