Hotel Antigua Palma

Lately, visitors to the Mallorcan capital with a taste for boutique hospitality find themselves spoiled for choice — on a per-capita basis there are few small cities with quite so many exquisitely individual boutique hotels. Hotel Antigua Palma, in the medieval Jewish quarter on the south side of the old city center, is a fine example: an aristocratic residence from the 17th century, remodeled in the 18th, and most recently converted into a 27-room luxury boutique hotel that combines classic architecture and well-preserved period details with contemporary furnishings and the high-end modern comforts demanded by 21st-century travelers.

The rooms and suites, naturally, are all different, and vary from the relatively cozy Classic rooms to the properly palatial two-room Family Suite. The colors are restrained, even minimal, but the spaces are given life by the subtle play of textures and the plentiful natural light. There’s a rooftop terrace with a refreshing little plunge pool and views of the old town, as well as a spa, inspired by the city’s historic Arab Baths, featuring a heated pool, a sauna and hammam, and a chromotherapy/aromatherapy shower. In the house’s old vault is the Antigua Bar, and Terracotta, the terrace restaurant, is open all day long.