Boutique Hotel Posada Terra Santa

We’ve long admired the fact that Spain’s Balearic islands have plenty of refinement to balance their reputation for hedonism, and there might be no more perfect an example than Mallorca’s Boutique Hotel Posada Terra Santa. Set in the ancient streets of Palma, the capital, it’s a bona fide aristocratic manor house, some five hundred years old, transformed by its new owners into a 26-room boutique hotel that’s as elegant as it is contemporary — the sort of place that helps keep a destination like Mallorca inspiring even after decades in the spotlight.

Even the humblest rooms come with king beds, Nespresso machines, and Raindance showers, and at the higher end you’ll see more and more of the building’s Gothic heritage emerge alongside the hotel’s soothingly contemporary interior design.

The house’s old granary has been converted into a little spa, complete with a pool, a sauna, and a massage/treatment room. There’s a terrace with another pool, for a little sun or a sunset cocktail, and the Salón Inglés is a library-style lounge filled with vast armchairs and vintage photographs of Palma. The greatest of its common spaces, however, is its restaurant, La Despensa del Barón, where diners sit beneath 14th-century stone arches and commune over flavors from Spain, South America, and Asia.