Santa Ponsa - Fontenille Menorca

Even by the standards of this idyllic Balearic island, Fontenille Menorca is something special: a 250-acre estate whose gently rolling hills are dotted with palm trees, orange groves, figs, flowers, and gardens of every description. Presiding over all of it is a finca-style farmhouse, an 18th-century aristocratic residence, beautifully restored and renovated into a 21st-century luxury boutique hotel called Santa Ponsa.

Its 21 rooms and suites span several buildings, from the main house to the barn and various outbuildings, whose architecture is a vibrant mix of Spanish and Moorish influences. Every one is a bit different, owing to the irregular floor plans of these converted structures, but they’re all handsomely styled in focused, contemporary colors, and outfitted with rattan furniture and upscale boutique-hotel comforts.

There’s also a spa, featuring a hammam, sauna, massage, and a lap pool set beneath the dramatic vaulted ceiling of the estate’s old cistern, while a second pool stands outside under the Mediterranean sun. The restaurant, Nura, serves contemporary Spanish cuisine. And for another option, there’s Fontenille Menorca’s other property, Torre Vella, housed in an old watchtower a ten-minute drive away.