La Residencia, Mallorca, Spain

Spain
Europe

The Experience

When Sir Richard Branson bought La Residencia in 1987 (since sold), he transformed the hillside complex of 16th- and 17th-century manor houses into a jet-set destination. But instead of being overrun by flash, the complex that wends across 30 acres of olive and citrus groves retains a sleepy, small-village feel. Unassuming celebs and the wildly rich mill around the lushly manicured grounds, smacking forehands on the tennis courts or sipping sangria in the nearby cobblestone Deià village.

The Rooms

The breezy standard rooms, many with plump four-poster beds, have high vaulted ceilings, tile floors and shuttered windows that open onto the scenic gardens. Suites 54, 66 (Princess Diana’s favorite) and 67 come with private terraces and pools, while the Tramuntana suites (opened in 2007) are nestled into a mountainside and offer gardens and heated plunge pools. Nonetheless, the lodging pinnacle is the Villa. The three-floor, three-bedroom residence is bright and open, with bone-white walls and a heated pool, alongside which one can barbecue long into the languid night.

The Service

The smart, attentive, English-fluent staff greets guests with champagne. Room service warns of their arrival by ringing a bell before climbing to your terrace, ensuring total privacy. If it’s your birthday, you’ll receive a card and a bouquet of flowers.

The Highlights

Intrepid explorers can stroll well-worn mule paths snaking through groves and wooded valleys, or enjoy classical music played on the hotel’s restored, circa-1887 Steinway piano. In the spirit of reuse, a former sixteenth-century olive press is now the romantic, candle-lit El Olivo. Its dress code is casual smart (read: no shorts), as is the imaginative cuisine: Sautéed calf cheeks and sweetbreads sit beside garden-fresh asparagus and octopus carpaccio. The spa is equally world-class, with four outdoor massage stations and unusual treatments, such as a soothing, massage-and-color regimen and a cranial and spinal therapy.

 

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