Esplendido Hotel, Soller, Spain
Esplendido Hotel 4 Stars
"The sister to Porxtiol is a stylishly refurbished - and great value - boutique hotel in Port de Soller."
Hotel Overview
Review of Esplendido Hotel, by Cecilia Bogaard
The ideal backdrop to an Agatha Christie novel, one can imagine Hercule Poirot strolling along the boardwalk, cane in hand sniffing around for mischief. With a view over the silent ripples of Puerto de Sóller, Espléndido Hotel is a hark back to the imagined perfection of the 1950’s travel, where tourists were few and far between and a clean, silent innocence ruled supreme.
Espléndido is a charming bubble on the northwest coast of the island of Mallorca. Built in 1954 and reopened in 2006, after a thorough renovation, the hotel is now run by the Swedish Johanna and Mikael Landström. The hotel transmits elegance, simplicity, quality and fun. Colour, design and attention to detail rule, while its best feature is the location and sea view of the bay with the crystal clear turquoise water dotted with picturesque boats.
Espléndido is what it says on the packet. Splendid. A 79-room hotel with shady gardens filled with olive trees and flowers (in perfect contrast with the sea views below), swimming pools, SPA and minimalist gym. There is also a tastefully decorated cocktail bar and a restaurant / bistro with simple and healthy food. Don’t miss breakfast. In true Swedish style, the ingredients are great quality and packed with vitamins to give your day the kick-start it needs to explore the surroundings. You can tell that the owners love what they do. The hotel is jam-packed with intricate design details (Make sure you check out their (rather bizzare) record collection upstairs!).
Simply waking up in the morning, opening the shutters and sitting out on the wooden terrace overlooking the idyllic scenery makes the experience worthwhile. The rooms may be simple, with clean-cut furniture and colourful strips of wallpaper, but the quality of the linen, beds and bathroom products is impressive and allows for unadulterated comfort.
Facilities
Hotel Policies
Awards
"Hot List", Conde Nast Traveller 07
Who stays here?
Guests have included Victoria Beckham and European tennis champion Björn Borg.
Come for...
- A bucket-and-spade break for the whole family
- The excellent facilities and friendly staff
- Great value
Not Suitable for...
- Peace and quiet in the summer months when there are lots of children
- Intimacy - it's an 80 room hotel
Children
Extra beds and babysitting services are available on request. A childrens menu is also available on request.
Eating in
Fresh, affordable and delicious lunches and dinners are served in the hotel's bistro.
The Press Say
"The fact is, the Esplendido is the sort of place you can see yourself returning to because it has perfectly struck a balance between style and chilled comfort." The Guardian 07
Reviews
Review of Espléndido Hotel, by Jeroen Bergmans
The impressive, Riviera-style building of the Espléndido sits in the centre of a picturesque, horseshoe-shaped bay and presides over the long beach and tiny port of Puerto Sóller. Swedish couple Mikael and Johanna Landström have transformed the Espléndido into an 80-room, family-friendly design hotel with all the hallmarks that make sister hotel Portixol, in the island's capital, such a special property.
The long, sun-drenched lobby is lined with Seventies, Bauhaus-inspired canvases, low-slung chairs and over-sized lights. Its cute little cocktail bar leads onto an airy lounge with original, Fifties stained-glass screens, retro furniture in bright, citrus colours and a plant-filled, nautical-themed terrace which looks out over the sea.
Quality down-time with or without children is well catered for. A 12-metre pool perched on the mountainside above the Espléndido is perfect for kids; a smaller one above it is strictly adults-only and the hotel also owns a private section of beach right on Puerto Sóller. The spa has two saunas - one Finnish, one Turkish - both with sea views, and there are two treatments rooms offering Swedish massage.
On the other side of the lobby, the Espléndido's excellent restaurant is one of the best in town, serving up consistently tasty bistro dishes. For guests in search of some culture, an antique tram which trundles over to Sóller town stops right outside, and from there another charming train will transport them to the heart of Palma.
Upstairs all the Espléndido's rooms are simply furnished with indulgent Dux beds set against a background of retro wallpaper and generous bathrooms clad in brown Spanish slate. The Attico and Espléndido Suites have their own terraces and will cater for the high-spenders with a penchant for privacy. If they are too pricey (or already taken), opt for a generously-sized Terrace Room with sea views. Room 332 is the best, as it's perched on the corner of the building.