Mallorca's capital has quietly outgrown its package-holiday reputation. Palma today is a proper city break destination, where Gothic spires and honey-coloured stone sit alongside a fast-moving gallery scene, independent boutiques and a restaurant line-up that runs from cosy old-school haunts to Michelin-starred dining.
The city's geography is a big part of the appeal. The old town is a maze of cobbled lanes hiding grand palacios with leafy courtyards, and the Mediterranean is never more than a short stroll away. Passeig del Born handles the designer shopping and café culture, La Rambla keeps its old-fashioned flower stalls, and two neighbourhoods in particular are worth basing yourself around: Santa Catalina, with its buzzing market and neighbourhood restaurants, and El Terreno, a formerly neglected district now going through a lively, slightly bohemian revival.
The hotel offering matches the city's range. Converted aristocratic palaces now work as intimate hideaways, romantic townhouse hotels cater to couples, and contemporary design-led properties sit alongside grand hillside castles looking out over the bay and glamorous seafront resorts where the sea is the whole point. Families are catered for too — the Mandarin Oriental Punta Negra, about 15 minutes outside the city, gets the nod as the best family pick.
Condé Nast Traveller UK's editors, who stay at every property they list, highlight three standouts: Palma Riad for couples, and Can Bordoy Grand House & Garden as the best boutique stay — a townhouse hotel with a legendary walled garden in the heart of the old town. Their criteria mix design, location and service with genuine sustainability credentials, and they include both big luxury names and smaller boltholes you might otherwise miss.
One more reason to book: Palma works year-round. Summer means long evenings moving between tapas bars and waterfront terraces, while winter delivers crisp blue skies, sunlit lunches and galleries you can actually enjoy without crowds. Few Mediterranean cities can honestly claim that.
For travellers, this matters because Palma solves the city-or-beach dilemma in one trip. You can spend a morning in a Gothic cathedral or a contemporary gallery, an afternoon shopping in Santa Catalina, and still be on a terrace over the water by sunset — all without changing hotels. Short flights from much of Europe make it an easy long weekend as well as a longer summer stay.
Story via Condé Nast Traveller UK.
