Until fairly recently, few tourists to the Spanish Balearic Island of Mallorca would spend extended time in its capital, Palma. Well how times change. The waterfront city has become a focal point for visitors, with the atmospheric stony alleys and restored palaces of the Old Town luring international weekenders in increasing numbers.
Nobis Hotel Palma, a boutique city hotel with 37 rooms and suites, is the newest hotel on the scene, housed in one of the city’s oldest palaces. After a money-burning six year restoration, it opened its grand doors in late 2023, a breathtakingly beautiful combination of centuries of history stamped with a thoroughly 21st Century contemporary style.
Where?
The location gets a gold star. Twenty minutes from Palma’s impressive international airport – the third busiest in Spain – Nobis Hotel Palma is in a quiet lane of the medieval Old Town with the best of Palma, old and new, right outside.
Style
Gothic drama meets Scandi spirit and the result brings the wow factor times ten. Walk into the magnificent ground floor courtyard and you know this is a grand design in every way, a magnificent 12th Century Arabic palace sensitively transformed to create elegant, harmonious spaces. The palace brings the history, Swedish design firm Wingårdhs brings the contemporary (Carl Hansen chairs and bedframes and Flos lighting mixed with pieces by local craftsmen) and the result is a pitch perfect visual drama.
Facilities
An atmospheric indoor swimming pool and spa have been carved out of the chunky stone walls, turning a swim and sauna into an historic delight. There’s a compact gym while facials and other treatments are available, in room, through a collaboration with external wellness studio HEAT by Sophia Lie. Soak up the sun on loungers on the first floor Sun Lounge or the Rooftop with views of Palma’s La Seu Cathedral.
Extracurricular
With Palma Old Town directly outside the super-sized front doors, you have immediate access to one of the Mediterranean’s most compelling small-scale Mediterranean cities. Within fifteen minutes you reach the Cathedral, the city beach and its waterfront promenade, shops and boutiques and some of Spain’s most celebrated restaurants including Fera and Marc Fosh. A special mention for smart tapas bar La Bodeguilla, a local favourite that’s just a three minute stroll from the hotel.
Food & Drink
The combination of 900 year old walls, a nine metre ceiling and thoughtfully chosen contemporary furniture in the first floor Mirall Bar is simply spectacular. The bar leads to a wide Sun Terrace and a cosy Library that doubles up as a private meeting room. The restaurant, NOI, is on the ground floor, handsomely designed and welcoming. The breakfast buffet is varied and good, service is friendly and efficient and menus centre on local produce.
Which room?
Five room categories range from Superior up to the Rooftop and Nobis Suites, but no two of the 37 rooms and suites are alike. That’s an undoubted part of the hotel’s charm but it does make for some notable differences. Some rooms on the top floor, the third, are vaulted with heavy beams and partially restricted ceiling height, making them cosy and character-packed but also potential head-crackers. For soaring height, head to the 1st floor where Suite 103 has a spectacular Arabic floor and 111 has two French balconies. Only a few rooms have baths but showers are generously sized.
Best for...
Architectural obsessives, on-trend couples and design-minded urbanites who know their Carl Hansen’s from their Flos’ will all be impressed.
Details
Rooms start from €330 per night including continental breakfast, nobishotel.es
