Need to know

Rooms

Nine, including four suites.

Rates

Doubles, €175–€220; Junior Suites, €220–€255; Luxury Suites, €280–€325, including Continental breakfast but excluding local tax at seven per cent. Rental of the whole hotel costs €13,000 a week (€15,000 in high season), including breakfast and tax.

Check-out

Midday, but flexible on request and subject to availability.

Facilities

Sun terrace, lounge bar, library of books, CDs/DVDs, games (Scrabble, backgammon etc). In rooms, minibar, flatscreen TV, CD/DVD player, WiFi, AC, safe, hand-blended organic toiletries, waffle robes and slippers.

Poolside

The blue-tiled outdoor swimming pool is flanked by black decking dotted with inviting sun-loungers and linen-covered couches. It’s a little overlooked by neighbouring houses at the back, but you won’t care about that when the sun is out.

Children

Over-14s are welcome; however, L’Avenida is more of a grown-up getaway.

Hotel closed

15 November to 1 February.

Also

There’s a three-night minimum stay in high season. In-room aromatherapy, massages and Ole Henriksen beauty treatments are available – book in advance. The property is non-smoking, but you can light up on the balcony or the terrace.

In the know

Our favourite rooms

The higher you go, the better the views: try to get a room on the first or second floor for the best mountain-enhanced vistas. Spacious Luxury Suites 3 (first floor) and 7 (second floor) have four-poster beds and freestanding roll-top tubs, and look out across the street to pretty gardens and mountains beyond – the view from Suite 7’s bathroom is our favourite. Junior Suite 2 on the first floor has pool and mountain views through French windows from its king-size bed. Of the smaller rooms, we love dinky beamed Standard Double 9 in the attic, and Superior Double 4, with views from its bedroom and bathroom windows. Room 5 is a split-level Mezzanine Double with a platform bed.

Packing tips

Bikinis and beach kit: the nearest sandy stretch is only 10 minutes away. Trainers/boots for cycling and walking.

Also

Owners Tania and Paul can arrange fantastic activities, including guided mountain hikes, wine tasting and helicopter tours.

Food & drink

Hotel restaurant

With a white-beamed ceiling and black walls decorated with artistic impressions of the restaurant’s ingredients (lobsters, squid, pheasants et al), L’Avenida Bistro serves a Modern Mediterranean menu with seafood flourishes.

Dress code

Holiday hip (or hiking hip, if that’s your bag).

Top table

A spot flanking the black and white wall in the bistro, or at a candlelit table for two outside on the terrace.

Last orders

L’Avenida Bistro closes its doors at 10.30pm, but staff are on call 24 hours a day if you need anything from the bar.

Room service

Drinks are available 24 hours a day; snacks can be brought to your room if you ask nicely, otherwise you’ll have to raid the stash of Pringles and chocolate in your minibar.

Hotel bar

The retro-chic lounge bar is perfect for sundowners or nightcaps; pick from the impressive spirits menu and cosy up on a leather sofa or linen-covered banquette outside.

Smith card offer A bottle of cava on arrival; members booking a Luxury Suite will also get 10 per cent off their lunch bill

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Book this hotel

To book this hotel please click here, or contact our travel team on 0845 034 0700.

L'Avenida

9 Gran Via, Sóller, Mallorca, Balearic Islands

Sóller has plenty of low-key bodegas and cafés if you just fancy a snack, but the port is only a few minutes away by taxi (or a pleasant tram ride) and offers more bang for your buck. Mr & Mrs Smith loved Agapanto’s (+34 971 633 860) romantic torchlit patio overlooking the sea on Camino del Faro. The menu features plenty of fresh seafood and fresh takes on traditional classics, and there’s often a live jazz band or a fun brunch event going on. The modern-luxe Bistro at Espléndido Hotel (+34 971 631850) on Es Traves uses local, seasonal ingredients to produce its international menu, and is by far the most stylish-looking option in the port. Es Passeig (+34 971 630217) on the port’s promenade has a German chef, a Spanish wine list and a creative modern Mediterranean menu (don’t have the Bling Bling Burger, though, unless your burger cravings are near-desperate). Try to get a table in the main room. You're also not far from Ca's Xorc (+34 971 638 280) on Carretera de Deia - it's very romantic to dine on this hotel's terrace among candlelit olive trees, and the views at sunset are spectacular.

Have a few cocktails at Esplendido Hotel’s cool bar and lounge in Sóller’s harbour (+34 971 631 850) before pottering along the prom for dinner – get there early to nab one of the cool swivel chairs by the windows, or have an after-dinner drink. Just along the shore, Agapanto (+34 971 633 860) is a lovely place for sundowners on a summer’s evening.

Sóller’s main square, Plaça Constitucio, is lined with cafés whose tables spill inwards across the flagstones around the gently tinkling fountain. Pick any one and park up with a caffé solo or a glass of something cold. La Vila at 14 (+34 971 634 641) has a pretty art nouveau café; go through to the courtyard restaurant out the back for a lunch of chilled gazpacho, tenderloin carpaccio and jam-packed panini.

If it’s clubs and DJ bars you want, you’ll have to go into Palma, about half an hour’s drive away.

L’Avenida’s owners Tania and Paul can arrange all manner of amazing activities, and work with an excellent selection of companies, including Tramuntana Tours (+34 971 632423), which provides guided hiking and mountain biking in the mountains of northwest Mallorca. Other options include wine-tasting or helicopter tours, private boat charter, bike hire and gourmet trails around the island.

In Sóller, have a quick peek at Sant Bartomeu cathedral: the façade was designed by Rubio, who also created the unique bank building next door. Browse the boutiques along Carrer de san Lluna, off the square: we like Finca Gourmet at number 16 (+34 971 630 253), an artisan deli selling slabs of cocoa for hot chocolate, home-made honey and preserves, olive oils and wine. Across the street, +Ca'n Toni Reia has kitsch kitchen supplies and unusual Majorcan ceramics. Heymo at number 13 is the place to go for bargain-priced bags and shoes; once you've got one of those slick patent totes off the shelf, you can pass it off as something much more pricey.

Easter Weekend Processions through Soller’s town square on the Thursday and Friday nights, and Easter Sunday. Mid May Bloodlust and bloodshed at the enthusiastically recreated battle of Soller’s villagers versus invading Barbary pirates for the Sa Fira i es Firó festival – there are also tamer events, such as art exhibitions and drama. Mid July Nuestra Señora del Carmen sees fishing boats parade across the harbour mouth in Puerto de Sóller. Sa Mostra Internacional Folklorica is a festival of international folk dancing (www.sollernet.com). August The Festes de Biniaraix celebrations begin around the 15th, with cultural events and performances. The 24th of the month sees Sóller put on a blazing display of fire-running and bonfires to celebrate St Bartholomew’s saintliness.