Palma, Spain

Portella

Price per night from$191.88

Price information

If you haven’t entered any dates, the rate shown is provided directly by the hotel and represents the cheapest double room (inclusive of taxes and fees) available in the next 60 days.

Prices have been converted from the hotel’s local currency (EUR182.64), via openexchangerates.org, using today’s exchange rate.

Portella Photos

Style

Less is Moor

Setting

Casco Antiguo corner

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Mi casa es su casa is an ethos firmly adopted at Portella. Despite its good looks – set in a beautifully restored 17th-century home with a prime Old Town postcode – the luxury here is in the tailored detail. All traditional hotel-style admin is eschewed in favour of a polished personal approach, where anything from breakfast to pillow choices can be tweaked to meet your wishes. Incredible city vistas from the casa rooftop, plus a private hammam, only add to this home-from-home’s storied allure. 

Smith Extra

Get this when you book through us:

A one-way airport transfer, private use of the hammam and a bespoke Mallorcan gift

Facilities

Photos Portella facilities

Need to know

Rooms

14, including 10 suites.

Check–Out

Noon. Check-in is at 3pm, but both are flexible, subject to availability.

More details

Rates at Portella are room-only; an à la carte breakfast is €30 each.

Also

Although one Double Room is on the ground floor and is accessed by a ramp, this historic hotel is not best suited to guests with reduced mobility.

At the hotel

Courtyard, rooftop terrace, hammam, gym, charged laundry service and free WiFi throughout. In rooms: smart TV, Bang & Olufsen Bluetooth speaker, air-conditioning, ceiling fan, Nespresso coffee machine, tea-making kit, minibar with free soft drinks, free bottled water, bathrobes and slippers, and Diptyque bath products.

Our favourite rooms

Contemporary design and classic details come together in the hotel’s rooms. The spaces are light-filled, and clad with terracotta tiles, Moorish details, and bespoke and antique furniture. Out of the Double Rooms, number five is our favourite – sunshine floods in from the Juliet balcony, and it connects with Room Three via a narrow arch-framed corridor. If you’re staying in the two-bedroom Apartment, bagsy the room on the left for within-touching-distance views of the verdant Arab Baths’ garden, or if sharing isn’t caring, book the whole hotel exclusively to have it all to yourself.

Spa

There's no spa at Portella, but the private hammam is a boon to come home to after wandering around Palma's Old Town, and there's a gym at the hotel that caters to any workout needs.

Packing tips

Before its latest iteration, Portella was the home of Spanish painter Joaquim Torrents Lladó, a close friend of poet Robert Graves; follow in their creative footsteps and bring your watercolours and a notebook.

Also

Head to the rooftop terrace for a fitness class or an alfresco aperitif; it has panoramic views of Palma, encompassing the Arab Baths’ leafy garden, Santa Clara nunnery and the caramel-coloured cathedral.

Children

Over-12s are welcome. Some rooms can connect to create family-friendly suites, and the Suite and Junior Suite can accommodate a third guest on a sofa-bed (for €30 a night, including breakfast).

Sustainability efforts

Portella has held onto its original 17th-century features, including cast iron railings and solid wood doors, wherever possible. Local materials, such as Santanyí stone, terracotta tiles, bespoke local glasswork and Mallorcan cobblestone, have been prioritised throughout the renovation. And the hotel reduces its carbon footprint, waste and food mileage by choosing close-to-home suppliers and placing bath products in rooms on request.

Food and Drink

Photos Portella food and drink

Top Table

Book-lined shelves are the backdrop for dinners at the library’s sole, candle-lit table.

Dress Code

As homey as Portella feels, leave dining in your pyjamas and slippers to your own casa. You can keep it casual, but this thoughtfully renovated retreat feels deserving of something smarter.

Hotel restaurant

Meals in Salon, the hotel’s intimate dining room, feel a little like scoring an invite to a laidback family get-together. The open-plan kitchen encourages easy chatting between guest and chef, and there’s a pass-the-marmalade cosiness to the communal table. Miguel and his team take hosting cues from their abuelas – asking what you’d like for dinner or what they can fetch you from the morning market – before transforming local and sustainable produce into just-as-you-like-it dishes. And, perhaps best of all, breakfast is served until a leisurely 1pm, so snooze your alarm for as long as you like.

Hotel bar

Settle in with postprandial cuppas, cocktails and card games at the courtyard-facing living room, which has floor-to-ceiling windows, a small library, sink-into-me armchairs and a cobalt-blue sofa. You can also dial down from the rooftop terrace for sunlounger-bound refreshments.

Last orders

Breakfast is served from 7am until 1pm; lunch is 1pm to 6pm, and dinner is 8pm to 11pm. The bar pours from 7am until 1am.

Room service

You can order dishes and drinks from the restaurant’s menu to your room round the clock.

Location

Photos Portella location
Address
Portella
C/ de la Portella 9 Centre
Palma
07001
Spain

Portella brushes shoulders with the Cathedral of Mallorca and the Arab Baths in Palma’s Old Town, and the beach and city centre are within strolling distance.

Planes

Palma de Mallorca Airport is a 25-minute drive away; a one-way transfer to the hotel is included with the room rate and staff can arrange a return transfer for €66.

Automobiles

You don’t need a set of wheels for getting around the city – it’s easy to navigate by foot, public transport or taxi. Should you drive, the hotel has a private car park a short walk away and valet services are included with your room rate.

Other

If you plan to arrive by chopper, there's a private helipad a 15-minute drive from the hotel.

Worth getting out of bed for

You won’t have to wander far from Portella to marvel at Palma’s big hitters (you can even spy most from the hotel’s rooftop): the close-enough-to-touch Arab Baths are your ancient neighbours and have lush botanical gardens; the Cathedral of Mallorca, a gothic behemoth, is the city’s crowning jewel; stop by sweet-treat-selling Santa Clara Convent, or amble through La Portella, the mediaeval city entrance and the hotel’s eponym. Uncover chic boutiques, secluded courtyards and independent art galleries along honey-hued streets, or weave past bag-wielding shoppers on designer-dotted Passeig del Born. And to cool off, head to Can Pere Antoni Beach or the boat-flecked harbour for a dip or a sea-breeze-kissed stroll.

Local restaurants

El Camino is the Balearic outpost from the brains behind London-loved Barrafina. Take a front-row seat at the long convivial counter: you’ll fall as hard for the tapas of ruby red prawns, lime-green leeks and courgette flowers as you will the cool chefs whipping them up. The plant-based plates at Restaurant Botànic will impress the most fervent omnivores (and if you really can’t forgo it, local meat and fish star in a handful of dishes). You might head to tucked-away Tast Club for their talk-of-the-town tortillas, but the rest of the menu is just as praise-worthy.

Local cafés

Make for a sun-dappled table at Mistral Coffee House, where days start very well with saccharine baked goods and Palma-roasted beans. Fuel up with caffeine, cardamom and cinnamon at Fika Farina, a hole-in-the-wall bakery specialising in Swedish-style buns.

Local bars

Bottles line the stripped-back walls at natural-wine-pouring Bar La Sang, where you can tuck into light bites as you sniff, swirl and sip. If you like what you’ve tried, the bar doubles as a bottle shop too. Classic cocktail spot Bar Nicolás shakes up sours, margaritas and martinis; bat your eyelashes at the mixologists across the bar, or take your tipple out to the terrace.

Reviews

Photos Portella reviews

Anonymous review

By Mr & Mrs Smith

Every hotel featured is visited personally by members of our team, given the Smith seal of approval, and then anonymously reviewed. As soon as our reviewers have returned from this elegantly understated hotel in Mallorca and unpacked their boutique buys and fluffy ensaimadas, a full account of their Balearic break will be with you. In the meantime, to whet your wanderlust, here's a quick peek inside Portella in Palma…

If you find yourself sighing ‘home, sweet home’ before you’ve set your bags down at Portella, don’t be surprised. There’s a distinctly familial feel – from its boutique spec to personal touches such as chef Miguel asking what you fancy for dinner. This homey Old Town stay is yours to soak up at your leisure, whether it’s admiring the panoramic Palma views from the rooftop terrace, relishing a lie-in breakfast (eggs cooked to order, natch), or dining en familia in the intimate salon. 
 
A top-notch basecamp for Old Town forays, Portella also delivers on hotel frills: a thoughtful concierge is on hand to advise on days out, best beaches and dinner reservations. Original 17th-century features paired with bespoke furnishings and hand-blown glasswork by artisans at just-next-door Gordiola bring design kudos, and a modest gym and hammam confirm that this is no ordinary townhouse retreat. Turns out there’s no place like home, nor Portella.

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Price per night from $182.64

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