If you haven’t entered any dates, the rate shown is provided directly by the hotel and represents the cheapest double room (including tax) available in the next 60 days.
Prices have been converted from the hotel’s local currency (EUR140.45), via openexchangerates.org, using today’s exchange rate.
Style
Fuss-free finca
Setting
Rural heart of the island
Explore
Sa Rota d’en Palerm, a family-run finca in colourful, rural Sineu, is a quiet and peaceful proposition: days here are spent idling by the pool, exploring the area or packing up towels and swimwear for the beaches half an hour away. There are rustic rooms, and simple, unfussy, family-sized apartments to spread out and relax in.
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One double room; five one-bedroom apartments; one two-bedroom apartment.
11.30am, but flexible, subject to availability. Earliest check-in, 1pm.
Double rooms from £134.36 (€154), including tax at 10 per cent. Please note the hotel charges an additional government tax of €2.20 per person per night on check-out.
The hotel is fully self-catering. There are no cleaning or catering services provided for winter long stay rates.
Book transfers from the airport or station at least five days in advance. There's a pharmacy and supermarket seven kilometres away, if you need to pick up everyday provisions.
Gardens, boutique, DVD library, pool towels, laundry service (for an additional fee), free WiFi throughout. In your room: flatscreen TV, laundry facilities, DVD player, Ida bath products.
All five apartments are set in a rustic building opposite the main house, facing the gorgeous countryside. The apartments have a spacious living room, and a kitchenette with a fridge, microwave and hob. Of the One-Bedroom Apartments, we love number 4 best: it’s located on the corner of the building, with a huge wraparound terrace overlooking the fields. If you’ve got a bigger party, book the Two-Bedroom Apartment, which also has two bathrooms and a terrace.
The quiet, serene (unheated) pool is set just off from the main house, with sunloungers and parasols are dotted around its cement-and-stone patio. Roman steps lead down into the water. There’s also a little grassy area just behind the pool.
The owners have a very friendly dog which everyone will enjoy befriending.
Sa Rota is family friendly; children are welcome in all the apartments (but not the double rooms). Extra beds for children aged 3-18 are available for EUR45 per night, baby cots free for infants. Babysitting is available on request.
Frazzled parents whose holiday dreams feature a sun-kissed pool and gardens for their children to play in will lose their hearts (and summers) to this relaxed, rustic hotel in the heart of Mallorca. This is the most sociable of set-ups: a family-run finca where guests can spread themselves across their own private apartment (with little kitchenettes for rustling up independent meals), without an army of staff on hand to dent the home-from-home feel. There’s no kids club and there aren’t organised activities on offer – but that’s the beauty of it. Here you’ll spend the whole holiday pottering around together, rather than losing one kid to a crèche, another to a kids club, another to a babysitter. You can borrow bikes, go for walks and do some laps in the glittering pool. And that’s as taxing as it gets.
Families with children of all ages.
There's space in the apartments (not the double rooms) for children to stay in cots (free) or extra beds (free for under-2s, €32 a night for under-12s, €45 for older children).
Seek out the resident dog to befriend and play hide and seek in the gardens; chill out by the pool (borrow floats and pool toys) and explore the grounds. On rainy days, stay in and play one of the board games (just ask staff for the selection), or snuggle up and watch a DVD together (the hotel has a few cartoons and other child-friendly options). Or, go for a bike ride.
Take animal lovers to the children’s zoo (the Natura Park) at Cami de Son Mateu in Santa Eugenia (+34 971 144078) to admire the menagerie of birds, mammals and reptiles. The zoo emphasises the importance of education, conservation and research, offering interactive workshops and edifying exhibitions.
Ask for floats or pool toys if you want them.
Highchairs are available to borrow, but the hotel doesn't offer meals, so you'll need to stock up at the nearby supermarket.
Babysitters are available for €11 an hour (minimum three hours) but don't expect them to speak English. Book two days in advance.
The hotel already has highchairs, soft toys, puzzles, crayons, board books, floats, and a DVD library.
The hotel doesn’t have any baby-listening equipment, so remember to bring your own to use in your apartment. Don’t worry about hiking luggage any distance: the hotel’s parking spaces are right by the entrance.
The property uses a photovoltaic system for clean and green energy use. Motion sensors and water-saving devices help to maintain energy and water efficiency, there’s a recycling programme in place and the hotel is working on reducing its use of plastics. Relying on local producers helps to minimise the hotel’s carbon footprint; even construction materials were locally sourced (bonus: the materials help the traditional architecture blend seamlessly into the surroundings). The property was thoughtfully landscaped with native plants that require little irrigation (and look gorgeous, to boot).
We're sure staff won't object if you sit and sip on the terrace after wine-foraging expeditions.
You'll dine in the comfort of your own apartment, so wear whatever you wish.
The hotel doesn't serve food, but you can stock up on supplies from at the supermarket in Lloret de Vistalegre (a 10-minute drive or bike ride away); and nearby town Sineu has restaurants aplenty.
There's no bar as such, but you can also browse the hotel’s selection of Majorcan and Spanish wines and buy a bottle for your room or apartment.
Palma de Mallorca Airport (www.mallorcaairport.co.uk) is 32km away – a 20-minute drive. Fly with British Airways (www.ba.com) or EasyJet (www.easyjet.com).
Sineu’s station is a 10-minute drive; services are run by Tib (www.tib.org/en/web/ctm) and connect Sineu to Palma, Inca and Mallorcan villages.
Staff strongly advise guests to bring a car. The closest town to the hotel is Sineu. From the airport, follow signs for Santany, come off at exit 10, keep going in the direction of Manacor (Ma-15) for around 17km, take exit 22, turn left at the roundabout in the direction of Pina for 4km, follow signs for Lloret for about 5km, pass Lloret de Vistalgre and continue driving towards Sineu. Turn off to the right into Montuiri (follow the ‘Sa Rota’ sign), after about a kilometre take the small road on the left and follow it until the end: you’ve arrived. The hotel also has a car park, so no need to worry about street parking.
Here, the pleasures are simple: you’ve got the outdoor pool and gardens (look for the pretty almond tree, which blossoms in winter) for sunny days, gorgeous inside spaces for (rare) rainy days and a host of things to see nearby: pretty towns and sandy beaches. The hotel can help to arrange bike hire (€10–€13 a day, including helmet hire) with an external company. Sa Rota sits at the start of one of the island’s most popular cycling trails, including the trail from Algaida to Sencelles, Ruberts and Pina. Any of the beaches by the coastal resort of Colonia de Sant Jordi are worth exploring. The hotel also sends sun-worshippers to Playa de Muro, between Alcudia and C'an Picafort. Play golf on one of the local courses or go bird-watching at S'Albufera Nature Park.
Ask staff nicely, and they'll help to arrange boat hire so you can take to the seas. They'll also let you know when the colourful local markets and traditional village festivals are held. Visit the Els Calderers (+34 971 526069), a traditional manor with stables and farm animals, including the area’s famous black pigs. Get a sense of what Mallorcan rural life might have been like with a visit to the smithy (stocked with historic tools), the bakery and the laundry. The manor dates back to the 13th century and is situated in the village of Sant Joan.
There are a several eateries within a 10-minute drive of the hotel. Can Joan Capó (+34 971 8550750) offers a Mediterranean menu in a traditional stone-walled dining room.
You can generally judge a hotel by the quality of its marmalade. This was my conclusion as we drove out of the gates of Sa Rota. We’d arrived four days earlier, driving up to the hillside property through the hot dry countryside and ever-narrowing lanes. We were welcomed by a dog and the owner’s mother (it’s a family affair) who checked us in and gave us a quick tour. There were three stops. The old storeroom which housed their exceptional homemade preserves, a room full of games and stuff for the nippers, and the wonderful pool. Not on the tour is the plastic dog – which is in a flowerbed, half buried, digging for a bone it will never find. We spoke to two families, with similarly aged children, who were leaving the next day. They didn’t want to go, and within 24 hours we understood why; Sa Rota charmingly reconciles two holiday propositions that shouldn’t in theory live together – peace (it’s in an idyllic, rustic part of the island) and it being perfect for children. And we plan to go back – not just because of the marmalade. The question is: do we go on our own or with the children? Cold beer or wine? Tough Mallorcan decisions.
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