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 (EUR590.91), via openexchangerates.org, using today’s exchange rate.
Peeping out of a pocket of Mallorca’s untouched northwest coast, Son Bunyola is laden with history, much like the mountain range whose foot it sits upon. The 26 rooms, designed in taupe tones and weaved textiles, reside in a caringly converted 16th-century finca and domed defence tower that once observed Mallorca’s conquest. But beyond restored rooms and fabled features (ceilings carved with angels in the chapel-turned-restaurant and old olive presses transformed for tapas-focused fare), the estate sits on 1,300 acres of Unesco-listed land where days are spent basking poolside, mixing scents with local perfumers and sipping local sauvignons.
Noon (11am for villas); check-in, 3pm. Both are flexible, subject to availability.
Prices
Double rooms from £556.65 (€650), including tax at 10 per cent. Please note the hotel charges an additional local city tax of €4.40 per person per night on check-out.
More details
Rates usually include breakfast, served at Sa Terrassa.
Also
One of the rooms has been adapted for those with reduced mobility; there’s also an accessible car parking space and ramps throughout the hotel. However, the mountainous terrain can prove difficult for those in wheelchairs.
Hotel closed
The hotel closes annually from late November until the middle of April.
At the hotel
Pebble beach onsite, lounge with a library, games room, tennis court, bikes to borrow (free to use around the estate, otherwise €45 a day), free shuttle services to nearby towns, boutique, charged laundry service, and free WiFi throughout. In rooms: TV, air-conditioning, tea- and coffee-making kit, free bottled water, yoga mats, and Gaia bath products.
Our favourite rooms
All rooms are designed with equally splendid interiors: limewashed walls, hand-woven Moroccan textiles, ochre tones and beamed ceilings. But for something with a little extra character, go for one of the two Tafona suites, set in the turrets of Son Bunyola’s 13th-century tower. If you’re travelling in a group, there are three self-catered villas on the estate, with either five or four bedrooms and their own private pools.
Poolside
Just below the main terrace, nestled in the olive groves, a 28-metre heated swimming pool is flanked with mint-green sunloungers, a Jacuzzi, and sweeping views of the Mediterranean.
Spa
The spa sits secluded behind the ground-floor lounge, with two treatment rooms (one with a mosaiced roof thought to be the finca’s former oven) for tailored-to-you massages, detoxifying scrubs and exfoliating facials, all using locally-made oils from Gaia Natural Products.
Packing tips
Lycra if you’re planning on whizzing down Tunmantana’s mountainside on two wheels; any light linens if you’d rather stay poolside.
Children
Welcome; there’s no kids’ club but staff are more than happy to arrange babysitting for an extra charge and they can tailor activities to include any accompanying little Smiths.
Sustainability efforts
Sustainability was at the forefront of Son Bunyola’s renovations, given the building's historical significance, and efforts have been sustained since opening. All electricity is sourced from a local power grid to cut fossil fuels, reduce carbon emissions and cut noise pollution; smart sensors ensure energy waste is minimised in all rooms; paper and single-use plastic have been reduced, and around 75 per cent of ingredients used in the restaurants are picked fresh from the grounds.
Ask for a table on the terrace for ethereal evening views.
Dress Code
Coastal casual during the day and your loveliest linens come dusk.
Hotel restaurant
Seasonal dishes are devised by head chef Samuel Galdón at Sa Terrasa, who has refined his take on Mallorcan fare after years helming a Michelin-starred restaurant in nearby Deià. Meals are served alfresco against sweeping sea views, or in the finca’s former chapel, and menus change depending on what’s growing in the gardens that month (traditional delicacies with varying twists typically take centre stage). Soon-to-open Sa Tafona will have a seafood-focused tapas menu, dished up for dinner along the pool-facing terrace. If you’d rather dine à deux, private dinners can be set up in the estate’s vineyards and olive groves.
Hotel bar
Behind the bar, set within Sa Terrasa, mixologists shake up Mallorcan mojitos while in-house sommeliers pick their favourite pairings with wines produced straight from the estate’s vineyards.
Last orders
Breakfast is served at Sa Terrassa between 8am and 11am, lunch is dished from 12.30pm to 3.30pm and dinner from 7.30pm to 10.30pm. The bar pours from 8am till 11pm.
Room service
In-room bites are available from Sa Terrassa’s menu between 7am to 11pm.
Son Bunyola is in the Tramuntana mountains, between Banyalbufar and Son Coll, along Mallorca’s northwestern coast.
Planes
Most European airports have direct flights to Mallorca’s international airport in Palma, a 40-minute drive from the hotel. Private transfers can be arranged from €132.
Automobiles
Having a car will be handy if you’re planning on venturing beyond the estate, and the hotel has a free car park and valet parking. If you’d rather avoid driving yourself, there are free daily shuttle services from the hotel to nearby towns.
Worth getting out of bed for
You’ve 1,300 acres of grounds and plenty of surrounding scenery to play in at Son Bunyola, so gear up for guided cycling tours through the Tramuntana mountains – or go it alone on one of the hotel’s bikes. If you’d rather stick with what you’ve got, walking trails guide you from the estate and along coastal paths to nearby beaches and towns (the nearest beach is a 40-minute walk and the town is just over 90 minutes); head on a historical walking tour with Son Bunyola’s resident historian, Tòmas Vibot Railakari; or join a guided hike to Son Bich de Superna, where you’ll be handsomely rewarded with a wine tasting or two. Exercise-buffs can book in for tennis lessons, personal training, pilates and yoga classes; or set sail along the coast on a kayak, sailboat or yacht. For something a little more laid-back, the hotel hosts painting classes, photography sessions, perfume workshops, pa amb olitastings, paella cooking classes and wine tastings.
Local restaurants
For those willing to take a windy 15-minute drive down to Banyalbufar, the Picornell-Funke family at Michelin-starred Son Tomás (17 Carrer Baronia) have been serving traditional Mallorcan fare on their sea-facing terrace for over 40 years. Or, if you’re looking for lighter bites, Es Forn d’es Casino is a local favourite.
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 historic hotel in the Bealerics and unpacked their bottles of olive oil and cabernet sauvignons, a full account of their secluded stay will be with you. In the meantime, to whet your wanderlust, here's a quick peek inside Son Bunyola in Mallorca…
Son Bunyola may have some big names behind it, being owned by Richard Branson and all, but each corner of this famed finca remains as authentic as the historic hills it sits on. Though views are fame-worthy here (being in the Tramuntana mountains will do that), ogling isn’t reserved just for the sweeping scenery, as a treasure trove of items from the hotel’s storied past are scattered throughout its limewashed walls: the chapel’s original alter sits in the restaurant, stuccoed stairs still wind through the 13th-century tefona and the spa’s double treatment room, mosaiced with intricate tiling, is thought to be the finca’s former oven (don’t worry, temperatures are lower these days). Plus, the privileged position on Mallorca’s northwestern coast means days can be spent cycling and hiking the island’s neolithic remains; that’s if you tire of cooking classes, wine tastings, laps in the sun-soaked pool and wanders through the olive groves…
