Es Princep — The Leading Hotels of the World

Passeig Marítim / Seafront, Mallorca · imperial

Es Princep — The Leading Hotels of the World

THE VIBE

68 rooms in a four-storey building alongside Baluard del Príncep — Palma's best-preserved Renaissance fortification — designed by Mallorcan architects Duch-Pizà in local stone and natural materials.

THE BACKSTORY

Es Princep opened on 1 February 2018, designed by Duch-Pizà Arquitectes in close dialogue with Baluard del Príncep — the Renaissance fortification built during Prince Felipe II's era in the 16th century. The architects used local stone, wood and leather sourced from Mallorca; the two internal courtyards function as ventilation and daylight shafts. The Sa Calatrava quarter below was long home to leather craftsmen.

WHY NOW

Zaranda, Fernando Pérez Arellano's one-Michelin-star restaurant, has operated from within the hotel with a separate street entrance since 2021 — bookable evenings are Wednesday to Saturday and tables fill quickly. Cocó Spa opened its 18-metre pool to all hotel guests at no extra charge, a rarity at this price point.

THE ROOM

Junior Suite Sea View on the upper floors offers panoramic views of the Bay of Palma and the Cathedral — the same sightline as the Almaq terrace, from within the room.

WELLNESS

Cocó Spa Oasis on the ground floor offers an 18-metre pool, steam bath, sauna and jacuzzi. The treatment menu uses local ingredients — almond oil, rosemary and sea salt from the Balearic Islands. Open to hotel guests daily 09:00–21:00.

THE TABLE

Plena Flor — 17-course tasting menu — Zaranda (in-house, separate street entrance). Fernando Pérez Arellano works exclusively with Balearic produce and seasonality; the menu changes continuously and requires advance booking. One star in the Michelin Guide 2026.

THE SERVICE

The hotel's 14 kitchen members under Fernando Pérez Arellano work exclusively with Balearic producers and seasonal ingredients; Zaranda guests staying at the hotel receive booking priority at the restaurant.

THE NEIGHBORHOOD

Sa Calatrava in the western part of Palma's old town, address Carrer Bala Roja 1. Es Baluard Museu d'Art Modern i Contemporani is 1.6 kilometres to the west along the city wall. Passeig Marítim boulevard is a short walk to the south. Cathedral La Seu is visible from the rooftop.

HONEST CAVEAT

Zaranda's tasting menus cost 190–220 EUR per person and require advance booking; walk-ins are not possible and the menu is selected at the time of reservation.

THE VERDICT

Es Princep is Palma's only Leading Hotels of the World member and the hotel positioned closest to the intact Renaissance wall Baluard del Príncep. Zaranda strengthens the proposition for the traveller for whom gastronomic precision is as central as architecture. Best in class in the Sa Calatrava segment.

THE FULL PICTURE

The taxi leaves you not at a grand entrance, but at the foot of a 16th-century wall, the Baluard del Príncep. For a moment, you wonder if you’ve been brought to the wrong place. The hotel doesn't announce itself; it reveals itself. Es Princep was designed as an act of deference, its pale stone and quiet vertical lines a whisper against the fortress's enduring shout. You step from the car into air thick with the scent of salt from Palma Bay and the chalky dust of history. This is not an arrival; it is an absorption.

Inside, the cool lobby is a decompression chamber from the Mallorcan sun. There is no performance of welcome, just a low-voiced efficiency that feels like a shared secret. You are here because you know that the true measure of a place is not its lobby, but the quality of light in its rooms at 7 AM. When you get there, you understand. You slide open the heavy glass door to the balcony, and the city unfurls not as a panorama, but as an intimate tableau. Below, the ancient ramparts; across the water, the first fishing boats chugging out of the port; and to your right, the colossal, honey-coloured buttresses of La Seu Cathedral catching the morning sun. The sound is a muffled symphony: the cry of a gull, the distant clatter of a delivery truck on cobblestones, the low hum of a city stirring.

By 6 PM, the entire hotel has migrated to the Almaq rooftop. It is less a terrace and more a public square floating over the Old Town. This is where you find the tribe: the Amsterdam gallerists in their prescribed uniform of linen and esoteric eyewear, the London barrister on his fourth trip this year, the couple who just sold their software company and are now earnestly debating the merits of the contemporary collection at Es Baluard, a five-minute walk away along the very walls you’re perched upon. A Negroni, sweating onto a marble coaster, feels less like a drink and more like a necessary tool for processing the view, which sweeps from the hazy peaks of the Tramuntana mountains to the deep blue of the bay. Let’s be clear: the rooftop pool is a photogenic basin for dipping, not for laps. It's a social centerpiece, a place to cool your ankles while you decide whether to walk to Passeig del Born for another look at the boutiques, or to stay put and let the sunset do its work.

The gravitational pull of the hotel, however, is not on the roof but in the foundations. Dinner at Zaranda is the real reason people cross continents to sleep here. Chef Fernando Pérez Arellano’s Michelin-starred sanctum is a subterranean pilgrimage. You descend from your room, bypassing the street entirely, into a space that feels monastic and charged with intent. The longer of the two tasting menus, Plena Flor at €220, is a rigorous, three-and-a-half-hour exploration of the island's soul, a narrative told in sobrassada and local lamb. The experience ends on the sweet notes of the island’s own baking tradition. It’s a work of memory as much as technique, a thesis on what it means to be from this island. Leaving the restaurant, full of Mallorcan wine and profound respect, you feel you have understood something essential about this place that a thousand beach clubs could never teach you.

There is, of course, a trade-off. Es Princep’s contemplative position on the medieval walls means you are slightly removed from the immediate, chaotic charm of the Old Town’s deepest warrens. The best tapas bars require a deliberate five-minute walk, not a stumble from your front door. This is not a flaw; it is a filter. The hotel is for those who prefer to engage with the city on their own terms, to retreat to a bastion of quiet stone after a day spent in the beautiful fray. It’s for the traveller who understands that proximity to the cathedral is one thing, but waking up to the sight of its Gothic ambition, softened by the dawn, is another thing entirely. Leaving feels like closing a rare book. You carry the weight of its stories, the texture of its pages, and the quiet satisfaction of knowing you chose the one place that understood the city wasn't just a destination, but a text to be read with care.

FACTS

FAQ

When is the best time to visit?

Zaranda, Fernando Pérez Arellano's one-Michelin-star restaurant, has operated from within the hotel with a separate street entrance since 2021 — bookable evenings are Wednesday to Saturday and tables fill quickly. Cocó Spa opened its 18-metre pool to all hotel guests at no extra charge, a rarity at this price point.

Anything I should know before booking?

Zaranda's tasting menus cost 190–220 EUR per person and require advance booking; walk-ins are not possible and the menu is selected at the time of reservation.

What is the neighbourhood like around Es Princep — The Leading Hotels of the World?

Sa Calatrava in the western part of Palma's old town, address Carrer Bala Roja 1. Es Baluard Museu d'Art Modern i Contemporani is 1.6 kilometres to the west along the city wall. Passeig Marítim boulevard is a short walk to the south. Cathedral La Seu is visible from the rooftop.

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