"This hotel is "quality".
Quality decor, quality rooms, quality staff, quality restaurant area, quality food and quality rooftop. The seafront resort around it, is also fab, particularly if you are looking for a true escape.
We all know what it's like trying to whittle down hotel choices, even whereabouts to go, in Majorca. So to be honest we took a punt and didn't 100% know what we were going to, meaning there's also the worry (as always) that it's not going to live up to any expectations. Hotel Honucai exceeded them.
I'm not sure how long ago it was refurbished - I'm guessing 2 years ago as it feels new, stylish and understatedly vibrant.
It's a very nice hotel and I think the interior designer should win an award (if not already) for creating a chic, nautical, rustic yet contemporary retreat.
Our room was spacious - we'd booked a standard due to our budget but I have a feeling we had a superior room as there was definitely room for another single bed.
If we'd had the budget I'd have liked a seaview, but it was still very nice and we were very happy with it. In terms of prices, it was on the expensive side (for us) but we only booked it a week before going so may have paid more due to that.
Per night it's actually cheaper later in August than what we paid in June. Even though it was 'pricey', it was worth it. However, compared to similar hotels it wasn't THAT expensive – there was a similar one that was twice the price! So ironically in some ways I felt we'd got great quality for a cheat price.
We also went half board, which was £50 extra per night night for 2, we did umm and ahh knowing a main course in a restaurant would be say between 17 - 28 euros, as of course on half board you lose the freedom to roam and choose (think only 3 or 4 restaurants on the seafront anyway). However, dinner was AMAZING, it was a la carte with specials each night and you could tell that the chef - from what came out to us, took pride in his work and wanted to present the best.
It was actually quite exciting deciding what to have (as it wasn't buffet style, which was a welcome relief), as there was plenty of choice. We ate outside every night and morning, which was lovely, there's a terrace literally on the street/promenade, but it has lots of class, again with lovely decor and furniture. I felt the hotel was actually really nice to look at with a great aesthetic and there was nothing else like it in the area.
The beach by the hotel was so lovely. However, it didn't take us long to work out people, especially couples it seemed, were going further afield, basically walking the path to the beach you can see further round / opposite (Es Dolc). We spent a few days here which has gorgeous sea and outlook and also noticed people going even further round bends, so we thought we should explore. If someone said to me a beautiful beach is 40mins walk from the hotel, I'd have said, no way, not doing that in this heat - but we just naturally did it in pursuit of finding out where everyone was going! (and it didn't seem like a big deal) and honestly Es Carbo beach is unbelievable. It's absolutely like a Caribbean beach, so so gorgeous and from there, is the perfect 'clear horizon' view too. Absolutely perfect! Es Trenc is meant to be the most amazing beach but we got talking to someone who said these beaches were actually better so we didn't bother trying to go there. So it's a great package really with the hotel being in the midst of all this too.
The roof terrace was fab with amazing views. We were a bit torn between that and beaches but mainly went to beaches and rooftop later at night after dinner. The resort itself is tiny and it's very much families with young children, couples and friends (mainly women) but there were also some groups of men (respectful!). It was very international, with English, German, Spanish, French. It's not a party place.
It's 100% perfect for a true escape and switch off, no tat, no commercialisation.
We took the bus to Santanyi for the market too. It was very busy and nice, there's also artist studios and quite trendy clothes shops. We also hired a beach pack from reception. Umbrella, small cool bag with snacks and 4 drinks (we chose 2 beers and 2 cokes) 20 Euros, keep umbrella for stay. We did actually buy another one as one's not enough to shade 2 people. The beach sunbeds are available at the beach in front the hotel and also at Es Dolc - not bad at 23 Euro for 2 beds and brolly.
I would definitely go back here for "R&R", it's the first time I've been to beaches like it in Europe and been to a few! It's also way away from and trashier side of Majorca.
We got the bus back to the airport (2 buses), it took 1.5hrs as opposed to 50mins taxi, but saved us a lot as taxis are expensive. If we go back we'd definitely get the bus there as well from the airport. Buses are really reliable and modern. We got the latest bus we could to maximise our time and get to airport on time and didn't have any issues.
Would highly recommend hotel and look forward to going back."
