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 (EUR282.01), via openexchangerates.org, using today’s exchange rate.
In the former king’s seat of Sineu, boutique hotel Ten Mallorca is a Balearic bolthole in the heart of the island’s wine (and cycling) country. The traditional townhouse has been reimagined with Matthew Williamson wallpaper, deco details and star-shaped light fixtures, but don’t fret: original tiles and the carved bannister of the period staircase have been preserved. The sun shines down favourably on this nine-room hideaway, where the courtyard pool is perfectly positioned to catch the most rays. Other convivial corners include an outdoor kitchen and barbecue-ready dining terrace, an upper terrace with a plunge pool and views out across the rooftops, plus a sunken chill-out space.
Smith Extra
Get this when you book through us:
A free bottle of local wine on arrival; Smiths staying four nights or more get an additional gin tasting
11am, but for €30 a person you’re welcome to use the pool and hotel’s guest-only areas after checking out. Check-in, between 4pm and 11pm, later check-in is available for €20 a person.
Prices
Double rooms from £237.12 (€280), including tax at 10 per cent. Please note the hotel charges an additional local city tax of €2.00 per room per night on check-out.
More details
Rates don’t usually include breakfast, but it is available at the hotel restaurant for an extra charge.
Also
Calling all minibar mainliners: the hotel can tailor yours to contain the miniature items of your dreams if you let them know before arrival.
Hotel closed
The hotel is closed every year between 21 January and 13 February.
At the hotel
Free WiFi throughout, a gym, yoga classes, games room. In rooms: free bottled water, tea and coffee, air-conditioning, a minibar, smart TV and Argan Source bath products.
Our favourite rooms
Each of the nine rooms was designed individually, but we especially love Room 8, for its Biba-inspired wallpaper, velvet headboard, private access to the upper terrace and ensuite bathroom with white subway-style tiles and black fixtures and fittings.
Poolside
There’s a tile-lined saltwater infinity pool in the central courtyard, with several sunloungers and almost as many parasols. Pool hours are 8am to 9pm.
Spa
A massage therapist can be booked for treatments either in your room or by the pool. You can also book mani-pedis and facials.
Also
The easily navigable communal areas are on the ground floor and Room 1 has been specially adapted room for wheelchair users.
Children
This one’s for adult Smiths only.
Sustainability efforts
The hotel tries to source as much produce as it can from the island, including organic meat and eggs. It’s also part of Mallorca’s Cleanwave movement, and only uses refillable glass bottles.
Under a fringed parasol out on the terrace, obviously.
Dress Code
Art deco details to match your surroundings: scallops, seashells and go for gold with some sparkly edges.
Hotel restaurant
During summer season, the restaurant is open two nights a week serving a tasting menu that uses the best of Mallorca’s ingredients on one night, and tapas the next. A more casual menu of salads and sandwiches is served daily around the pool (straight to your sunlounger if that’s what you want). Breakfast is made to order according to dietry requirements with pastries, homemade jams and granola, pa amb oli and fruit platters, with eggs on toast cooked to order.
Hotel bar
There’s a bar just off the lobby, with Rosa Blanca rum cocktails on tap, craft Balearic beers, an excellent selection of local wine and no fewer than 19 gins to work your way through. Be inspired by the art deco bar, with its octagonal mirrors, black and gold backdrop, and parquet counter. Make ours a Gin Rickey.
Last orders
Breakfast is served between 8:30am and 10.30am, but can be earlier on request. The bar calls time at midnight. The restaurant is currently closed for winter.
You’ll find Ten Mallorca in the island’s inland town of Sineu, slap-bang in the centre of the Balearic beauty.
Planes
Palma’s airport is a 30-minute drive from the hotel. The concierge can pre-book taxis, which will cost around €50 each way.
Trains
Sineu has its own station, a few minutes away by car. From here, you’ll be able to catch trains to other towns on the island, including Palma, Inca and Manacor. Trains to Palma run every hour and take just over 40 minutes.
Automobiles
You’re in the centre of Sineu, but the next town along is Inca, a 15-minute drive away. To Palma, it’s about 40 minutes behind the wheel. There’s a free car park at the hotel, but it only has a handful of spaces; if it’s full, pull up at the free public car park that’s less than a minute away on foot. It’s definitely worth hiring a car to get around the island.
Worth getting out of bed for
There’s a whole lot of pa amb oli to get through on this island, so you can feel better about it by hitting up the hotel gym first. Sineu is fit for a king, literally – this town is where Mallorcan monarch King Jaume II used to live, so you can be assured of a royal seal of approval. The weekly market (every Wednesday) is one of the biggest on the island; get there early (5am) if you want to watch the locals trading livestock. The town is right in the middle of the island, so you’re perfectly placed to head off in various directions and arrive at something of note within an hour. There are lots of cycling and hiking routes that start in Sineu. The hotel owner is a Lycra enthusiast, so will gladly impart his two-wheeler tips. For seaside strolls or to hire a boat, make your way to C’an Picafort, the closest beach, 12 miles away. You can’t miss the seven-level bell tower of the Santa Maria church in Sineu, which also has a miniature museum of mediaeval pottery attached. If you want to purchase nun-made pastries, arrive at the torno of the Convent de la Concepció: this small revolving door doubles as a really quite blessed bakery. Pack your swimming trunks and head to Son Serra de Marina, a dune-flanked beach with views out across the Bay of Alcudia, but don’t be surprised if others haven’t bothered. Or tour the waterways and wetlands of beloved-by-birdwatchers Albufera Natural Park. The hotel is in the heart of the island’s wine country – hit up some bodegas on a Mallorca Wine Tour, or head uphill to Finca Son Bordils for amazing vineyard views and even better wine.
Local restaurants
Nab a table on the terrace for a convivial morning coffee with some locals at Café Mara in Sineu. If you’ve ever wanted to eat in an old flour mill, book a table at Molí den Pau, a traditional restaurant set in a stone structure that dates back to 1870. For the best pizzas this side of Sardinia, try Santapí just off the main square in Sineu, which also has a trio of criminally calorific fried variations on offer. It’s a tough choice, but someone’s got to make it: sit out on the fairy-light-draped terrace? Or indoors under the chandelier by the picture windows? Wherever you’re placed at Jacaranda, the creative restaurant at Finca Serena, the food is superb.
Local bars
Cocktail prizes await for anyone able to track down speakeasy-style Door 13 in Palma’s old town (clue: it’s on Carrer de les Caputxines).
After a couple of nights in Palma, my mum and I hopped on the train that wound up through the Serra de Tramuntana mountains, olive groves and vineyards of the rural heart of Mallorca. We pulled into Sineu station on a sunny September and navigated our way through the cobbled streets just as the soft evening light was hitting the golden, green-shuttered buildings.
Tucked away behind the town’s market square awaited our home for two nights. And home was how it felt… we were greeted by Lena, a German-Mallorquín girl who offered us a Rosa Blanca beer to enjoy by the pretty parasol-lined pool while she checked us in. The warm hospitality continued, as a friendly Swedish lady came to introduce herself as she started her shift while we were tucking into our nourishing halloumi salad lunch.
This family-style service is thanks to English owners Joanna and John Yaxley. Joanna came to Mallorca in 2012 to look for a flat for her and her husband to semi-retire to. She instead bought a beautiful old house that the couple spent three years renovating into the stylish boutique hotel that it is today. Joanna felt there were enough hotels with muted tones on the island and chose to add a splash of her vivacious personality for a more unique touch. We loved basking in the funky aesthetics – whether sipping on cocktails at the art deco bar, reading on pink scalloped chairs in the lounge or sunbathing beneath Insta-famous parasols by the saltwater pool.
Ten Mallorca has nine rooms, each distinct in style. We stayed in Premium Suite 2 that boasts a spacious living room area with French doors that open onto a poolside patio. Flamingo wallpaper in the white tiled bathroom adds a bit of fun to time soaking in the tub. I caught a glimpse of the stunning original tile floor in Room 1, and I also like the look of Room 8, which has its own private terrace with mountain views for sunset. A generous breakfast includes a choice of two dishes plus a carafe of freshly squeezed orange juice and a pot of tea or coffee. We shared a colourful fruit plate followed by pa amb oli – thick sourdough slathered in tomato topped with fresh tomato, cheese and serrano ham – while enjoying the warmth from the first sun of the day.
The next-level hospitality also extends to personalised recommendations – we fancied visiting a vineyard while in the area, and Lena helpfully pointed out various options, including hopping between a couple on the train (so no designated driver needed!). Alas, a couple of hours later the rain came, but we didn't mind as we’d already nestled into the atmospheric courtyard of Bodega Ribas winery, where we tasted nearly all wines available along with platters of vegetable coca (a thin Mallorquín flatbread), jamón ibérico and chocolate dusted almonds.
A wine-fuelled amble back to the train station later and the sun came out for our evening meal, another brilliant tip from the hotel. A two-minute walk away is the town’s hub where locals gather for vermouth, coffee or gelato in the shadow of the honey-hued Iglesia Santa Maria. We waved to Lena and her friends catching up in one of the bars and pulled up a chair at Celler Can Font. The delightful waitress buzzed between tables as we tucked into traditional dishes such as sautéed cubes of seafood and vegetables, grilled hake in garlic sauce and ibérico secreto in a sweet glaze that we mopped up with chips.
After sinking into our comfy beds once more for a well-deserved snooze, we headed back to the same square on Wednesday morning for Sineu’s famous weekly market. It’s a local affair where farmers sell everything from watermelons and peaches to goat's cheese and honey, plus livestock including sheep and chicken. We grazed our way around, sampling fresh produce and crunching on frilly crisps straight from the fryer.
Stay at Ten Mallorca on a Tuesday or Thursday, when Joanna and John’s daughter, Hannah, cooks a tapas-style feast fusing British comfort classics with Mallorquín ingredients, the highlight being a sobrasada rarebit made with local cheese and honey. It's a friendly, informal set up, where food is served from the farmhouse-style kitchen and guests naturally chat. We tried local wine recommended by a couple on their anniversary who hired the hotel for their wedding the year before. The welcome they received was so heartfelt that we thought they were friends of the owners. As you have most likely gathered, this is a theme throughout, and the percentage of return guests is extremely high. Why? When you combine the warm hospitality, the relaxed at-home vibe and that chic, parasol-lined pool, why wouldn't you come back? We most certainly shall do. And by that time, the tenth suite and Hannah’s tapas bar in the town square will both hopefully be ready to welcome us…
