Four Seasons Resort Mallorca At Formentor is an extraordinary boutique Four Seasons hotel hidden in an unspoiled nature reserve on Mallorca’s sparkling coastline. I can’t think of any other hotel in Europe with such a stunning setting, plus this Four Seasons hotel offers direct access to a pristine beach.
The hotel peeps out of a forested hillside at the foot of huge mountains that rise directly from the crystal clear Mediterranean. You could be forgiven for mistaking these mountains for the volcanic landscape in Hawaii or the Piton peaks in Saint Lucia. Indeed, they are not at all what I expected to see on the island of Mallorca in the Mediterranean.
At this point, it’s worth mentioning that this hotel originally opened in 1929, and this inspirational retreat has always attracted writers, actors, and the global elite – among them the Dalai Lama, Winston Churchill, Grace Kelly, Audrey Hepburn, and Plácido Domingo – who came in search of creativity and inspiration.
The recent refurbishment (it reopened two weeks before we visited!) has completely updated this beautiful Four Seasons hotel, and it feels brand new. The design, the decor, the rooms, and the pools all feel like they have just been built, and everything is cleverly designed so that you can embrace the sea, the forest, outdoor living, and relaxation wherever you are at this incredible resort.
Four Seasons Mallorca is the second Four Seasons offering in Spain following the opening of Four Seasons Hotel Madrid which we reviewed a few years ago. This will join the very best Four Seasons in Europe and is undoubtedly one of the best Four Seasons beach resorts in the world.
If you decide to book, there’s no Four Seasons rewards program, but if you are a regular guest of the Four Seasons or even want to try this iconic brand for the first time, you can take advantage of loyalty style benefits at Four Seasons hotels for no extra cost by booking your next stay via our luxury travel concierge.
Location
This Four Seasons Resort Mallorca At Formentor is located in a 486-hectare (1,200-acre) private estate, all protected within the UNESCO World Heritage Site of Serra de Tramuntana. This mountainous nature reserve is fairly difficult to get to.
It takes just over an hour to drive there from Palma Airport, and once you reach the Nature Reserve, you need to drive over the top of a mountain range. The hair-raising windy road that takes you down to the shoreline where the Four Seasons can be found is edged by steep drops down to the foaming ocean to one side, and steep craggy limestone cliff faces to the other.
This means that this gated paradise sits on its own, quite alone, on the far side of a mountain range and completely separate from the bustling towns that fill the rest of Mallorca’s coastline. Pinewoods surround this exquisite island of luxury, which sits on the edge of the most splendid bay, miles from civilization.
Locals and tourists can visit the nature reserve and enjoy the incredible sandy bay but cannot use the exclusive Four Seasons loungers that line its shoreline, nor can they delight in the exclusive and extensive grounds that belong to this Four Seasons hotel.
In fact, it’s such a mammoth effort to get up and over the mountain, that once the sun goes down, the crowds attracted to the beautiful beach quickly disperse, and the hotel stands alone on the hillside, a beacon of light on this dark and natural forest.
I would reccomend paying the premium for a hotel transfer to and from the airport. The Four Seasons currently charges €350 EUR for a luxury car transfer and €370 EUR for a minivan transfer from the hotel to the airport.
The local taxis charge a little over €100 EUR for the same journey, but these taxis are basic at best, and the drivers we experienced were maniacs, nipping in and out of the traffic without indicating while spraying water around the car to assist their konked out air conditioning. I was also deeply concerned, given the state of our taxi, that its breaks might not perform on the windy mountain roads.
Style & Character
When you arrive at Four Seasons Resort Mallorca At Formentor, there is a grand entrance at the back of the hotel building, which feels brand new, modern, and peaceful. The walls of this part of the building are made of cream stone, as is the paving, and the area feels serene, almost like a desert retreat.
As you enter the lobby through wooden and glass doors, a wooden swing bench hangs at one end, and bobbly glass artwork decorates the walls. The reception area is, again, very minimalist and zen, with very few seating areas. The lack of busy furniture emphasizes the natural cream stone floors, soft textured artwork, and the view beyond.
You are immediately drawn to the sea view, which you can see through double-height glass windows in front of a glass-edged balcony that lines the front of the foyer. The bar area and terrace span out below at the foot of this airy, modern atrium and can be reached by a sweeping white circular staircase. The view beyond is a mass of greens and blues of the sea that twinkles beyond the trees that skirt the lower level of the grounds.
Once you’ve checked in, you can meander down to the bar that leads out onto an enormous stone terrace decked with luxurious and sturdy wooden sofa seats strategically placed to best enjoy the views, and there’s an infinity pond in the center to reflect the sky.
Restaurant “Mel” sits to one side of this terrace and offers another marvelous outdoor balcony area where you will likely have breakfast and your evening meal.
In the evening, a band is set up in one corner of the terrace and strums out tunes that fill the air with song. The music mixed with the sunset and stars offers a heady mix of loveliness on a warm evening. Even when the band isn’t playing, the crickets and rustling trees sing their own song, providing a natural orchestra from the forest.
Service & Facilities
There are two gorgeous deep blue pools in front of the hotel both with wonderful views looking out to sea. The design of these pools and the entire frontage of the hotel has been meticulously thought out so that you can enjoy or get away from families in an amazing setting. Both pools are flanked by loungers shaded by parasols and cabanas in their own wooden frame that offer the same brilliant treetop and sea views.
The adult’s pool is an infinity pool that juts out into the sloping garden. This is a quiet pool surrounded by lawns, and it has its own poolside bar.
There’s also a larger family pool on the other side of the grounds. This pool has been brilliantly designed for families. There’s a toddler end, which is little more than ankle deep, where you can let the little ones play safely, and then the deeper part of the pool goes from fairly shallow to deep enough that only your shoulders stick out when you stand.
You can swim up and down in this part of the pool or mess around with a ball or just jump in and splash about. By separating the pools, everyone can have fun without bothering each other, and when we stayed, both pools were fairly empty, so there were plenty of loungers and plenty of room to find your own space in and around the pool.
A larger poolside bar and restaurant is located next to the family pool, and you can enjoy a cocktail on the high stools or lounge on the sofa seats that flank the restaurant tables and have a bite to eat. Pleasant music is playing in the background in this area and the seating is shaded by vines.
If you walk out to the front edge of the resort, you will reach the sea and the beach. Our favorite place to swim was from a small cove right in front of the resort. The sand on all this beach extended out into the water so that when you waded out to sea, the sea floor felt soft and fluffy under your feet, and you had that gorgeous ripple effect on the sand reflected the sunlight from the golden sea floor. This sandy bottom also meant you could see the fish swimming around your legs, as the water here is completely clear.
I reccomend taking a dip in this warm sea in the evening. At this time of the day, the ocean looks like glass, as offshore islands protect the bay, so the sea is always calm. When you swim here, as the sun goes down, the reflection from boats and mountains looks like a glowing oil painting perfectly painted on the surface of the water. Paradise! – at least it was for us!
While we loved the cove, the main Four Seasons loungers on Formentor Beach can be found a couple of minutes’ stroll further along from the hotel. Here, you can enjoy comfortable lounge chairs with thick cushions all shaded by rustic wooden and straw parasols, and enjoy Four Seasons towels and food and drink service.
All these beaches and coves are shaded by towering pines, and whether you choose to take a dip in front of the hotel or from the hotel’s loungers a few steps further away, you’ll be blown away by the crystal-clear turquoise waters and soft golden sands that make up this magical bay.
Beyond the pools and beach, there’s a complimentary kids club with amazing sea views that offers movie nights and other complimentary activities. You can cycle, hike, or take the hotel speedboat around the peninsula. You can snorkel, kayak, and stand-up paddleboard, or you can use the extensive spa that has an exclusive spa pool and spa loungers on a separate lawn. You also can do complimentary yoga, and the hotel has a giant gong that reverberates around the resort, so you know when a session is happening. We spent our days by the pool and in the sea; both were perfect.
I mustn’t forget to mention the staff here. Many Four Seasons hotels are fairly formal, with set breakfast times and a regimented format. The Spanish staff have made this hotel completely the opposite. The atmosphere is utterly relaxed, and set times are forgotten.
As an example, you’re meant to turn up for breakfast by 11 am, but the buffet isn’t cleared up til much later, so you can pick some extra bits and maybe another bit of cake way after the supposed 11 am cut-off. In the evening, Mel restaurant seemed to stay open until the last person left.
Everyone was welcomed into the eateries with the same warmth, be it adults, kids, babies, and even dogs, and the staff was warm and tried incredibly hard to deliver the perfect order. The level of enthusiasm, joy, and positivity from the staff helped cement the feeling of relaxation at the resort.
From the reception staff to the pool man who diligently set up loungers with towels and cushions for guests. More resorts should offer cushions on their loungers. These cushions made lounging for hours insanely comfortable! The pool chap also delivered complimentary iced water to us every time we sat by the pool. All the staff made a huge effort to try and make our stay even better.
Rooms
There are only 110 rooms and suites at Four Seasons Mallorca, and all the rooms here are fabulous. Once again, they are designed in tan and cream tones with cream marble, cream floor tiles, and a tan rug on the floor. All the rooms here are huge, more like a junior suite size rather than a standard hotel room size. The smallest room here starts at 40 m2 (431 ft²), so even the base rooms are more like suites.
Each room faces toward the sea, so the upper rooms have marvelous sea views while the lower rooms look through the trees to the ocean. We had a ground-floor room that had no view and instead had a generous terrace with a bubbling plunge pool. The terrace was large enough to house a large umbrella, a sofa, a table, chairs, and two comfy wooden loungers and had lovely wooden decking. It was a great private area to add space to our room.
The Four Seasons beds are, as you would expect, superbly comfortable. There’s a sofa and sitting area beyond the bed by the window. If you’re traveling with your children, the sofa converts to a sofa bed with a thick no-expense-spared mattress, so they will get a good night’s sleep, too!
The curtains are blackout, and because of the room’s clever design with the curtains set in an alcove in the ceiling, no sunlight gets into the room in the morning which is such a blessing and a key feature that is missed from most luxury hotel rooms. The rooms here are pitch black until you open the curtains.
There is an incredibly useful marble bench on one side of the room, like a mantle piece, that runs the length of the front part of the room, which is incredibly useful for placing your bits and pieces.
The bathroom is also brilliant: long and thin, with a toilet at one end, a double sink, plenty of space for your toiletries, and then a wetroom with a bath and a shower which rains next to the tub. This is a clever use of space. The Four Seasons toiletries are by Natura Bisse Barcelona Rosemary and White Tea.
Finally, there is a glass window at the end of the bathroom to let in light if you want to have a bath, but with a wooden sliding partition designed to roll in front of the window if you want privacy.
With the exception of the suites, most hotel rooms have a similarly generous design and almost identical decor. The main difference between the rooms is the view, which is over the sea, or the garden for the lower rooms. All face out the front of the building towards the sea, and all are bright and light (once you’ve opened those blackout curtains).
Suites are larger, and some have larger plunge pools, but all the rooms in the hotel have similar decor and are fabulous.
Food & Drink
The main restaurant, Mel, is probably where you will eat breakfast and have your evening meal, although there is an additional restaurant on the beach by the Four Seasons loungers. Breakfast is brilliant. Four Seasons breakfasts always are.
There’s a generous spread of everything you could possibly want. I loved the berries, kiwis, porridge with nuts and seeds, and the perfectly poached eggs with salmon. My husband gorged himself with watermelon, mango, and their delicious pancakes, which were probably horribly unhealthy but utterly delicious and came with a whipped cream topping. Our son loved the fresh orange juice and cookies (which changed every day and included pistachio, caramel nut, and chocolate) and ordered four poached eggs each day.
That’s the beauty of a Four Seasons breakfast: unless you order something like Champagne off the menu, you can gorge in as much of anything that you like for no extra cost, no questions asked. You can order everything from the buffet and everything off the a la carte if you can fit it down!
The buffet also had a selection of salads, other fruit, cheeses, meats, more cakes, muffins, cereals, smoothies and yogurts. I’m sure I’m missing a whole load of things I didn’t notice, but you get the picture; this is a great breakfast! Breakfast is included for free if you book via our luxury travel concierge.
In the evening, you can eat fish and meat dishes at Mel while watching the sun go down and the stars come out, or you can head down to the beachside restaurant for a bite.
While the food was great, it was actually the cocktail on the terrace that we enjoyed the most. You can lounge on the terrace from early evening through to late at night. There is live music for most of the evening playing on the terrace at the entrance to Mel restaurant, so you can enjoy the singing whether you’re eating or drinking and watching the sun go down over the mountains and the moon come out as the forest darkens was phenomenal.
Conclusion
If you’ve been looking for a Four Seasons beach resort in Europe, they don’t come better than Four Seasons Resort Mallorca At Formentor. In truth, there are currently only two Four Seasons beach resorts in Europe (there will soon be three), and we have detailed all three in our review below, outlining the best Four Seasons beach resorts.
10 Best Four Seasons Beach Resorts
The best Four Seasons hotels & resorts for beaches in the world include Four Seasons Mallorca, Four Seasons Lanai Hawaii, Four Seasons Surf Club on Miami Beach, Four Seasons Nevis, Four Seasons Costa Rica, Four Seasons Los Cabos At Costa Palmas, Four Seasons Palm Beach, and Grand-Hotel du Cap-Ferrat for its beach club. To be honest, there are several other properties that we wanted to include in this article, but we would have to stray into the realms of the top 20 or 30 to include all our favorite Four Seasons hotels with beaches. There are just so many great ones!
It’s hard to do this incredible resort justice with just words. It’s perhaps simpler to describe my feelings about the resort.
Usually, I like where I am. I’m a cup-half-full kind of person, but I’m often secretly yearning to be at one of my favorite places. Even if I’m staying at an amazing hotel, I’m often aware that, however great it is, it’s not my absolute favorite hotel in the world.
When you stay at Four Seasons Resort Mallorca At Formentorth, you are exactly where you want to be. You don’t yearn to be anywhere else. When you return home, this is the hotel you crave.
Whether it’s the smell of the pines, the sound of the crickets, the indulgent breakfast on the terrace, the taste of a cocktail in the warm evening breeze, or simply the chance to spend precious time by the deep blue pools and in the glittering ocean with the ones you love the most, you will ache to return to this other-worldly resort.
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