Four Seasons Resort Mallorca At Formentor is a very different luxury hotel from St. Regis Mardavall Mallorca Resort, and we have compared which hotel is best below.
1. Best Location: Four Seasons Vs. St. Regis Mallorca
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, but when you arrive, the hotel is surrounded by nature and peeps out of the forest. The grounds slope down to a dreamy beachfront, making this resort pretty perfect.
St. Regis Mallorca is situated on the southwest coast of the beautiful island of Mallorca, Spain. While the hotel is only around a 20-minute drive from Palma airport, it is a paradise hidden behind fences and gates.
If you’re flying in for a quick weekend break, you might find the St. Regis more convenient to get to with cheaper transfer costs from the airport and shorter travel time, but in terms of a beautiful location, the Four Seasons wins.
Review: Four Seasons Mallorca
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.
2. Style & Character
Four Seasons Mallorca has been newly refurbished and feels utterly modern, with decor reminiscent of an Aman hotel desert resort. The foyer is minimalist, the bar is welcoming, and the restaurant has a wonderful terrace overlooking the resort.
This Four Seasons is all about the outside, and extensive grounds are edged by natural forest and the beach. The setting is unique and completely perfect.
St. Regis Mallorca is located on the clifftop, with the Mandarin Oriental Mallorca hotel on one side of the resort and what looks to be residences on the other side of the resort. The gardens are manicured and very pretty, but the resort feels as remote or unique as the Four Seasons. The decor at the St. Regis is also modern, although it has a more traditional feel versus the modern finish of the Four Seasons.
I preferred the look, feel, and size of the Four Seasons. The grounds are so extensive that the hotel is like an island of luxury in the wilderness.
Review: St. Regis Mardavall Mallorca Resort
Hidden on the clifftops of the southwest coast of radiant Mallorca, the St. Regis Mardavall Mallorca Resort is a lavish, family-oriented resort. The hotel offers three gorgeous pools, including a shaded double pool suitable for toddlers, which sits next to the play area. It has a stunning bar with a glorious terrace where you can sit and watch the sunset over the bay. Its restaurants have terraces that spill out onto the lawns, and its Mar restaurant is completely alfresco, hidden under pine trees at the end of the garden. The St.
3. Beach & Pools
The Four Seasons offers a sandy cove at the front of the resort and a long stretch of beach with serviced loungers slightly further from the main building. Both these beaches are idyllic, like something out of a heavenly dream.
The beach at the St. Regis is down a steep cliffside walk and is not serviced. I would not really call this a beach resort because beach access is quite difficult; however, if you want to swim, there is a beach you can use.
4. Pools
Both hotels have numerous pools. The Four Seasons pools include an adults-only pool, a family pool with a toddler section and then an older family and adult section. There is also a spa pool. Each pool is perfectly designed for its purpose and each offers wonderful views down to the sea.
The St. Regis has four pools. The main infinity pool is tiered down a gentle slope, but each tier is not that large so you could not swim lengths here. There is also a shaded kid’s pool and an indoor pool. The Four Seasons doesn’t offer an indoor pool.
5. Rooms
The rooms at both resorts are fabulous. They are more modern as they have been more recently refurbished at the Four Seasons, but both rooms are wonderful. The loungers on the balconies are better designed at the Four Seasons and are addictively comfortable.
The bathrooms and terraces in both hotels are large. We like the ground floor rooms at St. Regis as you can run out of these across the lawns to the pools. The Four Seasons rooms with private plunge pools are also really great.
6. Food & Drink
There is little to choose between the food at either resort. We prefer the breakfast at the Four Seasons as their buffet is more extensive. There are more pastries and cookies at the Four Seasons, and the porridge I was delivered was more thought about and better at the Four Seasons, with nice seeds and nuts on the top. The St. Regis porridge had nothing to flavor it and no topping. There were plenty of berries at the Four Seasons buffet, and the food felt more extravagant in variety.
The view from Mel restaurant at the Four Seasons was particularly magical. The St. Regis restaurant looked out over the lawns.
7. Price
While the prices tend to be similar at these two resorts, the transfers are more expensive from the airport to Four Seasons than to the St. Regis Mallorca. They cost over double to get to the Four Seasons, with costs ranging from around €500 for a private transfer to the Four Seasons and around €200 EUR for a transfer to St. Regis (the costs are less than half this if you just pick up a local taxi.
Four Seasons Vs. St. Regis. Which Is Best?
Which is best, Four Seasons or St. Regis? While the choice between these two hotel brands varies between individual hotels, Four Seasons hotels are generally more service-oriented, have more facilities like larger grounds and pools, and, in my opinion, are more modern and stylish. St. Regis hotels are often smaller and are often more ornate in design. That said, there are exceptional properties within each brand, so we break the comparison down into the different features of the hotel.
10. Conclusion
Both of these resorts are beautiful and amazing. St. Regis is better for a weekend break where you don’t want long and expensive transfers, but Four Seasons Mallorca has the edge in almost every aspect once you get there. Four Seasons is the best luxury hotel on the island of Mallorca, and I imagine it will remain so from now on.
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