Castillo Hotel Son Vida5

Early morning rounds on Son Vida's fairways — when the air is still cool, the light is side-on and golden, and the bay below catches the first real warmth of the day — offer a quality of golfing atmosphere that afternoon players at any course in Mallorca simply never experience.

The hotel's peak-season social calendar is at full animation: poolside lunches under bespoke parasols, candlelit outdoor dining beneath a sky dense with stars, and a full spa menu that incorporates the island's finest aloe, citrus and sea-salt therapies.

Perched on its private hillside 300 metres above the Mediterranean, the hotel's grounds stay noticeably cooler than the city below, with evening breezes drifting through pine and lavender, and the terraces offering a grandstand view over Palma's famous cathedral and bay as the sun sets dramatically into the sea.