After spending 7 nights at a nice, contemporary hotel, we were looking forward to arriving by hired car picked up from Palma Airport, 15 minutes away, to Son Julia Country House, a few minutes from Llucmajor. It felt like part 2 of our holiday as we didn't feel the need to hire a car whilst staying in Palma. A car is definately needed when staying here. The turning into the long drive up to the hotel can be missed ( as we did a few times! ) so be prepared for the sharp right turn if coming from the airport direction.
The first impressions of the grand country house were spectacular, with its large, stone water feature at the front of the entrance. We were greeted by a friendly lady who showed us to our room (106 ) and other facilities and the luxurious grounds. We booked the Garden Terrace, which was awesome. There was a marble bathroom with thick, white bath robes, but a toilet that was rather high on the wall! The king size bed was very comfortable, with high quality linen, Egyptian cotton, maybe. The garden terrace offered wicker furniture, with the lush grass infront ( the sprinklers are on a timer!) It was nice to sit at the terrace, watching the sun set, drinking chilled white wine from the local supermarket in Llucmajor, a fraction of the cost compared to the mini bar! A fustrating thing was not receiving English channels, only news. I would have loved to have got ready in the evenings with the music channels, instead of the German channels.
The grounds are lush and well kept. It was unusual but quirky to see chickens and cockerels roaming the grounds! There is a smaller pool, where BBQ's take place and this is more intimate. Usually, it was just the 2 of us here. We walked through the grounds and the beautiful, large, blue pool appeared, with fountains of water to massage your back! One one side there is the pool bar serving delicious, yet over priced beverages - cocktails are 12 Euros each, so happy hour of half price goes down well! We ate once on our arrival day - toasted sandwiches with some French fries - 14 Euros each!
We booked a meal on the 2nd night, as Tuesdays offer a spectacular BBQ and it certainly was for 39 Euros each! We ate also on Thursday, as there was a talented Latin American guitarist player/singer. There was nothing that we discovered in Llucmajor in the way of restaurants and my man was quite happy to drive 30-40 minutes away to good restaurants and areas he knew, as he travels with work on the island. We met up with friends that live in Alaro, about 30 minutes from Son Julia House and there are some lovely restaurants there around the square and the quaint church. We also travelled to Portals Nous, on the south west coast for meals, the cove of Elles Portals and the beautiful beach of Es Trenc beach, with its 11 km of white sands and shallow, clear blue sea. This is south east of the island, about 15 -20 minutes from the hotel. We had lunch there, although a bit pricey. We also went go - karting not far from Son Julia Hotel. That was good fun, about 15 minutes away. If you require any laundry done, unless you want to pay the hotel's laundry prices of 11 Euros for a shirt, for example, I would recommend buying some sachets and do the laundry in the bath at those prices! But there is no clothes airer above the bath. Maybe not the sort of thing you do at a 5 star luxury hotel!
On the lower ground floor there is the very hot jacuzzi, a cooler pool and spa facilities, which I'm sure are perfect.
However, a week of chilling in the surroundings of country luxury.
- Gran Hotel Llucmajor
