Sant Francesc Hotel Singular

A five-star hotel of 42 rooms and suites in a 19th-century mansion on Plaza Sant Francesc in Palma's old town, with a rooftop pool and views of the Cathedral.

One of the guest rooms at Sant Francesc Hotel Singular is the old watchtower, dovecote and all. The rest of the house found new jobs too. The cistern is now the gym, and the stables are the Quadrat restaurant. The hotel is a five-star neoclassical mansion on Plaza Sant Francesc in Palma’s old town, a few steps from the Cathedral, the Almudaina Royal Palace and La Lonja.

The house was last remodelled in 1860. The Alomar family owned it from the early 19th century to the end of the 20th, on money made from the Santa Isabel sugar-cane plantation in Puerto Rico. On the same square, the basilica of Sant Francesc had its first stone laid in 1281 on the orders of King James II.

The restoration brought back the original beams, stone floors, coffered wooden ceilings and frescoes. The furniture is by designers including Citterio, Lissoni and Hayón, and art by Guillem Nadal and Jordi Alcaraz hangs on the walls.

There are 42 rooms and suites. Superior rooms are 25 m². Singular Junior Suites have bathtubs, and some have balconies over the olive trees in the courtyard. Two Sant Francesc Junior Suites have French balconies facing the basilica. La Torre Studio climbs three levels to a panoramic view and an outdoor whirlpool tub, and the Sant Francesc Suite keeps its 19th-century frescoes and two French balconies over the square.

Quadrat has a restaurant and a garden, with chefs Àlvar Albaladejo and Carles Forteza and a tasting menu called L’Entorn. Drinks are in the lobby bar, set in the Mallorcan courtyard, or up on the Singular Rooftop, a 200 m² terrace with a pool, a sundeck and a bar looking over Palma’s roofs to the Cathedral. Sant Francesc is part of the Prelude Collection with Can Ferrereta in Santanyí.