Santuario de Lluc

The setting is the main reason to stay here. You’re up in the mountains, with trails heading west and east and no housing developments nearby. There are just two restaurants, a café and a souvenir shop close by, plus a campsite and another restaurant farther along. It’s a place for quiet and nature, which may explain why I don’t understand the negative reviews. Some people seem to arrive expecting something else. The little hill with a cross is right nearby and takes about five minutes to climb, a nice way to spend a rest day and take in the views. Hotel guests can also visit the small, lovely botanical garden. And even though I’m not religious, the Basilica was worth seeing for the old wood smell and the silence inside. My room was simple, tidy and clean, as you’d expect in a converted monastery. I’d booked a double room through my holiday website but was given a single. Since I was travelling alone, I didn’t ask about changing it. I checked the bedding and mattress for bedbugs and found none, which matters most to me. The dirty upholstery on the chair was the one obvious fault. I’d have preferred a basic metal or plastic chair that was clean. The walls are thin, so it depends on whether other guests understand this isn’t a place to party or get drunk. That would ruin it for everyone else. During my five-day stay, someone tried to clean the room once. I only asked for a fresh towel. If you need daily cleaning and fresh sheets on holiday, you may want to choose somewhere else. Check-in and check-out were fine. Breakfast was standard, with sweet and savoury choices. I don’t see how it’s monotonous: there were three kinds of bread, three cheeses, five cold cuts, eggs, six fruits, four pastries, three porridges, three juices, and two kinds of milk, including gluten-free. The coffee was average, but passable. Nie rozumiem negatywnych opinii. To miejsce jest świetne dla ludzi szukających ciszy i natury. Plusy: Lokalizacja w górach z dala od zgiełku, dostęp do szlaków, piękny ogród i bazylika. Pokoje proste, ale czyste (sprawdziłem łóżko - zero robactwa!). Śniadania naprawdę bogate - nie rozumiem narzekań. Wzgórze z krzyżem tuż obok. Minusy: Cienkie ściany i krzesło z brudną tapicerką. Ale to drobnostki. Podsumowanie: Jeśli szukacie spokoju i górskich widoków - będziecie zachwyceni. Jeśli chcecie imprezować - jedźcie gdzie indziej.

The area around Santuari is beautiful, and the rooms were clean and well equipped despite having no air conditioning. But the food and the staff’s attitude took away from those positives. My partner and I came at the end of October, after the main tourist season, and still expected professional, respectful service. We were travelling around Mallorca and had seen a lot by then. This was easily our most expensive stop and the worst one. At dinner, the waiter poured the wine for me without asking who wanted to taste it, even though my partner is the wine expert. At another table, he corked a bottle of red wine, which isn’t done. We ordered a starter and main course but were apparently expected to use one set of cutlery. After the starter, we left it on the plate. The waiter put it on the table, took the plates away, and gave us a disapproving look when we asked for clean cutlery. Even the way he served the food felt like he was tossing the plate down. The food seemed to be entirely pre-made, with no craft or care in it. At breakfast, staff couldn’t keep up and many items weren’t available; the freshness of some food was also questionable. Birds kept flying around above the food and people’s heads in the restaurant, which felt extremely unhygienic. The buffet setup made little sense, so my partner and I had to go back and forth and people bumped into each other. Through all of this, staff seemed bored and unwilling to be there, looking at guests as if they were worthless. It felt like the goal was just to get us to pay and leave. It’s a lovely place in a beautiful setting, but the price doesn’t come close to matching the quality you’d expect. Fine for a short half-day visit, but I wouldn’t stay overnight again.

The staff were friendly, though at breakfast they sometimes seemed short-handed. Breakfast itself was pretty basic, and I wish the boiled eggs had been warm. We stayed nine nights, and the room was cleaned only every three days. They changed the sheets but didn’t refill the hand soap or even sweep the floor. We drank lots of water, but there was no large bin for bottles. Leaving them on the floor was the only option, and they weren’t collected, so the bottles piled up over our stay. The fans were dusty too, and switching them on sent dust flying around. There was no full-length mirror, just one above the sink. I’m very short, so that wasn’t much use. There also weren’t any hooks or places to dry towels or bathing suits. These seem like basic things to handle for the price. Our experience was okay. The rooms are very simple, but have the essentials, and you get what you pay for. For a longer stay, we wouldn’t choose this hotel again. For a short visit when you want to save money, it’s a decent option.

The best part was the scenery. The nature around the old monastery is stunning, and it’s great for long mountain hikes. In the mornings, you can even watch mountain goats come down from the peaks, sometimes right from your room window. The building has been renovated at some point but still feels very plain, almost spartan. The beds are extremely basic, with an unpleasant plastic-like sheet on top. Sleeping was actually great once I removed it. There was a sewage smell coming in from outside that kept getting into the room. The pool was fine, nothing more. Breakfast got monotonous fast. By the third day, I honestly couldn’t think what else to eat.