La Residencia, A Belmond Hotel

Deià has drawn writers and painters since Robert Graves settled here in the 1930s, and La Residencia is the village's grandest expression of that inheritance. Built around a pair of sixteenth- and seventeenth-century manor houses on terraced hillsides of olive and citrus, the hotel looks up at the Tramuntana ridge—a UNESCO-listed landscape—and down over honey-stone rooftops towards the sea. The setting alone justifies the journey up the coast road from Palma.

Art runs through the property: hundreds of works by Mallorcan and international artists hang in corridors and suites, there is a working sculpture garden, and the hotel keeps its own resident artists' studio. Rooms spread through the old houses and garden wings with beamed ceilings, antiques and terraces that catch the mountain light; suites add private pools tucked between the olive trees.

Days here move gently—tennis, the terraced pools, donkey walks into the hills, and long lunches on the café terrace with the village view. The restaurant's Mallorcan-Mediterranean cooking and a serene spa complete the picture. The beach is a steep drive or hike to the cove at Cala Deià, which suits the hotel's contemplative rhythm rather than interrupting it.