Review: Grand Hotel Son Net

Why book?

Because this restored family estate is more than a step up for the Mallorcan hotel scene. It’s also a remarkable showcase of heirlooms and antiques from around the world, which – unusually for a new opening – already has the feel of a classic.

Set the scene

Outside, this is a classic Mallorcan finca in vine-strewn pinkish terracotta, with classical Mediterranean gardens around the terrace and pool overlooking Puigpunyent, a sleepy little stone town cradled by the dramatic peaks of the Tramuntana mountains. Inside, it’s a riot of antiquarian exuberance: a dense layering of textures and influences, but with an overriding sense of citrus-y freshness to offset the Baroque portraits and Syrian mother-of-pearl chests, which could easily be museum pieces.

The backstory

Really, this is a renovation of a renovation. Son Net started life in 1672, as the palacio of the Net family, who had the balustrades, vaulted ceilings and frescoes designed in the European aristocratic style now most readily associated with Renaissance Italy. Towards the end of the 20th century, the estate was falling into relative disrepair when it was bought by the US property entrepreneur David Stein, who lived here before opening a hotel in 1998. In turn, the velveteen interiors and splashy pop art he introduced had started to pall a little by late 2020, when he sold to Javier López Granados, the art collector and owner of Finca Cortesin, the much-loved resort on the Andalucian coast west of Marbella. For Grand Hotel Son Net’s coming-out as a Cortesin hotel, López Granados handed the creative reins to Lorenzo Castillo, the Madrid-based art historian, antiques collector and interior designer, who has previously brought his very personal brand of heirloom maximalism to projects including Madrid’s grand 19th-century Santo Mauro and Menorca’s homelier Cristine Bedfor. Castillo, who describes Son Net as “the sort of project a designer only gets once in a lifetime”, has filled the place with genuine antiques, either sourced bespoke or from his own personal collection.

The rooms

Each of the 31 rooms, including six poolside cottages away from the main house, has its own unique design. Some lean towards Imperial China, Renaissance Italy or colonial Spain, but are all richly textured, many with bespoke fabrics and large marble bathrooms with upholstered chairs. We stayed in the Grand Suite Maria de Napoles – a grand space named after a Mallorcan queen, and with original frescoes from the 17th century. Castillo was inspired in part by Moorish North Africa, painting the beams a sunny blue and designing a breezy exotic fruit fabric for the curtains, headboard and plush chairs in the vast bathroom, the size of some studio apartments. As in much of the hotel, there’s a playful interplay between zestier elements and the almost-intimidating dark wood four-poster bed, antique rugs and gilt-framed revolutionary engravings. Penhaligon’s bath products, Riojas in the minibar and shoehorns by the safe hint at the hotel’s general leaning towards a frictionless, global-standard sort of five-star.

Food and drink

The main Mar & Duix restaurant, which spills from the cavernous triple-height former olive press onto the bucolic terrace, is overseen by Mallorcan chef Sergio Olmeda, who worked at Son Net before the Cortesin takeover. His is a classically balanced take on locavore, using the hotel’s vegetable garden to add freshness to dishes including a quail salad with pickled carrots and ginger, a beetroot tartare with herring roe and zingy apple, or a tender Iberian Dam pork with fresh pea puree, mint and a sauce based on sobrasada, the ubiquitous Balearic cured sausage. The Breakfast Experience, with its foamy granola and bright fruits, could take up a whole happy morning, while lunch at the al fresco Gazebo might involve a salad of exquisite Mallorcan tomatoes followed by an unctuously rich prawn rice. The Green Bar, on the way to the restaurant, does all the classics beautifully as well as house cocktails including the crisp Son Net, which uses local gin Eva mixed with fresh mandarin, honey, fresh lime and soda.

The neighborhood

Puigpunyent, overlooked by jagged peaks including the historically sacred Puig Galatzo, remains relatively undiscovered, with little restaurants like Sa Vinya mostly populated by unhurried locals. It’s barely half an hour to drive to the center of Palma, and a little longer over steep winding roads to get to the coast at Banyalbufar. On chic Mallorcan itineraries, this will likely be the peaceful stop between the cool boutiques of Palma and the beach.

The service

The aim is clearly to reach the discreetly stellar levels of service as Finca Cortesin, and staff numbers have more than doubled since the transition. Many worked at the old Son Net, but some are transplants from Finca Cortesin, including the wonderful Thai masseuse Jintana Buakham, who carries out her bespoke touch-based massages with no-nonsense authority. Others are local hires, like the waistcoated Moroccan Abdel Moumou, who used to work at a restaurant in Puigpunyent and exudes the neat mastery of only the very best career waiters.

Who comes here?

A grown-up crowd of Finca Cortesin devotees (there are lots of those) and the kind of guests who require a certain brand of frictionless five-star. Until now, only a few Mallorcan hotels have aimed for that sort of rarefied level – Belmond’s La Residencia in Deia is one – but the island has gone upmarket fast, with plans afoot for Four Seasons and Mandarin Oriental to open resorts here in 2024.

For families

This isn’t really a family hotel per se, but kids can feed the donkeys and collect eggs from the hens on the onsite farm, and babysitting can be arranged. The Pool Cottage House has its own private pool, effectively offering a full villa experience alongside hotel service.

Eco effort

The hotel water comes from a private mountain spring and is stored in water cisterns onsite, while a pluvial system collects rainwater to irrigate the expansive gardens.

The saline swimming pool is more eco-friendly than chlorine, while the Penhaligon’s products (not single-use) are made of recycled materials. Also, unlike so many hotels that reproduce designs en masse, Castillo generally sourced and repurposed existing pieces, and re-upholstered many of the sofas from the hotel’s former iteration.

Accessibility

Both restaurants are wheelchair friendly, as is one of the specially designed Palace Rooms. But the 1672 design isn’t always conducive to free movement so call ahead to check with regards to your specific requirements if necessary.

Anything else to mention?

A 1,000sqm spa – all Moorish arches and light gardens – is being built with discreet Mallorcan stone into the terraced level below the classic aquamarine pool. Son Net plans to stay open through the winter, a relative rarity in Mallorca, and it’s easy to imagine the appeal of bathing in Romanesque pools overlooking Puigpunyent and the mountains. Garden enthusiasts and art historians will also find much to admire, from a 500-year-old cypress tree with branches like thick veins to the ominous oil portrait in the stairwell by the great Spanish Baroque painter Jusepe de Ribera.

Is it worth it?

This is a singular and elevated hotel, which already feels like it’s raising the game in Mallorca. Some might find all the history a bit weighty: the many types of marble, all those rugs, the revolutionaries and noblement peering from the walls. But for those that appreciate real antiques and heirlooms, Son Net is an almost Ullysean grand tour of the imagination that contains multitudes.