12 Best Hotels in Ibiza and the Balearic Islands, Spain

Built around two 16th-century manor houses, with additional buildings blending with the lush surroundings, this exceptional hotel is superbly furnished with Mallorcan antiques, modern canvases, and canopied four-poster beds. Herbs, olives, fruit, and flowers from the hotel's verdant landscaped gardens come straight to the kitchen and the guest rooms. El Olivo, the restaurant, serves a continental menu that includes delicious dishes such as delicate yellowtail tartare with cucumber pearls and avocado cream, or local honey-glazed suckling pig. Art is everywhere: joining the eclectic in-house gallery and the 750 original works in the guest rooms, the hotel offers artist-in-residency programs that lure in global talent. The hotel also operates its own shuttle to the sea at Cala Deià.

Built in 1811 by a Spanish ship captain, this casa señorial (town house) in the heart of Mahón was lovingly restored by architect and co-owner Fernando Pons as a boutique hotel. The restoration preserved even the original tower and its widow's walk. Rooms have queen-size beds, high ceilings with exposed beams, working fireplaces and wood-burning stoves (a plus in Menorca's blustery winters), original tile floors and antique furniture, ample stall showers, and deep oval tubs. Luxurious extras include robes and slippers, towel warmers, and huge mirrors. Dinner is served from Thursday to Sunday, and the café offers breakfast, brunch, and afternoon tea daily. The best room is No. 1, with a private terrace overlooking the interior patio.

Santi Marí Ferrer remade his family's finca (farmhouse), with its massive stone walls and native savina wood beams, into one of the island's friendliest and most comfortable country inns. Rooms are huge, with original stone arches separating sleeping and bathroom areas—and at sunset you can relax on the patio, with a view of the mountains, and nurse a glass of homemade five-year-old hierbas (herb liqueur). Oranges, lemons, olives, meat, and eggs all come from the family farm. The 25-meter pool has an access ramp for guests with disabilities.

What was once a 19th-century military fortress has been converted into one of Mallorca's—and arguably Europe's—most distinctive hotels, on a rocky outcrop some 25 minutes from Palma. The sprawling complex of redoubts, ramps, and stone-walled vaulted armories covers 70 acres in a protected nature reserve; guests can get around in electric carts. The interior design, courtesy of owner-architect Antonio Obrador, pays homage to the property's past with, for instance, stylized bullets for door handles and lamps made of old cartridge cases, as well as touches of Morocco and Turkey: carpets, divans, and wall hangings. The suites have huge bathrooms, locally sourced upholstery and textiles—including soft curtains in earth tones and specially commissioned carpets—and individual rooftop terraces. The two restaurants are open to the public; the more informal waterside Sea Club, with its own boat landing, is perfect for romantic candlelit dinners. If you decide to relax by the saltwater infinity pool, there's a push bell on the table by your deck chair to summon your drink.

A countryside setting on a hillside overlooking a valley makes this lovely late-19th-century manor house a quiet escape in a lively destination, with photo-ready views of Ibiza's highest mountain (1,567-foot Sa Talaiassa). Open year-round, this intimate hotel is only about 11 km (7 miles) from the beach and main attractions, but it places a premium on privacy—which is why celebrities like Richard Gere and Claudia Schiffer have been known to vacation here. There's a monitored gate at the driveway, and the Mediterranean-style restaurant (which uses homegrown organic products) and spa (offering a mix of Eastern and Western therapies) are available exclusively for guests. The airy, rustic guest rooms with wood-beam ceilings are gracefully furnished, each in a different style, and bathrooms have Moroccan-style tiling. If you're up for leaving the idyllic grounds, bicycle tours and sailing charters can be arranged.

About equidistant from Palma and Valldemossa, this restored estate house—parts of which date back to 1672—is one of Mallorca's most luxurious hotels. A cluster of detached suites have private pools, hot tubs, fireplaces, and classic-modern furnishing. Rooms in the main building can be over the top—lots of red and rosy pink—but the bathrooms are truly palatial. Poplars and palms shade the terrace above the 98-foot infinity pool, with a view over the village of Puigpunyent and surrounding countryside, likely making this the best pool terrace on the island. Son Net's restaurant, Oleum, set in an ancient olive mill, is an ideal showcase for chef Sergio Olmedo's Continental–Mallorcan cuisine. The poolside restaurant, El Gazebo, is perfect for summer lunches, and the Treehouse, with panoramic views across the mountains, is a charming setting for more intimate meals. The hotel's own vineyard produces quite drinkable wines.

Romanesque arches and a giant palm tree spectacularly cover the central courtyard and reception area of this shabby-chic hotel, which occupies the former mansion of a noble Mallorcan family. Guest rooms are modest, though some have the original coffered and painted ceilings and traditional Mallorcan furnishings. The rates are more than reasonable, and a buffet breakfast is included.

A converted 17th-century manor house in the hills above the valley of Deià, this peaceful hotel is known for its traditional sense of luxury. Rooms are spacious and classically furnished, and most have private balconies with stone balustrades and stunning views. Acres of gardens have secluded corners, with deck chairs under the orange trees, bamboo groves, and ancient olive trees, and from everywhere you can hear the sound of water tumbling from a mountain spring. A shuttle bus runs four times a day to the hotel's private cove at Sa Muleta, where there's a cliffside solarium and lounge deck. Book early: about half the clientele come back year after year.

A favorite way station for groups of cyclists touring the island, the Son Sant Jordi is a small, family-friendly gem of a boutique hotel, formerly the convent of the adjacent Church of Sant Jordi. The palm-shaded patio garden in back is a delight, with orange and lemon trees, a small pool, and a fishpond. Guest rooms have antique furniture, king-size four-poster canopy beds, ceramic-tile floors, exposed-stone walls, and ceiling beams. Full amenities include robes and slippers. The best room in the house is No. 4, "Les Aguilas." Book for a week, and the hotel will arrange free transfers from and to the airport.

This chic boutique hotel is in the heart of Ciutadella, on a narrow cobblestone street behind the cathedral, and has killer views from the rooftop terrace, extending over the old city and (in good weather) across the ocean as far as Mallorca. The building was Menorca's first shoe factory, built on the site of a 4th-century Roman temple. It has cozy common rooms with plump sofas, marble floors, and a huge vaulted atrium, and the whitewashed walls are accented with resin-and-pigment panels in gold, rose, and Mediterranean blue. The best room is the romantic No. 8, which has a sunken bath. Breakfast is served at a long common table. Belowstairs is a Turkish bath and a single-lane swimming pool.

At the far end of a winding dirt road in the hills overlooking the Real Cartuja, across the valley of Valldemossa, this luxurious little agroturismo is a romantic hideaway that's hard to reach and even harder to tear yourself away from. The main building dates to 1709; it was restored and modernized in 2004 but retained many of its former features, including the fireplace and the huge olive press in the dining room. Rooms have their original exposed-stone walls; furnishings are simple but elegant. From the terrace, with its 40-foot infinity pool, the view is spectacular. One highlight is the Porche de las Ovejas—once used by sheep, it's now an annex suite with a private terrace that's steps from a spring-fed plunge pool.

"Oasis" is what springs to mind when driving up through family vineyards to this lovingly restored medieval monastery, reborn as a deluxe resort hotel. Weather permitting, meals are served on the poolside patio, with a wonderful view of the Tramuntana mountains, though there's also an atmospheric lounge-tapas bar inside decorated with an ancient olive press, stone arches, and thatched vaulted ceilings. Guest rooms have king-size beds and comfortable modern furnishings; bathrooms have huge shower stalls, jetted tubs, and towel warmers. The straw hats in the rooms, left there for strolling the grounds in the summer sun, are typical of the meticulous attention to detail at Son Brull.