This review was submitted before 2018 and has not been verified.
8/10 Good
1 Jun 2011
Comfortable hillside cottage
The cottage was as described on the Web. Catalina is to be found daily in the Spar minimarket on Fornalutx town square, she speaks excellent English and was the oracle of information whenever needed. She took us up to the cottage, which we found clean, well maintained and well appointed.
There is a restaurant within 100 metres of the front gates, with a breathtaking view from their terrace. The nearest shopping however is back in Fornalutx, a 4km drive down the hill. There, Catalina’s shop has everything you need, including wines and spirits. Her prices are competitive, so there is no need to go further afield for groceries.
Although in reality only a large village, Fornalutx has a couple of good restaurants and a number of bars and cafes, which cater for all tastes. For the energetic there is a good off-road footpath from the villa down to those delights. If you wish to leave the car (or bike) behind and have an “easy ride”, use shanks’ pony to the excellent “bar next door”, although it was closed on the Monday night when we were there.
We visited in mid May which for us was “bug free” and a beautiful time of year, with the weather “just right”. We were able to eat all our meals al fresco and laze away the day on the terrace well into late evening. There is also a complete “kitchen area” outside including wood fire cooking, charcoal BBQ and gas hob, plus a sink with hot and cold running water – we prepared most of our meals there. To get hot water upstairs it is necessary to coax life from the gas boiler out the back but hot water is always available without any effort in the downstairs bathroom.
The villa is ideally located as a base to explore the Tramuntana Mountains, being right in the middle of the same. The energetic trio of our number took the footpath from the adjacent Mirador Ses Barques for the easy walk down to Port Soller, and arrived there just over an hour later for refreshments on the promenade and a swim off the sandy beach. On another day our more intrepid member started at the same point but trekked northeast following the cliffs overlooking the coast to an unspoilt beach about 2km west of Sa Calobra. The rest of us met him there with the car, in true Hemingway style in a delightfully tumbledown shack bar.
We’d have no hesitation in recommending this accommodation as an ideal if secluded base for hikers, cyclists, bikers and motorists – it is not however for somnolent teenagers, party animals or beach bums.
