There are hotels you enjoy, hotels you admire, and then every so often, one appears that gets under your skin almost immediately.
Hotel Riviera Menorca is one of those places.
Sitting quietly on the seaward side of Ciutadella, it isn’t necessarily where you might expect to find one of Menorca’s most beautifully considered little hotels. Yet perhaps that is part of its charm. It feels slightly removed from the obvious rhythm of the old town, while still being close enough to wander there on foot, follow the harbour, explore the historic fortifications or disappear into Ciutadella for a long dinner.
And then there is the hotel itself.
A little Italian Riviera, a little Palm Springs
The design is difficult to place into a single box, and I mean that entirely as a compliment.
There is something unmistakably mid-century about Riviera. It carries the polish and glamour of the Italian Riviera, but there is also a flash of 1950s Palm Springs running through it. Bold geometry, warm tones, playful details, beautiful furniture and just enough retro influence to feel characterful without becoming themed.
It is glamorous, but relaxed.
Stylish, but never trying too hard.
Everything feels incredibly deliberate.
And then, of course, there is the elephant in the room.
That pool
Good grief, the pool.
It is the visual centrepiece of Riviera and arguably the image that will stay with me longest after leaving.
Beautifully framed by the architecture of the hotel, it has the sort of cinematic quality that makes you stop every time you walk past it. The symmetry, the loungers, the colours, the palms, the reflections. It feels somewhere between a vintage travel poster and the set of a film you desperately want to live inside.
During the day, it is effortlessly cool.
As the light begins to change later on, it becomes something else entirely.
Which brings me neatly onto one of my favourite things about this hotel.
The lighting
The lighting at Hotel Riviera deserves its own paragraph.
Actually, several.
So many hotels spend fortunes on furniture, marble and beautiful fabrics, only to illuminate everything with lighting that feels more suited to an airport terminal.
Not here.
Riviera understands light.
From softly glowing bathroom mirrors to beautifully placed lamps and warm pools of illumination throughout the rooms and communal spaces, the lighting gives the entire hotel atmosphere. It makes the textures richer, the colours warmer and the evenings feel wonderfully intimate.
It is the kind of detail you may not consciously notice at first, but it completely changes how a space feels.
And Riviera is full of details like that.
Rooms where every detail has been considered
I stayed in Room 11, positioned on a corner of the hotel, and it felt particularly special.
From the room I could look towards the sea, across towards Ciutadella and, of course, down towards that wonderful pool.
But the view was only part of it.
The rooms are divine.
Beautifully designed, immaculately finished and filled with small touches that reinforce the feeling that someone has genuinely thought about the experience of staying here.
There are top of the range Dyson hairdryers. Beautiful Malin+Goetz bathroom products. Wonderful showers. Backlit mirrors. Gold details. Properly luxurious towels. Excellent bed linen.
GOLD HANGERS!
Even the smallest elements feel premium.
On arrival, a gold tray held snacks and water alongside a beautiful fluted diffuser, filling the room with the most wonderful scent.
That fragrance became part of my memory of the hotel almost immediately.
There is something incredibly powerful about scent in hotels. Long after you have forgotten the exact layout of a room or the colour of a cushion, a familiar fragrance can suddenly take you straight back.
Riviera seems to understand that too.
Food, drinks and the people behind it
Design alone does not make a great hotel.
You can create the most beautiful property in the world, but without warmth it quickly becomes little more than a very expensive backdrop.
The people at Riviera are what give it its soul.
Every member of staff I encountered was friendly, warm and genuinely wonderful. Nothing felt forced or overly rehearsed. There was simply an easy hospitality running through the place.
The food and drinks continue that same feeling.
Everything feels considered but unfussy, fitting perfectly with the personality of the hotel. You can spend an afternoon by the pool with a drink, disappear into Ciutadella for dinner, return later and still feel as though Riviera is your own little corner of Menorca waiting for you.
A surprisingly perfect location
The location also turned out to be one of Riviera’s strengths.
It sits towards the seaward edge of Ciutadella, close enough to reach the old town in around fifteen minutes on foot while giving you an entirely different perspective of the city.
You can wander towards the historic areas, follow the coastline, walk around the harbour entrance or simply head into town for dinner.
It feels connected without being swallowed by the busier streets of central Ciutadella.
And from my corner room, being able to see both the sea and the town made that relationship feel even more apparent.
One of the very best
I have stayed in hundreds of hotels over the years.
Probably more like thousands.
Grand hotels, tiny hotels, resorts, palaces, city icons and properties carrying some of the most famous names in hospitality.
That makes what I am about to say feel even more significant.
Hotel Riviera Menorca is comfortably one of my favourite hotels I have ever stayed in.
In fact, I would put it in my top three.
Not because it is the biggest.
Not because it is the most extravagant.
But because everything works together.
The design. The lighting. The pool. The scent. The rooms. The linen. The towels. The little gold details. The Dyson hairdryer. The Malin+Goetz bottles in the bathroom. The warmth of the staff. The location. The feeling of sitting beside that pool and wondering why more hotels do not understand atmosphere quite this well.
Hotel Riviera has something that cannot easily be bought or manufactured.
Personality.
And after just a couple of nights, I already know it is somewhere I will remember for a very long time.
Why book yourself a wonderful break by clicking this link!
