Canyamel — Mallorca, Spain
A spiral staircase cut into the stone, down to a natural pool at the water's edge.
Can Simoneta stands on the cliff above the bay of Canyamel, on the quieter north-east side of Mallorca, and the way in is a narrow spiral staircase hewn into the stone below the garden. At the bottom, when the sea is calm, you can lower yourself into a natural pool in the rock or go straight on into open water, with the rocky line of the bay running in both directions and nothing built along it. Further along the grounds a walkway ends at a second set of steps down to a broad shelf of bare rock at the water's edge. When the sea is up neither is the way in, and the hotel's own access to Canyamel beach is the alternative. The Beach House rooms go one better, with a gate from the room straight out to the water. The place was built to lodge an ailing monk who came here for sea cures, which is as good an origin as a swimming hotel can have. Adults only from sixteen, and part of the Torre de Canyamel estate, so the cove and grounds at Pleta de Mar next door are open to guests too.
