Pardela Menorca

About Pardela Menorca

Pardela Menorca is a three-star hotel in Es Castell, the small town at the mouth of Maó harbour on Menorca's east coast. It suits couples who want a quiet base near the capital and families who want a pool, family rooms and parking in a small town rather than a purpose-built resort. The guest score is 4.4/5 from 118 reviews. The address is Calle Es Castell De Sant Felip 3.

Pardela Menorca is a straightforward three-star base rather than a design property. There is a swimming pool and a terrace, breakfast is listed, and a bar covers the evening. Express check-in and luggage storage help anyone arriving on a late flight. Rooms are non-smoking and come with air conditioning, a safe, a refrigerator and a TV. Free wifi is listed throughout the hotel and free car parking is available, a useful detail on an island where a hire car makes the south-coast coves easier to reach.

Location: Es Castell

Es Castell is a small town at the mouth of Maó harbour, with Georgian houses left from the 18th century and a little cove port of its own. The town centre is 0.2 km from Pardela Menorca, so the shops and the waterfront are an easy walk. Maó, the capital, is 2.4 km away and Sant Lluís, the white village of windmills, is 4.3 km away. The harbour setting gives the area a working, residential feel rather than a resort one.

Walking covers most everyday needs from Pardela Menorca: Es Castell is 0.2 km away, and the port at Maó is 2.6 km along the harbour road. A car or a local bus is more practical for the south-coast beaches, and a car rental service is listed at the hotel. The harbour towns fill up in July and August and parking near the water gets harder; in May, June, September and October the same walks are quieter, with fewer flights and ferries but the main towns still open.

Rooms and facilities

Couples can take a non-smoking room with air conditioning, a desk, a TV and a safe, and use the terrace and bar at the end of the day. Families have more to work with: family rooms, a cot, a sofa bed and a babysitting service are listed, along with a pool that keeps children occupied. Late arrivals are helped by express check-in and luggage storage. Breakfast, coffee and room service are listed, so a first night does not depend on finding an open restaurant in Es Castell.

Confirm the details that matter for your dates with Pardela Menorca before travelling: the bed set-up in a family room, whether a cot or a sofa bed is needed, and how the babysitting service is arranged. Ask about room service times and parking spaces, and whether towels for the pool are provided. Housekeeping, cleaning and laundry are listed, as are toiletries and a hairdryer. It is worth telling the hotel your arrival time, because express check-in works best when the front desk knows when to expect you.

Getting there

Menorca Airport (MAH) is 6.4 km from Pardela Menorca in a straight line, a short ride by taxi or a hire car collected on arrival. Local buses serve Maó, with summer links to the resorts; check the island bus operator for lines and times. Free car parking at the hotel is useful if you keep a car for day trips. Flights thin out in winter, so check schedules before booking a stay at Pardela Menorca.

Maó port is 2.6 km from Pardela Menorca, which is where the overnight ferries from Barcelona come in. A taxi covers the last stretch to Es Castell, and the harbour road can be walked with light bags. Travellers arriving from Sant Lluís have 4.3 km to cover, and Maó itself is 2.4 km away. Sailings are fewer outside the summer, so confirm crossings with the operator and tell the hotel when to expect you.

Beaches, sights and food nearby

The Isabel II fortress at La Mola guards the harbour mouth 1.7 km from Pardela Menorca, a walk or a short drive depending on the heat. A boat trip round Maó harbour, one of the largest natural harbours in the Mediterranean, starts about 1.9 km away and shows the scale of the inlet. S'Albufera des Grau, the core zone of Menorca's Biosphere Reserve with its lagoon and dunes, is 8.1 km away and best reached by car.

Es Castell has a small cove port rather than a long beach, and the sand-and-pine coves of the Migjorn coast, among them Cala en Porter and Binibeca Vell, are a drive or a bus ride to the south. Menorca's food is worth planning around: caldereta de llagosta in Fornells, Mahón-Menorca cheese with its protected designation of origin, and the gin tradition that British rule left in Maó. Ask at Pardela Menorca which kitchens in Es Castell stay open outside summer.

A day from Pardela Menorca

Start with coffee at Pardela Menorca and walk the 0.2 km into Es Castell for the Georgian houses and the little cove port. Continue along the harbour to La Mola, 1.7 km from the hotel, and spend the morning on the Isabel II fortress walls. In the afternoon, join a boat trip round Maó harbour from about 1.9 km away, or drive the 8.1 km to S'Albufera des Grau for the lagoon, the dunes and the birds.

In the evening, head into Maó, 2.4 km from Pardela Menorca, for the harbour front and a late dinner, with a taxi back if the walk along the road does not appeal. A second day can begin with the 4.3 km run to Sant Lluís and its windmills, then the south-coast coves by car. Return to Es Castell for a swim in the hotel pool and a drink on the terrace.

Practical tips

Much of Menorca's tourism business closes roughly from November to April, and the island's busiest weeks fall in July and August. Check the opening dates for Pardela Menorca before booking, and expect fewer flights and ferries in winter. Pardela Menorca charges the Balearic sustainable tourism tax per person per night; the rate varies with the type and category of accommodation and the season, drops in low season and for longer stays, and children under 16 are exempt. Check the Govern de les Illes Balears for current rates.

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