Hotels near Valldemossa

Valldemossa sits 400 metres up in the Tramuntana foothills and is the most visited mountain village on the island, packing 2,000 residents into a tight grid of green-shuttered stone houses. The pull is the Real Cartuja - a former Carthusian monastery converted into private cells in the 1830s, where Frederic Chopin and the writer George Sand spent the winter of 1838-1839 trying (and largely failing) to keep warm.

Chopin wrote 24 Preludes here, and his original Pleyel piano, manuscripts, and the cell decoration are preserved in cells 2 and 4 of the monastery. The complex also includes a Baroque pharmacy, the prior's library, and a small museum of contemporary art. After the Cartuja, walk the Costa de la Cartuja and stop at the bakery on Carrer de la Rosa for a coca de patata, the village's signature potato bun. The neighbouring Palau del Rei Sanxo hosts daily piano recitals (10:30, 11:30, 12:30) included in the monastery ticket.

Pro Tip: Park at the lower municipal car park (Aparcament Valldemossa, around 4.50 EUR for the day) and walk up - the upper streets are pedestrianised and the village is too small to absorb a coach park's worth of cars at peak season.