2022 Conference - Accommodation

Many hotels and some other accommodation in central Palma de Mallorca are reasonably close to CaixaForum Palma (also known locally as "Gran Hotel"), the conference venue for 2022. Robert Graves Society conferences were also held there and in Deià in 1995, 2006, 2010, 2014, and 2018.
In 1929 "CaixaForum" was itself an hotel, where Graves and Laura Riding stayed for three weeks on their arrival in Palma. It's not one today, but is still often known to many (including local taxi drivers) as "Gran Hotel".  Its full address is CaixaForum Palma, Plaza de Weyler, 3, 07001 Palma de Mallorca, Spain. See: https://caixaforum.es/palma/visitanos for more details of the venue, a striking Art Nouveau building in the centre of Palma.
The 'main' hotel for Graves conferences since 1995 has been the Hotel Born. It was originally a 16th Century palace. Today it can be booked directly online, in English, with a 5% or sometimes 10% discount from the hotel itself at https://www.hotelborn.com/en. The Society will confirm shortly a 10% discount offered by the hotel for participants attending the 2022 Robert Graves conference. To obtain the code for this discount, please e-mail pjvilla@aol.com before making your online booking directly with the hotel.  This RG Conference discount will not be in addition to other discounts the hotel may be offering when you book.
Unfortunately, this and other hotels in Palma de Mallorca have become much more expensive than earlier years when the conference was held there.
Alternatively, other hotels (and the Born itself) can be booked on travel web sites such as www.booking.com. There's no booking fee, and even if the Born or another hotel shows as full,  it's worth checking again a day or two later as sometimes rooms are released that were not previously showing. The Hotel Born is only 5-8 minutes walk from the conference venue.

Beyond that, below is a list, roughly in order of distance/convenience/preference, with some brief notes (working largely from memory), of hotels that have been used or recommended for previous conferences. All of them are reasonably close to the venue, but you should be able to find what suits you best through online booking services and the maps these websites provide. As well as www.booking.com , www.venere.com is good but needs to be paid on booking or on whatever basis their advertised deal offers (e.g. free or no cancellations). There"s also www.expedia.com which is useful for booking hotels, flights and perhaps car hire at the same time. Some hotels, e.g. the UR Palacio Avenida, are a little farther away from the venue, but still within a reasonable walking distance and served by a good bus service that also calls at the venue.

Other hotels known to Graves conference organisers are listed below All can be booked through Booking.com or most of the other online booking services mentioned above, or you can simply Google an hotel to book through its own website.

  • Hotel Almudaina.  Close to venue. On Avenida Jaime III, a main shopping street.
  • Hotel Jaime III. A little farther away. Also on Avenida Jaime III.
  • Misíon de San Miguel. Nice hotel, central, close to venue, but (some have said) difficult to find.
  • Hotel Saratoga. Even farther away than Jaime III, but a nice hotel and well positioned. Easy route to venue and nearby restaurants.
  • UR Palacio Avenida. Near Placa de España, bus routes, an old train to Soller and the Metro to the University. A good walk away, but it"s possible to cut through pedestrian areas to our venue in 8-10 mins.
  • NV Tryp Palma. Good chain hotel, North of venue, a good walk, but still reasonably close.
  • Hotel Palladium. A longer walk than from some others, but a good inexpensive hotel with views from back (and front) of old Palma. Also next to bus routes.

Two hotels which look good  but are ones we don"t know at first-hand are:

  • Hotel San Lorenzo. Expensive, farther away from venue, but has swimming pool and old world charm!
  • Ca Sa Padrina. Looks nice and is reasonably close to the venue. Inexpensive! Possibly it"s a serviced but "collect your key and then you"re on your own" kind of hotel, with no resident staff, rather like an AirBnB booking.

Three hostels, mostly a little farther away from the venue but significantly cheaper than any or most of the above hotels, are:

  • Hostal Ritzi
  • Hostal Apuntadores
  • Hostal Regina

The first two are next to each other, the third is to the north of the venue. In 2014 and 2018 some, or many, conference participants also booked rooms or apartments via AirBnB. Mallorca's local authorities have introduced new laws to regulate landlords providing these kinds of bookings, and anyone booking this way should make sure that their host is regulated locally for AirBnB-style lettings.

We hope this page provides some of the information you need about where to stay during the conference, but please get in touch again if you have other questions. Contact Patrick Villa at pjvilla@aol.com. Members of the Society's committee look forward to seeing you in July at the conference.

February 2022