Menorca never fully surrendered to mass-tourism logic. Development happened, of course, but the island’s reputation has long rested on economic life kept in conversation with landscape, conservation and the scale of its towns. In 1993, UNESCO recognised Menorca as a Biosphere Reserve, citing the island’s unusually compatible relationship between economic activity, resource use, heritage conservation and landscape quality.
Hotel Riviera has some of that same self-possession. Unlike the prescriptive Balearic hotel formula, it does not arrive dressed as a tasteful white box. It is orange, curved, stripe-happy, a little mischievous – the wild child of Menorcan hotels, one could argue. The 14-room boutique stay takes over the former Hotel Madrid, a traditional local hotel embedded in Ciutadella’s urban fabric, and gives it a pool-first new life. The building’s orange bands wrap its façade; inside, terrazzo, curves, mustard tones and retro stripes set up a spritz-coloured world before you have even put down your bags.
Wallpaper* checks in at Riviera Hotel Menorca
What’s on your doorstep?
Riviera sits next to the breezy Passeig Marítim, which opens onto a run of dreamlike turquoise coves, including Cala Degollador and Cala Gran. The hotel sends guests out properly branded for the task: orange towels, orange umbrellas (no confusion about where you came from). There are sea-facing restaurants nearby, but the better play is the 10-minute walk into the historic centre. Ciutadella’s old lanes come alive after dark: tavernas, small bars, shaded corners, and Bar Imperi for llonguet – the local bread – filled with sobrasada and honey, or whatever else the evening requires.
Who is behind the design?
The interiors are by Ilmiodesign, with Oscar Paradís Medina overseeing construction. The founders of the Madrid-based studio, Andrea Spada and Michele Corbani, looked away from the expected Menorcan palette and towards the Italian Riviera Romagnola of the 1970s, ‘an iconic era defined by vibrant coasts, striking beach umbrellas, and an unmistakable retro charm’. That reference gives Riviera its cadence: beach-town optimism, saturated colour, proper stripes and plenty of holiday glamour.
It is a deliberate swerve from the usual Balearic script. ‘We intentionally wanted to break away from the traditional Balearic minimalism,’ the designers say, citing the island’s familiar all-white look as exactly what they wanted to avoid. Instead, Riviera gives you warm terracotta, mustard yellow, mineral textures, traditional terrazzo, retro striped upholstery and rounded ceiling coves. Terrazzo is the anchor: a Mediterranean constant that lets the hotel flirt with Italy without losing its Menorcan ground.
On the ground floor, the façade has been opened so the reception-bar looks straight towards the pool, while orange bands wrap the building like a ribbon and glow at night. Inside, the courtyard behaves like a small urban lido: balconies running motel-style along the guestrooms, sunbeds below, orange-and-white tiling, striped umbrellas. Arrival, the designers say, was planned as a move ‘from the street to the oasis’.
The room to book
All 14 rooms have private outdoor spaces and are arranged across four categories: Double Piccola, Double Deluxe, Junior Suite and Suite Riviera. Some face the sea, others the pool, while larger terraces give the best rooms a little open-air theatre. ‘Every room has a unique story to tell,’ say Spada and Corbani – helped by a redrawn layout that gives each one either a view, a terrace or some more intimate relationship with the building.
The rooms keep the retro Mediterranean pace flowing: curved forms, warm tones, striped details and some very chic Mary Quant-ish flower lamps. Most of the furniture and room lamps were custom-made and adapted to each room type, while Marshall speakers, Dyson hairdryers and Malin+Goetz toiletries keep the stay practical as well as photogenic.
Staying for drinks and dinner?
After a Mediterranean-inspired breakfast, with buffet and à la carte options, the menu at the poolside restaurant shifts at lunchtime into holiday mode: açai and granola bowls, fruit with agave and lime, New York pancakes with peanut butter and brûléed banana, and a saltier run of eggs, shakshuka, ricotta toast and Riviera fries with parmesan fondue. The Benedict Riviera – brioche, poached eggs, smashed avocado and parmesan fondue – is a must-have. The pool bar serves cocktails and soft drinks until late afternoon, while day passes allow non-guests to use the pool and facilities, giving the courtyard a little local traffic.
Where to switch off
Wellness lives on the rooftop, which feels right for a hotel built around sunburst energy. The day starts with energising Pilates at 8 am; later, massages take place above the sea, wrapped in draped fabric, soft music and Mediterranean air. The treatment list keeps things simple: a Riviera massage with essential oils and energy work, a medium-pressure relaxing massage, a Swedish massage, foot reflexology and a facial massage. Back on the ground floor, the saltwater pool remains, naturally, the place to be from morning to evening.
The verdict
Riviera Hotel Menorca brings a very contagious hit of 1970s Italian seaside spirit to Ciutadella: compact, sociable, colourful and genuinely fun. It works because the attitude is matched by good service. Staff are warm, attentive and relaxed. Their T-shirts read ‘a little party never hurt nobody’, which says plenty about the hotel’s appeal. Riviera is not trying to be Menorca’s grandest stay, but the one you remember long after that last summer spritz.
Riviera Hotel Menorca is located at Carrer de Madrid, 60, 07760 Ciutadella, Illes Balears, Spain