Review date: 13 April 2005 - A HotelStreet visitor from Northumberland, UK wrote:-

Review title: "Hotel Java"
Travel date: April 2005
Just returned from a week staying in Hotel Java (April). Probably not the best time to visit weather-wise, if you're a sun worshipper, but it was very pleasant all the same. Hotel Java is situated just south-east of C'an Pastilla and at one end of Playa de Palma. It is ideally situated for getting into Palma with buses running past the door (the No. 15 goes by every 15 minutes) but in between there's the No. 17 & 23. So the service is pretty much continuous and cheap at 1.1 Euros to go just about anywhere.

Watch the taxi fare to/from the airport?this can be about 12-13 Euros by the time the driver has added in supplements, despite the journey taking less than 5 minutes. You could do the journey by getting a bus from the airport into Palma and back out to the hotel, but we didn't so I won't say anymore about it.

We only ate breakfast at the hotel as it was inclusive of the room rate, but it was an excellent way to start the day. An all embracing breakfast buffet with some interesting variations on the full English (scrambled eggs, green beans and peppers!) alongside the continental meats, cheeses and sponge cake ? for breakfast???

As for Playa de Palma itself ?, well providing that you don't mind rubbing shoulders with our Spanish and Deutschland brethren then you'll be fine. Many of the bars and restaurants cater for Germans in the same way as Magaluf caters for the Brits, however the hotel seemed to attract the more mature clientele (at least in April) and we didn't experience any rowdiness whatsoever.

Whether you're into cycling, running, roller blading, wind/kite surfing, it's all here just 100 metres from the hotel entrance, with a non stop parade of fitness and would-be fitness fiends passing along the seafront (I'm sure it's more laid back in high season when the warmer temperatures kick in). However, I'm reliably informed that cyclists use Majorca as a warm weather training base and Hotel Java is certainly no exception to that. In fact you can hire bikes yourself from a friendly shop just round the corner (Sunshine bike rental). We hired mountain bikes for 12 Euro/day and I can highly recommend it as a way to get round the island. The more sedate of you might want to hire a car. There's loads of choice, but we used Hertz at 36 Euro/day (reducing to 30 Euro/day for 7 days)

All in all a nice hotel with friendly and helpful staff in a nice area which is ideal for getting into Palma and handy if you want the lively atmosphere of El Arenal without actually staying in amongst it.