Pure Mallorca: the best of the Balearics with the Puro Group

The thing about toxins is that you can never really tell how many you have until someone says you need to get rid of them. On a recent weekend break in Palma de Mallorca, a third delicious detox smoothie slipped down shortly after a detox massage, which itself had followed a morning session of detox yoga. With the detox dinner still to come it was difficult not to wonder how much detoxing it’s safe to do for a hitherto toxin-agnostic man.

With that in mind, it was a fortunate coincidence that the trip to Majorca also coincided with the season-opening party of the Purobeach Illetas beach club, where retoxing via free-flowing champagne and cocktails was very much to be encouraged. Had we stayed much longer, a pleasant pattern may have emerged: detox, retox, detox, retox, all beneath the warm spring sun of the Balearics and gazing out onto the bright blue of the Mediterranean.

We settled on two nights and three days, which proved to be an ideal amount of time not only to maintain toxin equilibrium, but also to sample most of what Purobeach has to offer in Palma, as well as to gain an insight into what is soon to come.

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Over the past decade or so, Purobeach has grown to be one of the most recognisable brands in the beach club sector, and now has properties across the Iberian peninsula and its islands, as well as in Mexico, with another slated to open soon in Morocco.

The formula is fairly simple: find a place where there is ample sun and seawater, then offer guests comfortable access to it, as well as plentiful food, drink and pampering on the side. Detoxing is, of course, optional, though the ambiance and clientele, not to mention the sight of the catwalk ready staff, can add a couple of psychological inches onto any paunch.

There’s a certain uniformity among the premises, promising guests that they will know what to expect, be they in Playa del Carmen, Vilamoura, Barcelona or Marrakech. That tends to mean crisp white decoration, a shop at each location selling Purobeach’s clothing and accessory range, a DJ playing the same soft house music at a similarly low volume, the same sun-loungers and spa treatments, plus a familiar menu, give or take an occasional local flourish.

The homogenisation appeals to Purobeach’s many loyalists, who are known to seek out the brand in its various locales — and it’s through the geographical spread that the diversity creeps in. At the first Majorcan beach club (named, simply, Palma) the deck juts out into the ocean, overlooking a tiny island that once housed a prehistoric settlement, while the loungers surround a lava-stone swimming pool.

At Purobeach Illetas, a few miles around the bay, the club is accessible via a steep staircase down the cliff-side, and hugs the rugged shoreline. Yoga classes take place within inches of the lapping waves, and a stepladder leads down straight into the rock-pools and sea.

There’s some nice attention to detail around all the properties: a small plate of fresh fruit accompanies the rental of a bed for the day, as does a bottle of after-sun lotion delivered to your side. At night Illetas transforms effortlessly into a gently throbbing bar/restaurant, with a cave burrowed into the cliff to house a dance-floor. The DJ’s decks sit atop a fish-tank.

The spa is also within mere paces of the water, allowing the sea to provide a naturally relaxing soundtrack to a wholly pleasant detox massage. It begins with a light drizzling in water, then progresses through attention to the lymph nodes, then the circulatory system, all the while lubricated with Majorcan almond oils. It is gentle and sedate: the toxins are not so much pummelled into submission as politely persuaded to vacate the body by some strategic rubbing.

At present Puro has three properties in and around the Majorcan capital: the two beach clubs, plus the four-star Purohotel in the La Llotja neighbourhood of the old city. (The hotel’s so-called “private wing” of 11 further rooms is five star.) By the end of the year, however, there will be further options, and current marketing efforts are focused primarily on the transformation of a former convent building into the Can Bordoy Grand House & Garden.

Even judging only by artists’ impressions and a hard-hat tour around what is still mostly a building site, it’s clear something rather special is on its way.

Ostensibly, Can Bordoy will aim to reclaim the “boutique” designation from some other cookie-cutter hotels that have latched onto the term. Its 24 rooms will all be designed to within an inch of perfection, retaining original fixtures and fittings in many places, while integrating cutting-edge design elements elsewhere.

The overall style is faded grandeur, and that means, for example, rooms whose mezzanine sleeping quarters are accessed via a wrought-iron spiral staircase, or whose vast private terrace peers over the tiled roofs of the old town on to Palma’s magnificent cathedral.

Yet the furnishings conceal modern beds that inflate or deflate to suit a particular guests preference for mattress softness, while controls might be incorporated into a broad, mahogany headboard unit. The free-standing circular bath is to be found behind a floor-to-ceiling drape.

The smallest rooms will offer around 25 square metres of floor space (“Luxury is space,” say the designers, from Majorcan firm Ohlab) and start at €250 (approx. £220) per night, while the grand suites will set you back more than ten times that: up to €2,800 (£2,460) depending on season. All rooms come with butler service and access to a menu created by the celebrated local chef Andrés Benítez, who has been poached from a Michelin-starred kitchen and promoted from second-in-command to head the new gastronomic offering.

We sampled seven dishes from Benítez’s a la carte brunch menu, cooked in front of us by the man himself in the Purohotel’s private wing dining-room-cum-kitchen. The flavours of the local ingredients were punchy and fresh, from the vibrant green spinach and scrambled eggs, to the pickled strawberries that topped the desert pancake. The menu was designed for inclusivity and stripped of gluten and lactose. I daresay toxins were in short supply, but none of the nastiness was missed.

Tables in Benítez’s restaurant will spill into what was once the convent’s yard, and also a playground when the building spent some time as a school. Once the hotel is opened in December, it will be an intimate garden, with more than 70 trees dotted between jacuzzis and a swimming pool for guests, with open-access dining for non-residents too.

The opening is scheduled for December, with a grand launch party on New Year’s Eve — and what better night to begin another cycle of detox, retox, etc.?

Puro offers chic outposts on city rooftops and seaside oases across Spain and Portugal. Each beach club comes with a dedicated DJ and open-air spa treatments. The clubs also offer international dishes, cocktails and smoothies.

Sunbeds at Purobeach clubs are available from €30 (approx. £26) per person, while prices for Purohotel in Palma, Mallorca, start at €120 (approx. £105) per room per night on a B&B basis. For further information and bookings, visit: www.purobeach.com / www.purohotel.com