I have been visiting The Aparthotel Duva and Spa in Puerto de Pollensa on the island of Majorca for the last two years. My first visit was with my cycling club, The Tyneside Vagabonds CC and since that visit I have returned several times with the club and also visited several times in a private capacity with my wife Lorena. During one of our stays I made a video recording of the complex which is available here:

The accommodation is made up a series of low apartment blocks and two standards of apartment are offered, standard and premium. I have stayed in both types of apartment and have found them both to be excellent.

The premium apartments are fewer in number and offer more spacious living accommodation, in particular these apartments offer a full oven and four burner hob, a larger fridge freezer and a dishwasher. The standard apartments offer a double burner hob, a smaller fridge freezer and do not have a dishwasher. All apartments have microwave ovens and are equipped with all the usual pans and utensils required to self cater in comfort as well as an electric kettle etc. - all the apartments can very easily become a home from home for the duration of your stay.

The complex is particularly well equipped and sits in it’s own grounds, there are two outdoor swimming pools, both of which have been beautifully clean whenever I have stayed here. The complex includes it’s own health spa which has a fully equipped gymnasium, an indoor pool, jacuzzi, sauna etc. This is an excellent place to stay if your choice is simply to relax but is equally suited for people who wish to have a more active holiday.

Majorca is a paradise for cyclists and Puerto de Pollensa in general and The Aparthotel Duva in particular have taken full advantage of this. The roads in the area are well surfaced and offer a huge variety of cycling routes for all levels of ability from the leisure cyclist who wants to ride along the cycle route following the seafront to Alcudia to the professional teams who visit to train for cycling’s greatest prizes. It is not unusual to see professional teams training in the mountains in preparation for events such as the Tour de France.

As a base for cycling The Aparthotel Duva would be difficult to beat. In purely practical terms there is available a large secure bike storage facility below one of the apartment blocks (shown in the video) which is available to all guests. As part of this facility there is a small shop selling smaller items, this shop is a branch of a larger local cycling shop which can deal with pretty much any eventuality a cyclist might encounter during their stay.

For those who decide to opt to have meals at the hotel the food is excellent. There is a wide range of beautifully prepared and presented food which will cater for all tastes. The dining arrangements are buffet style with a very wide choice of main dishes, starters and deserts and of course fresh fruit etc. are always available. Coffee etc. is dispensed from a number of machines which guests are free to return to as many times as they wish. Friendly and very helpful staff are always on hand to help if assistance is required. A poolside bar is available for those wanting to enjoy a drink after dinner and light entertainment is sometimes available but this is never loud or intrusive to residents.

For residents who choose to self cater there are several supermarkets locally (Eroski, Lidl) where the full range of foodstuffs are available at very reasonable prices. For those "I need it now, I’ve run out!" items there is a small supermarket opposite the complex (5 minutes on foot) where items can be bought but as is always the case the prices are somewhat higher than the larger supermarkets.

It is quite easy to concentrate on the facilities and accommodation on offer but quite often a holiday can be made or ruined by the hotel staff. I have always found the staff at The Aparthotel Duva to be extremely kind, polite, considerate and helpful, nothing ever seems to be too much trouble. Often when things go wrong on a stay such as an accident or illness hotel staff really do not want to know but our experiences at The Aparthotel Duva have been excellent.

During one stay a cycling friend was injured when out riding and the staff did everything they could to help in a very difficult situation. More recently when Lorena injured her foot and ankle badly, again the staff could not have been more helpful, they really did do as much as they could to help.

For guests without their own transport there is a local bus stop adjacent to the complex which makes travel easy and the complex is close enough to the beach to be convenient but far enough away to ensure that the complex is quiet and peaceful. I have no hesitation whatsoever recommending The Aparthotel Duva to anyone who wants either a peaceful or a very active holiday. The location of the complex makes it ideal for either couples or families with children, this is not the place for people looking for wild night-life and we have found it consistently peaceful, clean, friendly and just generally excellent.

I also made a short video of the seafront in Puerto de Pollensa which as you can see is lovely: