Dunas de Formentera, a Small Luxury Hotel of the World

This is paradise on earth. Words cannot describe this resort. Anyone who gives it a negative rating has lost their mind. We were taken by golf cart to our beautiful room (63), where we were surprised to find we had a sea view, which I hadn't booked. The tranquility, the design, the beds, everything was like a dream. To our surprise, we discovered a heated toilet with spray and flush buttons and pleasant blue lighting. We walked to the beautiful beach with the hotel's lovely beach bag, towels, slippers, and pareos. There, the next surprise awaited us. The fifty shades of blue sea, and that's only a 2-hour flight and a 30-minute boat ride away. Here you will find the Caribbean of Europe. All day long you can float in the most beautiful water surrounded by fish swimming peacefully by. Save a few euros every day and book a stay here! It's expensive, which is to be expected for this quality, but it's worth it! You can take the beach bag, flip-flops, and pareos home with you.|There is a small bar on the beach where everyone gathers in the evening to peacefully watch the sunset. Perfect music accompanies the sun as it goes down. Insanely beautiful.||Translated with DeepL.com (free version)

Best hotel we’ve ever stayed at. You can feel the peace as soon as you get there. Amazing views, amazing beach, amazing staff everywhere. Great food. They make you feel at home and taken care of. Totally recommended.

This hotel has clear pros and cons. I am willing to revisit. We booked a Junior suite with partial sea view as the smaller rooms looked overly small for our taste.||Pros||The hotel’s setting, the building and interior decoration are immaculate. The view from the restaurant/bar is breathtaking (except for the parking for KM11). The sunset from the bar is amazing and on a clear night, the beach is a great place for star gazing. It was magical. ||The beach in front of the hotel is absolutely lovely and the sand is silky soft. The seemingly long beach consists of alternating rocky parts and sandy parts. The part in front of the hotel is sandy. Water is crystal clear and shallow until quite far out (with a few deep patches) so it’s also suitable for kids unless being exposed to Hippies is a concern. During our stay, the water was calmer than north. ||The beach here was far less busy than the beaches in the north which are full of day tourists.||We could easily walk to the Calo d’es Mort. It is a lovely trail with absolutely stunning view. ||Next to the beach for a quick bite, there are KM11, a simple bar, and Flipper, a fancy bar/restaurant (with shirts). ||The front desk staff / concierge is superb. They are very friendly and eager to help. ||The restaurant provides good quality food, although it’s pricy. ||Cons||There is no hotel beach beds. The hotel rents foldable chairs without legs, and an umbrella. We liked the natural look of them but for more comfort, it’s possible to hire a public beach umbrella with two sun-beds for 10 Euros. The beach opens at 10:00.||There is no hotel toilet on the beach side. Outside shower is only available in the back of swimming pool. ||The terrain is hilly. There is a buggy service. But it may not be ideal for people with health challenges. (But it’s beautiful)||Formentera is long and due to its sparsely connected road structures, it’s not conveniently located to explore the island.

My wife and I have just enjoyed three nights at this hotel, and I thought it might be useful for me to provide some feedback on our stay. Generally positive but there are a few points that could be improved.|Firstly the reception staff are very pleasant, polite and welcoming. The check in however took a very long time. Such a delay could easily be resolved by photo of a passport avoiding the tedious time taken for data to be entered into a computer.|We did not sense the restaurant staff displayed the same enthusiasm. |The WhatsApp concierge communications are effective and responsive but not always precise. We got a scare when we were erroneously informed that our reservation at Chezz Gerdi made six weeks earlier was cancelled, whilst actually C.Gerdi confirmed it was valid and in order. Conversation regarding our pick up and transfer arrangements to the water taxi for departure was equally confusing.|Our room was comfortable and the aircon works well. Bath towels are sparse and the hotel do not offer or possess towel facecloths.|A positive feature is the location which provides convenient access to its talc powder beach, however the hotel also does not have any sunbeds situated directly on the beach. There are a couple of Ciringuito bars where there is a hip vibe at sunset. However something should be done about loud noise from what appears to be an electricity generator which runs 24/7 and is situated on the beach boundary perimeter of the hotel. The noise was not audible from our “dunes” room 20, but would be intolerable from the beach casitas numbered so beware. |The hotel should consider investing in a navette or shuttle service to the nearby town or the many resto nearby, especially as Taxis on the island are limited and cannot be pre-booked.

Stayed for one night with my partner. Arrival service was friendly, and while we expected the room not to be ready before the 3pm check-in time, the delay extended beyond 4pm despite having to follow up multiple times. This set a disappointing tone. The restaurant service, however, was excellent—special mention to a gentleman with a ponytail who was outstanding. The room itself felt underwhelming: small, with dated details and amenities that did not reflect the standard of a relatively new five-star hotel. When we raised our dissatisfaction with the delayed check-in, we were offered a round of drinks as a gesture. At checkout, this was handled poorly. Instead of a seamless acknowledgment, the receptionist scrutinized receipts to offset the cheapest items possible (an Aperol Spritz and tonic water), rather than the actual drinks consumed as promised. This was not about the cost, but the attitude—something that reflects a lack of genuine five-star service. Overall, the hotel benefits from a prime location and a beautiful beach nearby, but service inconsistencies and lack of attention to detail leave room for serious improvement.

We booked two rooms through Booking.com:||A double room with view of the dunes (got Room 60) &||A junior suite with sea view (got Room 63)||||Already upon arrival, it became clear that this was a complete deception:||Double Room (Room 60) with dune view: A disaster. For an unbelievable €962 per night, you get a tiny room that resembles a broom closet. The “room” is barely wider than a Rimowa suitcase. There is absolutely no view of the dunes – a blatant scam compared to the pictures shown on Booking.com.||||Junior Suite (Room 63) with sea view: According to the description and photos, this was supposed to be a spacious suite with a sea view. In reality, it was a standard double room with a “view of the dunes” – no sea view whatsoever. And for this, they charged €1,318 per night? Outrageous.||||Food:||Breakfast à la carte: Loveless, with no attention to detail.||Dinner: A major disappointment. Small portions, astronomical prices. The beef fillet was completely overcooked, the dessert tasted artificial. Paying €400 for 4 people is unacceptable!||||Transfers:||They charge €70 for a transfer between the harbor and the hotel – whether you consider that outrageous or reasonable, you can decide for yourself.||||Staff:||Restaurant Staff: EVERY single time – literally every time – we ordered something, the order was wrong. None of the staff seemed like they wanted to work there. Extremely unfriendly, zero sense of service, you feel absolutely unwelcome.||||Reception & Front Desk: Extremely incompetent. Transfers were confirmed to us via WhatsApp, but when it was time to leave, there was no transfer. Zero reliability.||||Management: We made it clear upon arrival that these were not the rooms we booked. As “compensation,” we only received one dinner. Considering the prices we paid (€962 per night for a tiny double room without a dune view and €1,318 per night for a junior suite WITHOUT SEA VIEW), this is an insult to the guest.||One person who stood out particularly negatively was the manager (Idoia), who seemed completely overwhelmed and showed no professionalism whatsoever. Complaints were ignored, solutions refused.||||Conclusion:||This hotel is an absolute disgrace and has nothing to do with a 5-star standard. Overpriced rates, miserable service, incompetent staff, and rooms that are nothing like what’s promised on Booking.com. The manager (Idoia) has no control over the situation.||Dear potential guests: Please book a different hotel! This place is a complete rip-off and has nothing to do with luxury.||||P.S.:||Take a look at the attached pictures – Booking.com vs. reality. The discrepancy is shocking! On top of that, we even had to pay extra in the end, even though the rooms did not match the booked category.

Great, but not perfect for this price point. What’s amazing: the location. Beautiful strip of beach that it’s on. Infinity pool has a great vista. At night we were also lucky to get a view of the Milky Way which was incredible. What’s good: the rooms are beautiful and calming color palette. Very chic vibe. What’s mixed: The food is average. Breakfast is very nice. Lunch and dinner are less good and very similar menus. Also we ordered one of the specials and it was 3x the price of the average main on the menu. Sticker shock paying e130 for a very average ribeye. What disappointed: The service standards were very mixed for a resort of this quality. Everyone was very nice and friendly and very patient with my 5yr kid who is a handful so I really appreciated that. However the level of attentiveness of the staff was terrible. I had to get out of my seat many, many times and flag down a waiter. This should not happen at a place like this. And given how nice the staff are it’s an easy fix and could have changed the whole complexion of the visit. What’s worth noting: the beach isn’t actually part of the hotel and you don’t get service and loungers there. Rather you have to pay separately to a beach bar/lounger company to get access to these things. Also there are public car parks interrupting the view of the sea a bit. Not the end of the world but something to be aware of.

The pool is small - too small to swim laps - but perfect to soak in a beautiful view, drink excellent wine, frequently dip in to be refreshed. |The food at the restaurant steps away is solid. |The rooms down the hill are comfortable and spacious - the air conditioning rocks. |The staff is wonderful. |The public beach down the hill has some of the clearest water I have ever seen. |It can be hot, not a lot of shade but a lively hotel on an even more lively island. |The hotel is small. We had excellent guests around us. That said it is small enough that a few loud guests could mess up the vibe.