New boutique Hotel Riviera Menorca, in Ciutadella, Menorca, opened for guests on one of the Balearic islands, not far from Ibiza and Formentera.

Menorca’s increasingly sophisticated hotel scene has demonstrated how beautiful, historic fincas (historic stone houses and rural estates) can be reinvented through restrained contemporary design. Menorca is a quiet island without the club music atmosphere of its neighbor Ibiza.

Hotel Riviera Menorca, part of DNA Hotels, is small, colorful, sociable and gloriously unserious. Ilmiodesign Interior Architecture takes the optimism of a 1970s Italian beach holiday and drops it into Ciutadella without losing sight of where it actually is. The terrazzo keeps things Mediterranean; the pool gives the hotel its heartbeat, and those orange stripes on the building make sure guests never confuse it with another tasteful Balearic retreat. Menorca has plenty of beautiful hotels, but the new Riviera might just offer the prettiest color scheme.

The hotel is an intimate 14-room urban resort, centered around a saltwater pool with striped parasols, motel-style balconies and plenty of orange. It’s playful without copying other venues, and its terrazzo, terracotta, mustard yellow and customized retro furniture give the hotel a personality while keeping one foot firmly in the Mediterranean.

Menorca has become known for hotels with whitewashed walls, pale linen, rough stone and Olive wood, a beautifully restrained palette designed to disappear into the landscape. Hotel Riviera does almost the exact opposite. On the edge of Ciutadella’s historic center, former Hotel Madrid has been transformed into a riot of orange, stripes and voluptuous curves inspired not by traditional Menorca, but by the Italian Riviera of the 1970s. It shouldn’t necessarily work. Yet it absolutely does.

The courtyard is the hotel’s center of gravity. A saltwater swimming pool is surrounded by orange-and-white tiles, sunbeds, and striped parasols, while exterior corridors and balconies overlook the scene from above. It’s compact, sociable and deliberately theatrical, the kind of pool where doing absolutely nothing feels like an activity. Day passes bring non-guests into the courtyard, too, giving it something many small boutique hotels lack: life.

Inside, the rebellion against Balearic beige continues. Warm terracotta meets mustard yellow. Rounded ceiling coves soften the rooms. Striped upholstery adds graphic rhythm, while playful, flower-shaped lamps bring a hint of Mary Quant-era pop design.

And then there’s terrazzo. Used throughout the hotel, it becomes the material connecting Riviera’s Italian fantasy back to the wider Mediterranean. Most of the furniture and lighting was designed specifically for the property and adapted to the individual rooms, which helps prevent the retro references from slipping into theme-hotel territory. This isn’t a recreation of 1973. It’s 1973 after a very good edit.

The Riviera’s small scale is part of its charm. Rooms are divided between Double Piccola, Double Deluxe, Junior Suite and Suite Riviera categories, and every room has some form of private outdoor space. Some look toward the sea, others directly into the pool courtyard. Larger rooms offer substantial terraces, while the layouts were individually adjusted to make the most of each room’s relationship with the building. Curves, arm colors, stripes and custom pieces are balanced by decidedly contemporary comforts, including Marshall speakers, Dyson hairdryers, and Malin+Goetz bath products.

The poolside restaurant understands the atmosphere. Breakfast combines Mediterranean staples with à la carte dishes before the menu slides effortlessly into holiday mode: ricotta toast, shakshuka, fruit, pancakes and Riviera fries with parmesan fondue. The signature Benedict Riviera piles poached eggs, smashed avocado and parmesan fondue onto brioche. The pool bar keeps cocktails coming into the afternoon, making the courtyard somewhere you’re quite likely to spend considerably longer than intended.

Wellness is kept equally informal. The rooftop starts the morning with Pilates, while massages take place beneath draped fabric with Mediterranean air drifting through the space. Treatments range from Swedish massage and reflexology to the hotel’s own essential oil Riviera massage. But Riviera’s most convincing therapy remains downstairs: Pool. Sunbed. Striped umbrella. Repeat.