Cala 5

The honest five-seater

Most people who ask for a hot tub want somewhere four or five people can sit together on a Saturday night. The Cala 5 does that for €9,490, installed, with nothing left to add for a standard terrace. It is 200×200×85 cm, which fits comfortably on a 3×3 m patch and still leaves room to walk around it. There is one lounger and four upright seats. Four adults sit with space to spare. Five is fine for an hour.

It is the Essential version of the family tub. If you want a second lounger, a circulation pump and an app, the Serra 5 does that in a slightly bigger shell for €12,990. If you only ever have two people, the Cala 3 saves €1,000 and a metre of terrace.

What you get for €9,490

One 3 HP pump feeds 32 hydro jets and 10 air jets. The lounger has jets along the spine and at the feet, the upright seats focus on shoulders and lower back. A 3 kW heater brings the 1,150 litres from mains temperature to 38 °C in roughly a day in summer and a little longer in January. The control panel is a digital pad on the rim: temperature, pumps, lights, filter cycles. It is simple enough that a holiday guest can use it without a manual.

The shell is acrylic on a fibreglass base, with a lockable insulated cover. Shell warranty is five years, equipment two.

Delivery and power

Dry weight is 340 kg. It travels on its side, so the critical measure is the 85 cm height plus 10 cm of clearance: a 95 cm wide path from the street to the terrace, no steps. Most villa garden gates in Mallorca clear that. A townhouse with stairs in Pollença old town does not, and that is a crane job at €450–650.

Power is a dedicated 16 A line with an RCD, the same as the Cala 3. This is the reason the Cala 5 is often the right answer for an older finca where the supply is modest: it is the biggest tub we offer that does not need a 20 A or 25 A circuit. Full of water and people it weighs close to 1.8 tonnes, so a raised terrace should be checked by an architect before we deliver.

Keeping it warm

On Mallorca's tariff of about €0.22/kWh, an Essential tub at 38 °C with three uses a week costs roughly €35–45 a month in summer and €60–80 in winter. The Cala 5 is the tub those figures were measured on. Winter residents in the Tramuntana valleys can expect the top of that range; a south-facing terrace in Llucmajor the bottom.

Hard water and salt air are the two local enemies. We balance the water at handover and recommend a change every three months. If the house is empty for stretches, a holiday check from €45 a visit keeps the chemistry right and the cover clamped.