Mallorca Voyage Tips and guide

Mallorca or Majorca is the largest of the Balearic Islands in the Mediterranean, all governed by Spain. It's an easy-to-reach destination well-developed for tourism, with sunny beaches, fascinating old towns, mountain scenery and great food and wine.

Serra de Tramuntana The mountain range along the northwest coast.

Palma de Mallorca The island's capital and only city, with a massive cathedral, a charming old town, and lots of hotels, shops and restaurants.

Pla de Mallorca The agricultural plains of the island.

Raiguer An agricultural region, with the island's best vineyards, and the centre of its shoe and leather craft.

Migjorn The southernmost region has many beaches and bays for swimming and sunbathing.

Llevant Hills and mountains, fertile fields, cliffs with embedded bays and sandy beaches make the landscape a kind of Mallorca concentrate.

39°31′48″N 2°55′12″E

Map of Mallorca

• 39.5666672.6497221 Palma de Mallorca is the island's capital, with lots to see and do, and a long beach strip.
• 39.5666672.5166672 Calvià is the municipality that includes Magaluf, Palma Nova and Portals Nous.
• 39.7663442.7153023 Sóller is best known for its heritage train and tram.
• 39.8772053.0164344 Pollença has a well-preserved old centre.
• 39.85253.1191675 Alcúdia retains its old city walls and has a long beach strip.
• 39.6052783.3861116 Cala Millor is the main resort on the southeast coast.
• 39.573.217 Manacor is a typical inland town, and hosts the Nadal tennis academy.
• 39.3172.9938 Colònia de Sant Jordi has a cactus garden and boat trips to Cabrera.

• 39.8229172.8844441MISSING WIKILINK Santuari de Lluc is a monastery in the Tramuntana mountains.
• 39.84362.79252 Sa Calobra and Torrent de Pareis are Mallorca's "Grand Canyon".
• 39.455533.185453 San Salvador Monastery sits atop a mountain near Porto Colom and Felanitx.
• 39.1583332.9666674 Cabrera is the largest island of an uninhabited archipelago and National Park 20 km south of Mallorca.

200 years ago this was the undiscovered Mediterranean, and Frédéric Chopin came to stay. The main thing that lay undiscovered was the whereabouts of his grand piano, which the baggage handlers lost in transit, setting the bar very high for their future colleagues.

Mass tourism only took off after 1975, when Franco died and Spain presented a more friendly modern face to the world. The Balearics were within easy flying range of Britain and Germany, and were somehow just-foreign-enough. Mallorca especially attracted a conservative clientele who could stomach paella but who yearned above all for a nice cup of tea. They could enjoy the island's warmth, bars and beaches on a low income, and that remains a big attraction. They were preceded by an army of cement mixers that festooned the coastline with hotel blocks; and when the cost of aviation dropped from the 1990s they were joined by a motley crowd of young party-goers. Together with visitors from Spain, they now number over 13 million per year.

The principal tourist areas are along the coast for 30 km either side of Palma the capital, west to Magaluf and east past the airport to S'Arenal. All along the northwest coast of Mallorca is a mountain range, Serra de Tramuntana, from Andratx to Pollença and Cap Formentor. The northeast coast has another tourist strip from Alcúdia to Can Picafort, and smaller resort areas dot the east and south coasts. The centre is an agricultural plain, with a lower range of hills along the southeast coast. Travelling distances are short - traversing the island from Palma to Alcúdia is only 55 km - so any congenial accommodation can be a base for exploring the whole island.

You can come any time of year, but the main tourist season is April to October: many businesses close up for winter. A good time to visit is September, when the hottest days and peak of overcrowding are past, but the sea is warm and calm.

Catalan and Spanish are the official languages in the Balearic Islands. Most people can speak both languages, although the natives converse amongst themselves in Mallorquín, a sub-dialect of the "Balear" variety of Catalan.

In tourist areas, you will frequently come across people speaking English, German, French and other common European languages.

Palma de Mallorca Airport (PMI ^IATA) is the island's only commercial airport, and where most visitors arrive. It has frequent scheduled flights from Madrid, Barcelona and other Spanish cities. Flights from other countries are mostly on budget airlines / package tours, especially from Britain and Germany. These arrive every few minutes in summer but are sparse in winter.

There are also flights from Menorca and Ibiza, but these are double the price of the equivalent ferries yet only save an hour.

The airport is 8 km east of Palma city.

Ferries sail to Mallorca from Barcelona (7 hr), Denia (5 hr) and Valencia (7 hr). Most sailings are to Palma, but some call at Alcúdia on their way to Menorca. Inter-island ferries sail to Palma from Ibiza (2-4 hr), Formentara (4 hr) and Mahon on Menorca (6 hr).

Ferry lines are Trasmed, Baleària and GNV. There are no ferries to Mallorca from France, Italy or North Africa.

Cruise liners often call at Palma as they tour the Med.

With your own boat, Palma is the Port of Entry to clear immigration and customs if your last port-of-call was in a non-Schengen country.

Toll-free highways radiate from Palma. The principal routes are:

• Ma-1 west to Magaluf and associated resorts,
• Ma-11 north to Sóller,
• Ma-13 northeast to Inca and Alcúdia,
• Ma-15 east to Manacor and Cala Ratjada,
• Ma-19 southeast past the airport to Campos and Cala d'Or.

Car hire is available at the airport and main resorts.

TIB buses run to all the main cities from Palma city and airport, roughly hourly, daily. For a few small places such as Lluc or Colònia de Sant Jordi, you change buses at an inland town.

TIB trains run every 20 min from Palma to Inca, where they branch to Sa Pobla or Manacor.

A heritage train runs from Palma to Sóller, where you change to the wooden tram to the port. These are so crowded with tourists that they're no longer practical for locals, who complain mightily, while secretly preferring the bus which hurtles through the Ma-11 tunnel.

• Palma old town is centred on its cathedral. Medieval city walls still stand, with narrow streets within. There are several museums.
• Churches are the centrepiece of many other towns, often 17th century Baroque. The oddest is in Sa Servera near Cala Millor: the shell of an uncompleted Gothic church.
• Valldemossa Charterhouse was originally a royal palace then a monastery, then accommodation where Frédéric Chopin once stayed with George Sand.
• S'Albufera is a salt marsh near Alcudia, where many bird species can be seen. Bird life can be seen at many other spots around the coast, such the cliffs of Formentor.
• Caves: several are open to the public, such as the Dragon Caves near Cala Millor.

• Hiking: the principal trail is Ruta de Pedra (GR221, taking eight days along the northwest coast from Andratx to Port de Pollença.
• Cycling: the main roads are ratty, get off into the lanes, and the gradients of Serra de Tramuntana will get your attention. Vuelta Ciclista a Mallorca is four days of racing in Jan / Feb, which pro teams use as a warm-up for their coming season.
• Golf: some 18 courses are mainly in two areas, the Andratx - Calvià - Magaluf resorts west of Palma, and the Cala Ratjada - Sa Servera strip along the east coast.
• Tennis: the Nadal tennis academy is at Manacor.
• Beaches: much of the coast is rocky. Sandy stretches attract a scrummage of boxy hotels and may be crowded. The best compromise may be in secluded coves, where the gradient to access and exit deters the crowds.
• Scuba diving is ideal for beginners and occasional divers. There's no river outflow so the water is clear, warm especially in late summer, and non-tidal. The convoluted coast means there's always a sheltered cove if the wind and waves pick up, as they often do in the afternoon. Mallorca main island suffers the usual Med problems of stripped coral, fished out, and unregulated coastal development. Cabrera island has the best diving, as it's a national park with protected habitat.

Non-divers can also see Cabrera on boat trips.

• Music: classical and other concerts are especially in summer, with some held open-air.

• Climbing: the limestone bluffs of Serra de Tramuntana have plenty of climbing routes. "Psicobloc" is the specialty of rock climbing above deep water.
• Fiestas mostly have religious roots, with great Madonnas teetering in pomp down ancient streets. A few have always been secular: in Sóller, Es Firo in May involves pirates, enraged women, treacle and catapults. And Correfoc in August sees Sóller invaded by hellfire demons, until doused by the fire brigade.
• Sailing and yachting: there are marinas at all the main coastal towns. Boat charter may be available.

All the towns have supermarkets around their fringes, open M-Sa and part of Sunday.

See individual towns for details of their weekly Farmers Market.

Petrol, diesel and EV charging are widely available, at a 5%-10% price premium to mainland Spain.

Mallorcan cuisine is typically Mediterranean, based on bread, vegetables and meat (especially pork), with olive oil for cooking or garnish. A simple summer meal is Pa amb Oli, bread with olive oil, tomato, and maybe cheese and tunafish. Trampó is similar but with vegetables instead of bread.

Other local dishes include Frit Mallorquí (diced meat and veg) and Sopes Mallorquines (a simple dish of bread and vegetables, optionally with meat, eggs or wild mushrooms). Seafood paella is a tourist favourite yet authentically local.

Sobrassada is a sausage made of pork, paprika and condiments. It's eaten plain or toasted, on a slice of bread, and it's also used in preparing other dishes. It's normally not spicy.

For breakfast, Ensaïmada is a spiral bun made of dough with pork fat. For dessert Gató is cake with almond and almond ice cream.

Bunyols, sweet pastries, are an autum dish. They're made with boiled potatoes, flour, eggs, butter or lard, yeast and sugar; all fried in hot oil and then sprinkled with sugar.

See individual towns for restaurants and cafe-bars. Palma has the best selection.

Water from the tap is safe to drink, but tastes flat and lukewarm, as it comes from desalination. You might prefer bottled.

Drinking alcohol is allowed if you are 18 or older, as in the rest of Spain. Only bars, restaurants, discos and the like may serve it after 10 pm.

You are seldom more than 5 metres from a beer, but it's all imported except for a few micro-brews. San Miguel's brewery on the island has folded.

Magaluf and Palma's Paseo Maritime are the main late-night strips, but even the small resorts are buzzing well after midnight. Drinking in the streets is tolerated except where prohibited by local order, and resorts want to avoid the reputation that descended on Magaluf through idiotic drinking. Police will act against unruly revellers and dish out fines for property damage, litter or violence.

Mallorca's climate and soil are similar to mainland Spain so it produces wine, but little is exported. Indeed both quality and quantity were low, and Mallorca had to import wine, until the industry was revitalised in the 1990s. There are nowadays some 70 vineyards. Two areas have Denominació d'Origen (DO) status, Binissalem and Pla i Llevant, but none qualify for the exalted DOP / DOC / DOQ rankings.

Binissalem DO is the best known, a strip in Raiguer approximately bounded to the east by Inca, to the west by Santa Maria del Camí on the edge of Palma city, to the south by Highway Ma-13 and to the north by the uplands of Serra de Tramuntana. Pla i Llevant DO covers almost half the island, almost everything south of Ma-13 except the arid south tip near Santanyí. IGP – indicación geográfica protegida - is the next quality tier, also known as Vino de la Tierra. The two IGP areas are Serra de Tramuntana, and "Mallorca" for all other vineyards.

Imported brands are widely available, and travellers from outside the EU (such as Britain) can buy duty-free on arrival at Palma airport.

Four Mallorca distilleries produce gin, and one produces liqueurs and mixers. On the mainland some wine is converted to brandy, but island production is too small for this.

Safeguard valuables, beware traffic including water traffic when swimming, and steer clear of antisocial drunks. Magaluf has the worst reputation for binge drinking and street rowdiness, and the discos thump-thump-thump into the small hours.

Palma and the nearby coastal strip groan under the weight of tourist accommodation. This is overwhelmingly in mid-price modern chain hotels, with little in the way of small independent pensions and next-to-no camping. Most visitors are on packages, which are extremely good value: in effect you pay the standard room rate, and get your return flight from Britain or Germany free. Standards are high, as the package company reps are zealous about quality, it's their job on the line if the guests succumb to food poisoning. All the larger coastal towns have a good selection of hotels and room-only aparthotels, but there are few inland.

Fincas or "Agroturismo" are the way to stay inland, in converted farmhouses on working farms and vineyards. They're upmarket with fine dining, and family-friendly; you'll need your own car.

You need to be an EU citizen, and to speak reasonably fluent Spanish, same as on the Spanish mainland. Palma has the most work opportunities in its hospitality sector.

• Ferries and inter-island flights link Mallorca with Ibiza and Menorca.
• Ferries ply to Barcelona and other ports on mainland Spain.