The beautiful Mallorca/Majorca – it was very busy but fun

We knew at some point we would make it back to Mallorca/Majorca.  This time, it took a bit longer than we thought! We were last in Mallorca/Majorca in 2010 towards the end of a cruise from Miami to Barcelona.  It was our last stop before Barcelona.  We did the requisite excursion around the island, to the Drach Caves, and to the Majorica jewellery factory.  This post shares with you our recent week in Mallorca/Majorca doing everything else we could!

Background

Mallorca/Majorca is part of the Balearic Islands. Other islands in the chain include Menorca, Ibiza, and Formentera.  It is a very popular tourist destination for travellers from Germany, UK, Ireland and the Netherlands.  Not surprising given the short 2 hour flights from those locations.    An old Roman settlement, Palma, its capital, is full of interesting and diverse architecture. Its famous Cathedral towers over the city.  With its mediterranean climate and temperate mountain ranges it appeals to a wide variety of sun-seekers and outdoorsman for cycling and hiking.

Getting to Mallorca/Majorca

By air

We flew in via Air Europa from Barcelona to Mallorca/Majorca.  Busy airport, but, efficiently loaded and took off on time (although looked like it would be late).  The price was right, and the luggage arrived with us, so, we were happy with the experience.

Getting Around

There is alot of traffic in Palma.  Once you are out of the city, the traffic thins out, but, keep that in mind for how you get around.

• Taxi’s – best to use for getting into town and back to the airport.  
• Buses – all over the place and used a great deal. Again with the traffic
• Metro/Train -we used it a couple times.  Very efficient and not overly costly. Heavily used by locals, so rush hours exist here.

Accommodations in Mallorca/Majorca

Palma Suites Central, spacious, modern boutique hotel in Palma.  We splurged here and stayed in a 2 level Premium Suite.  We enjoyed the loft bedroom; the large living room and dining room was great to relax and enjoy drinks in prior to heading out for dinner.  The kitchen was well equipped, and the washing machine was super helpful.  Largest challenge was trying to find places to hang the washed clothes to dry!

Activities in Mallorca/Majorca

Soller, Port de Soller

Take the old wooden train and have a blast!  Soller and Port de Soller are a great way to spend a day. We had fun enjoying the train ride out of the city, to the Serra de Tramuntana.  The tunnels are cool and kinda creepy, and the scenery is beautiful.  Small towns dot the way along to soller.  You arrive pulling into the town, walking distance to everything. 

Soller is well worth the trip for its boutiques and galleries, along with some tasty food and drink.  You can then go on to Port de Soller on the 30 min tram ride.  It goes right thruogh the middle of Soller and makes its way down to the coast.  A short ride, but, exciting to pull into the port and have it go through much of town on the main street along the water.  Port de Soller is again a great beach town – stacked with restaurants, bars, hotels, and stores which dot along this main drag.  Many come down to the port just to swim.  Warm water, lifeguards, and yachts dot the shores.

In Soller, Ben Calcat is the place to go for the highly sought after mallorquines if you are into shopping.  Beautiful shoes, wide variety of types and sizes, all made locally in house. We treated ourselves to some lovely leather albarques and porqueres.

Beaches

Beaches are plentiful on the island. You can tell this by just typing ‘beaches on Mallorca’ into Google! There are many tours to various beaches on the island if you want to get outside of town and don’t want to hire a car. Central to Palma, there is Platja de Can Pere Antoni.  This city strip of beach is great for the mornings when you want to go for a bit of a soak and sun, without all the effort of driving/busing somewhere.  Beautiful water, clean, and lifeguards.

Wine Tasting

If you like wine tasting like we do, Ideal Vinoteca & Delicatessen is the place to go. Marina Aller has a fantastic business here in central Palma.  Focusing on 2 of her favorite things – wine and truffles – she has a great curated selection of wines as well as truffle-centric condiments.  If you time it right and want a tasting, that is avialble too!  We enjoyed tastings of 6 different white and red wines, predominantly from Mallorca/Majorca itself.  Vastly experienced with the local wine industry and the broader Spanish wine scene, the tasting was informative and highly entertaining.  Another option for wine tasting tours outside of Palma, is Mallorcan Wine tours.

If you want to do some wine tasting on your own, it might be a thought to hirer a driver or find a designated driver to take you to the vineyards you want to taste at.  Tastings are not overly costly – it’s getting there and back!  Maria Balta is enroute for the train; but, most others require a walk or hike to get to them from public transport.

Food & drink

Fika Farina is OMG amazing.  If you follow our instagram account (@planetsaipo) you would see numerous posts on our time at this bakery. There are not enough words in my vocabulary to explain to you how amazing good their pastries are.  Any, best cortado in town.  Worth the line ups and take out only.

Raimundo: our first night after unpacking at the hotel, we wanted something tasty and reasonably quick.  This restaurant was a short stroll away from our hotel.  The burgers were amazing!  Fries were perfectly twice fried for extra crisp.  

Mercat de l’Olivar is the place to go for fresh fish, butcher, produce, really everything.  Great for tapas, lunch, coffee. And, if you haven’t shopped enough in town, the mercat has everything local you could want to take home.

Amazing coffee at Arabay @ Mercat de l’Olivar. Their flat whites and cortados were quick, tasty, and fortifying for all the shopping you have to do in the mercat.

Bazaar for tasty, creative fare with a great vibe. This tapas bar and restaurant is popular so make sure you make a reservation.

Great tacos are available at L’Informal . They are yummy, tasty, and quick.

Summary of Mallorca/Majorca

A scenic, charming city for sure and full of great activities to see and do. Even in the 30 C + heat, it was lovely and you could always find an air conditioned shop, restaurant to relax. It was, however, extremely busy. We were told by some of the tour providers that it has gotten somewhat better since they have regulated the cruise ship visits down to no more than 3 per day from 5 per day. It was the 3rd week of September we visited so arguably still high season or very much on the cusp to the shoulder season.

It’s possible that October/November would be better months for a visit. What you trade off sometimes is the ‘liveliness’ and ‘atmosphere’ that comes with the buzz of crowds. So, for-warned is for-armed!

Check out some of our other travel posts here!