Return to Mallorca - but off the RS radar?

Rick is selective in what areas he covers but then provides a great deal of detail about each destination. There may simply not be enough room in the Spain book to add coverage of the Balearic Islands, but a bigger issue is that Americans' vacations are usually very short, and most can't even cover Barcelona-Madrid-Toledo-Cordoba-Seville-Granada on a single trip.

There have been some detailed posts about Mallorca. You may be able to find them via the Search function. I have enough trouble with it that I'd just Google rickesteves.com/travel-forum Mallorca and see what pops up.

There seem to be two Mallorcas, one for the traditional tourist (the sightseer) and one for the beach-and-party-scene visitor. Different hotels would be recommended for those two categories of visitors. Since you're traveling with your family, can we assume you're not looking for the party scene?

Was wondering if anyone could recommend a place to stay and maybe offer some insight as to why this doesn't appear to be a location (at ALL) that Americans would otherwise go to

I get the feeling that most Americans, when they visit Europe, target destinations with the cultural sites that they don't readily find in the States I call the "Three C's" aka Cathedrals, Castles, and Château. While Mallorca does have those sites, they are not so front and center for tourism on the islands compared to beaches/resorts, which can be readily found throughout the USA like Hawaii and Florida.

With such limited vacation time, I think Americans want to see Florence, Salzburg, Sevilla rather than Canary Islands, Sardinia, or the Azores... whose main tourism comes from European tourists.

Hi Toto -

I’ll be honest, I avoided Mallorca for years because of its reputation for harbouring the worst of ‘Brits abroad’. However when I was at last persuaded to go I was very pleasantly surprised. We headed for the northern coast and stayed in an apartment/villa at Deia, which was just fabulous.

Our explorations took us all along the northern coast from Valdemossa in the west to Puerto Pollensa in the east, and everywhere looked like a great place to stay all away from the tourist hotspots. Other places we stayed and I can recommend include Soller and Puerto Soller and Pollensa itself. On one occasion we hiked the Tramuntana Traverse which goes through the mountains behind the coast, which was splendid hiking for a week if that is your bag. We spent a couple of nights at the Lluc monastery which seems to be half hotel, half hostel in a slightly schizophrenic manner, but was fun none the less and as it seems to veer towards hotel, we had a private room.

The first time we visited we had a car and drove about to discover remote coves and smaller villages, but we also used the bus on a couple of occasions, which was easy enough to work out. If you didn’t want to hire a car there’s a bus from the airport into Palma which terminates just across the road from the train/tram to Soller and trams in Soller link to nearby Puerto Soller.

I was even pleasantly surprised by Palma which was not the 24/7 party town I had expected. I can imagine that the tourist hot spots are indeed a nightmare if riotous over consumption is not your thing (it’s definitely not mine) but the northern coast especially seems to largely avoid the excesses I’d come to believe were the norm.

Ian

This travel article, posted yesterday, might be useful -
https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/travel/mallorca-island-spain-what-to-do/2021/11/18/0a8896c8-3e82-11ec-a493-51b0252dea0c_story.html

Toto, my husband and I were slated to visit Mallorca and Barcelona in spring 2020. We are hoping to actually make our trip happen this upcoming spring instead. I think the island looked incredible; I was really excited to do a lot of hiking there and take in the scenery. Palma sounds nice. I agree that there’s always so much to do and see that destinations like this fall off a lot of American tourist’s radars. That’s not always a bad thing (thinking how some destinations get mobbed)…

Another place I want to go is Zaragoza. It also appears to be more off the beaten path but sounds intriguing.

maybe offer some insight as to why this doesn't appear to be a
location (at ALL) that Americans would otherwise go to?

Mallorca is a traditional beach and party destination for Northern European tourists. It actually has the nickname "the 17th state of Germany". However, people never get tired of emphasizing "But there is so much more to Mallorca..."

This is not meant to discourage you from going there, but make sure you choose a hotel far away from the Ballermann.

However, people never get tired of emphasizing "But there is so much more to Mallorca..."

That's because there is!

I travel to Mallorca every year for a couple of weeks and still haven't seen everything. The party scene is only a small aspect of the island and confined to several well known towns which are easily avoidable if it doesn't interest you.

Mallorca is a fantastic island which is often much maligned but usually by people who have never been and simply consider it to be a party island for drunk Brits and Germans.

JC: We've got 3 nights (2-1/4 full days) in Majorca in June. Our first time.
Do you recommend we stay in Palma and drive/explore from there, or should we get a place along the north coast (or somewhere else)?
Any hotel or Air BnB recommendations?

Thanks!

Its easy to get to Port de Soller by bus or train and tram from Palma
There are various hotels there of different standards and prices. I stopped in Hotel Citric, a bit basic but friendly staff
I hired a car there for a couple of days. Very cheap all inclusive cash deal from near the large car park. Wasn't the newest car but wouldn't fancy driving a brand new car along all those narrow roads in the mountains
There is a pleasant walk up to the headland and looping back inland along from the Citric

Thanks, I'll check out that hotel.
Renting in Soller: better than renting at the Palma airport?

It has probably been too long to recommend anything (15 years or more) but we did several trips to Europe that involved visiting my Brother that was stationed in the Military. One condition he had was that I plan a week someplace "Beach", so when he was in England, we did the English thing and went to Mallorca. We did avoid the package tour and party scene though, and after landing took the bus to Port de Pollenca. It is on the Northeast point of the island, wonderful beach, at the time it was a laid back vacation destination with small hotels and good restaurants.

It also offered good hiking, some wild terrain out on Cap Formentor, A neat little town nearby called Cala Sant Vincenc, and another decent town, Alcudia and it's Port, which also featured some Roman ruins. I had the impression that it was the type of place that Rick would recommend if he had a book on the island.

@Cowboycork, I think I've provided as extensive information as possible in our private messages. For any accommodation recommendations I'll allow others to chime in for reasons I've already explained.

We're also finding information for planning a little scant in the usual sources, so am turning to websites, etc. and - of course - the RS community.

Would appreciate recommendations for towns or accommodations on the Belearic Islands to use a a home base for 3 or 4 days at a time where (in an ideal vacation) we can walk to cafes, bike out to beaches, hike, kayak (if the fall winds are calm enough) explore the landscape/environment/ culture by train/bus/car. We would probably start and end in Palma giving ourselves "about" 7 nights overall this September/October.

We are foodies and coffee at a cafe is not only mandatory, but obligatory! ;o)

Many thanks in advance!

Robert W.

For hiking and cafe culture you can't beat Soller high in the Tramuntana mountains, lots of excellent hiking opportunities in the surrounding area and the beautiful town of Soller for dining and browsing the multitude of local, independent shops.

Alcudia is a great historic town to explore with plenty of restaurants and cafes, there's also a beach nearby however the surrounding area is a bit dated.

Pollensa is a charming town, small but relaxing. It's on the waterfront but not one of the better beaches on the island. My favourite beach is Es Trenc on the southwestern side of the island. There are a number of luxury boutique hotels dotted around the immediate area.

The site, www.abc-mallorca.com, is a wealth of information.