Carlos E. Vallejo.
Welcome to Palma de Mallorca, capital of the island of calm.
Enjoy the beauty of this Mediterranean treasure, where the light it gives off, elevates the soul to a state of happiness during your stay. The saying goes that he who knows the island, always comes back.
The tips I am going to share with you depend a lot on the number of days of your stay and the time of the year you are there (basically, summer or winter).
Weekends are sighs of free time, which, if you make the most of them, are the best memories of your life.
In Palma de Mallorca, and I say well, although we know it as Palma among our contemporaries, it has always borne and should always bear the surname of Mallorca so as not to create confusion with the many variants of the word Palma.
Let’s say we arrive on a Friday afternoon. Take a shower in the establishment where you are staying and I will suggest different options before dinner.
1.- Stroll through the gardens of the Hort del Rey and the Parc de la Mar.
2.- If you arrive before 20.00 a walk along Jaime III street, passing by the “Juan Carlos I” square until you arrive to enjoy the Gran Hotel.
3.- If you are not staying in the city centre. I recommend you to continue reading this guide, where you will find very valuable information about our favourite island.
Dining.
The offer is immense. Here are some reviews of very useful applications for finding restaurants:
https://guide.michelin.com/es/es/islas-baleares/palma/restaurantes
Santa Catalina.
A former fishermen’s quarter, it has become one of the city’s most emblematic neighbourhoods, where the cultural mix dominates everything.
The gastronomic offer is immense, there are all kinds and colours. I only recommend where I’ve been and as I don’t go out much lately, I can only recommend these two: Casa Rosita (reservations are essential) very good homemade Italian.
https://www.facebook.com/casarositasantacatalina/
La Rosa Vermutería & Colmado
http://www.larosavermuteria.com/es
Better in winter than in summer.
Old-fashioned place with an avant-garde heart. Tapas and portions of authentic homemade food.
Friendly and professional waiters.
Molinar.
This is a neighbourhood, also a fishermen’s neighbourhood next to Palma and facing the sea, where there are many restaurants with terraces offering endless tapas and paellas. “As in an apothecary there is everything”, good and bad.
Here I recommend not for dinner, but for lunch, the bungalow, a classic for paellas and fideuas in front of the sea.
https://m.facebook.com/Restaurante-El-Bungalow-500735799946763/
Pa amb oli
Pa amb oli (bread with oil) is a simple traditional preparation of the island. Originally it refers to a Mallorcan bread seasoned with extra virgin olive oil, however progressively the dish has been completed with a third ingredient, which is tomato (preferably the bread is rubbed with “ramallet” tomatoes).
Once this simple preparation is finished, it is usually topped with cured ham, cheese or any other sausage.
In the Santa Catalina neighbourhood there was a classic: Sa Llimona. Good pambolis that lasted for many years and died in the pandemic.
Once dinner is over, you should have a good chat. Equally or more important than what we eat, is who we are with.
Digestive, pacharán or a good infusion. The important thing is the words and the company, not what we drink.
If, afterwards, you feel like continuing, the night has long been a period of time that I enjoy with the awakenings of my baby Fernando.
The Paseo Maritimo is lined with a large number of bars and discotheques. Beware of night taxis. Getting them in summer is a lottery.
Saturday.
We arrive on this Saturday in Mallorca, which is no small thing. We celebrate the joie de vivre, and here.
It will depend a lot on where you are staying and what you feel like.
I recommend having breakfast next to a municipal market.
Municipal markets in Spain have always been beautiful and now they have evolved for the better.
Quality, colour, attention. It is a human melting pot, where you can enjoy the best delicacies of the moment.
In the Santa Catalina market, both inside and outside, there are some incredible places to have breakfast.
If you want to see something more mundane, I recommend the Pere Garau Market.
You’ll see a more popular market, but super authentic.
I recommend going early, around 9.00 a.m. as there is still a lot of day left.
My classic day trip.
I have told my clients about it so many times that it is a classic for me.
Palma-Valldemossa.
On Saturdays there is a street market in Valldemossa. Don’t spend too much time there, as it’s the village that’s worthwhile.
It is a beautiful village. The location high up in the valley gives it a noble pride of being a village with character.
I must mention Chopin and George Sand with her classic “A Winter in Majorca” where she does not put the Majorcan natives of the time in a very good light.
Back to the streets of the village. It is a pleasure to walk around, the views from the viewpoint are splendid. Although it is a hyper-touristy village, all the visitors have their part to play.
Let’s not forget the “coca de patata”, a typical local pastry that should be enjoyed with a good hot chocolate.
Leaving Valldemossa we head towards the village of Deia.
On the outskirts of the village we can see some spectacular thousand-year-old olive trees that are well worth a stop. You will not have seen these trees.
The road to Sóller is unique. You should drive slowly and enjoy the scenery. I know it is a contradiction in terms, but it is a real balcony overlooking the sea from the Tramuntana mountain range.
It is not worth stopping in Deia. The village is in an impressive valley, on one side the mountain and on the other a cut with a road of endless curves that end in a rocky cove.
In the past, Deia was a bohemian village of artists (writers, painters). Very cosmopolitan with European residents that marked a bygone era.
It is still an enclave of unparalleled beauty, where Michael Douglas has the S’ Estaca estate and Lady Di used to enjoy weekends at the Hotel “La Residencia”, but we will discover it another time.
We continue along the road and soon we come to the Son Marroig turnoff.
The estate of Son Marroig, whose origins date back to the 16th century, was one of the properties acquired by the Archduke Ludwig Salvator of Austria after falling in love with this corner of the north coast of Mallorca. It is located in a privileged position in front of the natural monument of Sa Foradada.
It is probably one of the five best views in Mallorca. I would highlight the light and the sea. The light gives it tones that make you want to take pictures of everything. The sea melts into the horizon. If we could go in a straight line, it would be a possible entrance to the sky.
We leave Son Marroig and enter one of my favourite villages, Sóller.
Our Saturday excursion is by car, but if you have the chance in your life to take the Sóller railway from Palma, I highly recommend it, it is well worth it.
Park in the centre and head for the town square, which has everything. A modernist church that you will fall in love with just by looking at it. Several streets flow here, where bars and restaurants offer their products. There is always a swirl of people taking photos, waiting for the moment of glory when the jewel of the tram crosses the square.
I recommend you to eat. If the gastronomy is Mallorcan, all the better.
Remember that my guides are always the :No Prisa. With what you eat, drink, talk, enjoy. Once finished, a walk along Luna street to enjoy its shops and back to the car to finish the Tramuntana mountain range in Pollensa.
We continue with our day trip. But it is worth noting that the valley and the port of Soller give you enough to enjoy 5 days of holiday.
With the driver sober, as he has a few more curves to go, we take the road to Pollensa.
The Tramuntana mountain range is a UNESCO World Heritage Site in its own right. An enclave full of magic that you have to walk it, live it and love it.
Our drive is a small sample of what it is.
We will drive past the few reservoirs that Mallorca has, especially the “Gorg Blau” and the “Monasterio de Lluc”.
It is advisable not to linger too long, as we have a colossal finish ahead of us.
Once we reach Pollensa, we head towards Puerto de Pollensa and before we get there, the turn-off to the cape of Formentor is very well signposted.
These are curves that will take you to a northern point of the island with incredible views. Once we go uphill, the view of the Bay of Pollensa is very beautiful.
Once we reach the top, in a quiet and calm walk, we will be filled with the blue of the sea and that infinity that marks the horizon, where the line between sea and sky are two different tones that could be the now and the hereafter.
It is not politically correct to say it, but the Cape of Formentor is a classic of Majorca’s suicides, at least they contemplated the beauty before setting off on their journey.
Dear friends, this is the end of the day trip.
Finally you have two options. You return to your place of origin or you stay in Puerto de Pollensa or Alcudia for dinner.
Sunday.
Good morning people. Being in Mallorca and not visiting the Cathedral is a crime compared to not contemplating the beauty when you had the chance and didn’t want to.
Whether you are a believer or not, there is always mass on Sunday mornings. Admission is free to worship, making it a good, cheap way to admire it.
After so much beauty, you need to recharge your batteries. Look for a bar with a terrace near Plaza
Mayor to enjoy breakfast.
Once you have finished your breakfast, it will depend a lot on the time of the year.
Summer.
There are countless options for beaches and coves, and for spending the whole day at the beach I recommend Es Trenc beach. For coves, one of my favourites is Cala de San Vicente.
Winter.
If you like to walk and see unique landscapes, hiking is a great plan. There is a very easy and beautiful walk from Deia to the restaurant “viene de abajo”. The best plan is to book a table. Once you have finished the walk of about three hours or so, you arrive at a restaurant that is quite good in terms of views and food. It is essential that you are picked up on your way back to Palma or you order a taxi back.
Autumn.
The Drach caves are a spectacle like no other. They are probably the most beautiful caves you will ever see. Afterwards a good paella in Porto Cristo.
Spring.
Spring in Mallorca has been really short lately, there are very few days, and it tends to go from winter to summer very quickly. But if you are lucky enough to enjoy this time of year, I recommend you visit the village of Orient, in the heart of the Serra de la Tramuntana.
Make the most of it and stay for lunch.
The restaurants are quite good Mallorcan restaurants.
Sunday afternoon arrived and the charm of the weekend was on the wane. Years ago a group of friends and I used to have the good habit of meeting up on Sundays at about 20.00 to say goodbye to the weekend. Needless to say, some of us started working on Monday without finishing the weekend.
