Not a Beach Person? Mallorca Might Change Your Mind.
Skip the sun lounger. Mallorca’s cliffs, coves, and caves are where the magic lives.
There are two things I’m certain of.
I don’t like water.
Beaches are not my jam.
I suppose the two go hand-in-hand, but there it is. As a kid, I once had a bad experience with water, and it soured me on all things water for life.
Anyway, for spring break this year, we traveled to Mallorca, Spain, where water reigns supreme.
This vacation was not my idea. My husband, Will, is an eternal water lover, proving once again that opposites attract. He loves lakes, rivers, oceans, and seas, and his idea of a good time is a walk on the beach or an afternoon on a jet ski. Will has always wanted to go to the Caribbean for those gorgeous turquoise waters, and I reminded him that we didn’t have to go to Jamaica to see it. It was right here in Spain. (Note: He didn’t believe me.)
I prefer mountains. Luckily for me, Mallorca has both in abundance.
We stayed just outside Palma, the main city on the island, in nearby Portals Nous at the Lindner Hotel Mallorca Portals Nous. It’s a golf resort, but we had no plans to hit the course. Instead, we’d spend time exploring the island and finding adventure. The Lindner has everything you could want in a resort, including a spa, indoor pool, hot tub, and more. The location was just a few minutes from Palma, making it a great place to stay as a home base.
Palma has plenty to do: shopping, historic sites, restaurants, and anything else you could want to do in a European city. But the biggest cities also tend to attract the biggest crowds, which we discovered in the city center. The streets were teeming with crowds of people. It was only mid-April, and if this was busy, what did summer look like?!
Knowing we aren’t a family that wants to stay in the city the entire time we’re on vacation, I made plans to do things all around Mallorca, giving us a taste of what we might like to do again when we return. Mallorca is incredibly mountainous, which we didn’t expect. It reminded Will and me of our trip to Ireland many years ago, with dramatic cliffs and misty overlooks. Our drive to the Formentor Lighthouse was just as jaw-dropping as the one on the Pacific Coast Highway. And Es Trenc beach was perhaps the most stunning any of us had ever seen, with its white sand and clear turquoise waters.
Mallorca is also more than daytime jaunts and beaches. I had an inkling that we might be able to do some great stargazing on the island, away from all the twinkling city lights. Some of those peaks turned out to be ideal for stargazing. One clear evening, despite our exhaustion and desire for a good night’s sleep, we decided to head up to Coll de Sa Gramola, one of the island’s best stargazing spots. As we gazed at the sky in complete darkness – with only the very occasional car driving by to break up the night with its headlights – the silence was, as they say, deafening. It was one of my favorite moments of our trip.
Mallorca was a pleasant surprise. It was unexpectedly diverse, not at all the typical island paradise I thought it would be. Instead, it had something for everyone, and despite my general dislike of crowds, I could see why it was a popular destination. If you want history, you can find it. If you want a relaxing time on the beach, Mallorca has that, too. Looking for nature? Check. And if you’re into luxury, there’s more of that than you’ll know what to do with.
In no particular order, here is my must-do list if you head to Mallorca.
📍 Es Trenc beach
📍 Drach Caves
📍 Coll de Sa Gramola
📍 Palma’s Old Town
📍 Catedral-Basílica de Santa María de Mallorca
📍 Cala Comtesa
📍 Alcudia Sea Explorer
📍 Platja des Coll Baix
📍 Mirador de Es Colomer
📍 Far de Formentor
📍 Cala Murta
📍 Cala Sa Nau