Mallorca (2025)

I love travelling in September as often the weather is much more pleasant than in the peak summer months and it is much less crowded, making the entire experience more enjoyable. This September, my boyfriend and I decided to see what the Balearic Islands had to offer, starting with Mallorca, where neither of us had been previously. 

Mallorca is a Spanish Island located in the Mediterranean Sea, its official languages are Spanish and Catalan and it’s the largest of the seven Balearic Islands, which together are an autonomous region, similarly to Madeira in Portugal. 

Saturday

We’d booked a 5:45am flight and my mum very kindly offered to pick us up at 3am and take us to Gatwick. We went straight through to the bag drop off and despite our suitcase being slightly overweight, we weren’t charged extra, which was a pleasant surprise. Within no time, we were on the flight and we immediately passed out. We awoke just before landing, giving us time to eat the sandwiches and bananas that we’d packed, and the whole process from disembarking to going through security control and baggage reclaim to getting a bus to Alcúdia, the region we were staying in, was all pretty seamless. 

As we boarded the bus, every seat was taken except for two abutting seats, which as a Londoner makes you question what’s wrong with them. Nonetheless, we took our chances and within a few minutes were getting dripped on by the AC unit. That explained the empty seats. 

After an hour or so, we’d reached Alcúdia and the sun was really starting to do its thing. Since the check-in time for the Airbnb was only at 5pm and we’d arrived at 10:30am, we had requested to drop our bags off at 11am so that we could go to the beach, and since we had half an hour to kill, we bought some souvenirs and grabbed a coffee on the beach. 

What I didn’t know was that the Airbnb host had actually arrived at the apartment at the time we've gotten to Alcúdia, and was waiting for us while we enjoyed our coffee. That said, they had stated that we’d meet at 11am, so whilst I felt bad, it was mainly due to miscommunication. On a positive, it meant that we could check into the Airbnb earlier and be done with it, which was hugely appreciated. 

We settled in and packed a beach bag for the day, then had a quick lunch at the same café we’d had a coffee at, and despite generally not being a huge lover of Spanish tortilla, I enjoyed this one a lot! We then headed to the beach and rented some sun beds and loungers for under 20€ total, which conveniently included a little lockbox where we could store our phones and other valuables. The guy renting us the loungers advised us to go further down the beach going forwards however as here there was a slight whiff of sulphur every now and again. 

It was a lovely and relaxing beach day, however towards the afternoon we saw two lifeguards on a jet ski heading towards the end of the beach, followed by much commotion and seemingly endless CPR. Eventually an ambulance came, which was pretty harrowing and not helped by the fact that so many beach goers were crowded around, trying to figure out what had happened. To this day I have no idea what happened but I hope whoever was getting CPR is okay.

Thereafter, we were ready to head home but wanted to do a little food shop en route, so passed by a small “supermarket” to pick up various fruits, water, breakfast bits, and snacks. As we paid for the food, the cashier was pleasantly surprised that I spoke some Spanish and complemented it, and then advised us to buy our fruit elsewhere as it was extortionate here and we’d be able to get better quality at a lower price elsewhere. 

We headed back to the Airbnb to shower and get ready for dinner, and since we had some spare time we also watched the final episode of the series we’d been watching, The Night Manager, and snacked on some fresh watermelon. We then walked over to Port d'Alcúdia, where we had dinner at Can Matevet. We ordered some pa amb oli, bread with a Mallorcan dip, and then enjoyed some sangria and a massive paella to share. It was one of the best paellas I’ve had in Spain and really set the tone for the trip. 

Sunday

We awoke and treated ourselves to a croissant, freshly squeezed orange juice, and a coffee for breakfast, and then packed our bags for another beach day. We wanted to stay local so visited the same beach as the previous day, but headed further down the beach, as advised by the sun lounger landlord. 

We hopped on the bus and headed about 10 minutes to the other end of the beach, and I've got to admit, the beach was much more pleasant. There were only three rows of sun loungers (compared to five near us), it was much less crowded, and there was no odour of sulphur, as with the previous day. There was also more tree coverage, which was pretty, and we arrived early so managed to nab a great spot by the pier. We spent the entire morning sunbathing and reading our books, and although we'd packed some local beers (which had been gifted to us by the Airbnb host), nectarines, and biscuits, we eventually wanted some more hearty food. 

Therefore, we walked down the beach to Restaurante Isabella, where we shared a pepperoni pizza and melon with Parma ham (a personal favourite), and the bill arrived with a mini ice cream sandwich as a treat, which was a wonderful surprise and much needed! I noticed by this point that everyone seemed to appreciate my attempts at speaking Spanish, which surprised me as usually I don't notice it much, but one of the guys we were renting sun loungers from asked where I was from and commented that "of course you had to be another nationality too, as it's very rare for an English girl to speak Spanish" which I wouldn't have expected, as many of my English friends speak Spanish! Regardless, I love being able to practice the language and the locals kept giving me tips about Mallorca once they heard the Spanish, so it was win-win. 

Once we'd soaked up all the sun we needed, we got a bus back to our Airbnb, stopping by a supermarket en route, and after getting ready for the evening, grabbed another bus to Alcúdia Old Town, a very cute, walled city with Roman ruins and an array of restaurants and shops. We ambled about the town for a little while, and then made our way to Merlet, a restaurant with very good reviews which we'd managed to book a reservation for whilst on the beach. We arrived and were immediately recognised by the waiter, despite not having met and barely having spoken, but I quickly realised that they have very few tables and we must have been very lucky to reserve the final table of the night. This impression was solidified by the multiple people who were turned away as they hadn't made a reservation and the restaurant was fully booked for the night. We had a wonderful table facing outwards and the food here was absolutely delicious. We enjoyed sangria, chicken croquettes, garlic prawns, patatas bravas and bread, with a cheesecake to top it all off. We also ordered some aubergine with goat's cheese, however I wasn't so keen on that. Nonetheless, the service and (most of the) food was excellent and even when we realised that we'd accidentally stayed past closing time, the staff were very friendly and forgiving. 

Monday

The following morning, we awoke early and made scrambled eggs on toast with more freshly squeezed orange juice and coffee for breakfast. We then headed on a 7km circular walk to Mal Pas, an affluent suburb nearby. The walk was very relaxing and quiet; we passed fig trees, very jagged rock formations, and various nice beaches and holiday homes. What shocked us was a mansion by a lighthouse on the other side of the bay as it looked very similar to the mansion in the TV show that we'd just finished, The Night Manager, and after a quick search, we realised that it was indeed that exact mansion! It was such a coincidence that we could not believe it, especially as we weren't in the most popular or touristic part of the island.

We were on the hunt for a quiet cove in which we could swim and relax, however due to the jagged nature of the rocks around here, it'd be very risky to enter and exit without water shoes (which we didn't have) so instead we cooled off in Platja de San Pere, a very pretty beach with clear waters. By this point, my trainers were soaked through and my boyfriend's back was starting to play up so we needed the relief. We then ate our packed lunch and got a bus back to Alcúdia Old Town. En route, we passed an almond plant and tried a raw almond, which finally clarified why certain almond treats taste as sweet as they do. 

We hadn't yet explored the old town in the daytime, so it was nice to see the pretty stone passages and enjoy the cute Mediterranean vibes. That said, we did order some gelato and the lady serving us laughed openly at me when I asked for the gelato entirely in Spanish but then threw in an English accent for "dulce de leche". Nonetheless, she continued the conversation in Spanish, which I appreciated, and I was happy to have put a smile on the lady's face. 

Around 3pm, we took a bus back to the Airbnb and I realised how reliable the buses had been during our stay thus far, which was very handy. We put a wash on and showered, and then booked some additional things for the rest of the trip, including a car hire and a cooking class (more on those to come!). We then enjoyed a late-afternoon tapas spread, featuring leftover paella, fresh tomatoes, manchego, Serrano ham, melon, fresh bread, olives, and crisps. While we waited for the clothes to dry, we watched an episode of Black Mirror, and then we got ready to hit the beach town. 

We walked along the seafront to the more bustling area, and decided to grab a jug of sangria along the promenade so that we could people-watch. After an hour or so of that, we walked around in search of somewhere to have dinner, and ended up in Ramon's bar, where we enjoyed ham croquettes, patatas bravas, chorizo, whitebait, bread with tomato, and more sangria, all of which was delicious. 

We were absolutely stuffed so were grateful for the walk back to the Airbnb, and we passed a caricature artist who was absolutely savage (a good lesson to not use him), and we dipped our toes in the sea as we walked along the beach. Once home, we watched Unknown Number: The Highschool Catfish, which was absolutely gripping and I'd highly recommend! 

Tuesday

Thunderstorms were forecast for Tuesday afternoon, so we decided to make the most of the morning sunshine and go for a swim and when the clouds eventually drew in, we headed home for some brunch. After enjoying our fried eggs on toast, accompanied by freshly squeezed orange juice and coffee, we watched The Girl in the Picture, which was fine, and then learnt the footloose and candy dances, which was a lot of fun. We played some Monopoly Deal and before we knew it, it was 3pm! The day had absolutely flown by, and now it was time to enjoy some picky bits, namely Iberico ham, manchego, comté, baguette slices, tomatoes, olives, and crisps. 

Although thunderstorms were forecast, it just rained for most of the day, however it did pick up in the afternoon. We did a virtual pub quiz and watched some Impractical Jokers, but by this point I was becoming restless so we walked to the greengrocers despite the rain (and huge puddles) to do a little shop. As it turns out, Agromarket is a very health-conscious shop so there weren't many fun snacks, but the fruit seemed to be delicious so we loaded up on that. On our walk back home, we were treated with a gorgeous, pink sunset. 

For dinner, my boyfriend made us a smoked salmon, green pepper, creamy cheese pasta with padrón peppers on the side and some local wine that the Airbnb host had gifted us. It was absolutely delicious and after chilling for a bit we went skinny dipping since we figured most people would be inside due to the earlier weather. The sea was warmer than expected and we could see lightning in the distance, which was very cool. Despite the unfortunate weather, we had a wonderful day! 

Wednesday

Although our experience with Mallorca's bus service had been great, we wanted a bit more freedom, especially to visit the secluded coves along the east coast and explore the Tramuntana mountain range in the north west. Therefore, we planned to pick up a little Fiat 500, the car model I rented in both Austria and Andorra, and head straight to a small cove or two. 

Before picking up the car, we had scrambled eggs and smoked salmon on toast with freshly-squeezed orange juice, and then we grabbed a bus to the nearby Europcar shop for 9am. Unfortunately, they gave the Fiat 500 to an older couple in front of us, however they offered us an automatic Audi A1 instead, which I was satisfied with as it was still small but safe. We immediately headed to Cala Bota, a small, secluded cove which we hoped would be quiet as I'd only seen i mentioned in one blog post, it had only 35 reviews on Google, and you had to walk a bit to access it.

We found parking easily and then walked about 20 minutes down to the cove itself, which was easy, and there were only two other couples on the beach despite it being 11am. It was very chilled and quiet, and although it is a pebble beach, both my boyfriend and I grew up going to pebble beaches so were very content. One thing to note about Mallorcan beaches is that it's very common to see topless men and women, which is very liberating and nice to see normalised. We'd packed some sandwiches, nectarines, and crisps, so devoured those around lunch time, and at 1pm the clouds started to come in slightly, so we headed to a more popular cove which, unlike here, had facilities such as restaurants and loos, called S'Estany d'en Mas. 

By this point, it was the early afternoon, so finding parking was a bit chaotic, but we ended up parking on the street for free and walking for five minutes down to the beach. Between the very clear, turquoise water and the white sands, it could not have been more picture-perfect. That said, it was very crowded and after a while, we saw some dark clouds slowly coming in and heard thunder in the distance. Despite us spotting it a mile off, the lifeguards only reacted after about twenty minutes, and all of a sudden the green flag was being replaced by a red flag and we were all being called out of the water. 

Since we'd only recently arrived and it seemed that the clouds would pass fairly quickly, my boyfriend and I nabbed a spot at the beach bar and ordered some sangria and chips to share and played Monopoly Deal to pass the time. It was pretty dreamy and after only 30 minutes or so of light rain (which we were mostly sheltered from), the sun reappeared and we now had first pick of our sun loungers, so chose a couple right at the front. The beach filled up surprisingly quickly again but it's a decently-sized beach so there was plenty of space for everyone. 

My boyfriend and I mainly read, but we did also spot a very cool jellyfish with purple beads along its side, which we later learnt was nicknamed the "fried egg" jellyfish due to its appearance. Around 6pm, we drove back to the Airbnb to shower and get ready for dinner, popping by a supermarket in order to pick up some bits for the following days. We then walked over to Port d'Alcúdia's to see if we could grab a table at the restaurant we dined at on our first night, Can Matevet, in order to try their squid paella. I'm not a huge fan of squid, but my boyfriend had never tried a squid paella, and we enjoyed the traditional paella we'd had here so were keen to give it a go. Whilst it wasn't bad, it was nowhere near as good as the first paella we'd had, and my personal highlight was the sobrasada, traditional Mallorcan pâté-like pork, which was served on bread with cheese to accompany it. Furthermore, it was one of the bartenders birthdays, and his colleagues all sang to him whilst banging pots and pans, which used to occur in a Spanish restaurant I grew up visiting with my family, which was very nostalgic. 

Thursday

One thing about my boyfriend is that he loves a hike, and despite our 7km walkies on the Monday, he was excited to explore further afield now that we had the car, specifically the Tramuntana mountain range. I had seen different trails along the GR221, a dry stone path offering gorgeous views and passing through picturesque villages, and so when my boyfriend suggested a trail along this path, I was excited. The part I was less excited for was the 500m elevation and the midday heat, as the trail was an hour drive away and was expected to take three hours in total. 

We started the hike in a small town, Biniaraix, where we passed many a lemon and orange tree, and as we headed along the GR221 trail, I found myself really enjoying the walk. It was very manageable and the time absolutely flew by, which was helped by the gorgeous views and paved trail. We started nice and early so were in the shade for the entire ascent and the majority of the descent too and at the top of the mountain we found a gorgeous viewpoint with a town surrounded by mountains and the sea in the distance. We enjoyed some melon at this viewpoint, which was much needed after the ascent. 

We started to encounter more and more people on our way back down at around 11am, and once we reached the car our plan was to head to Sóller. Although the sat nav estimated the drive to take only 12 minutes, the streets were very narrow and we had a couple of lorries ahead of us that couldn't fit through the narrow streets with on-coming traffic so there was a lot more of a build-up than expected, and eventually we were advised to turn around and go through a back route, where we were tailing a tourist who clearly had no clue about her car's dimensions and therefore was driving terribly. 

Eventually, we reached Sóller, and although the town was very pretty, it was absolutely packed with people and cars alike, and since we'd spent the morning in a similarly picturesque town and parking would be a struggle here, we instead decided to head to the nearby port (Port de Sóller), with the intention of perhaps getting the famous tram up to the town. We paid for parking near the port and as we approached the beach, we were very pleasantly surprised; the beach was gorgeous with white sands and clear waters, a buoyant platform from which we could dive, and a beautiful surrounding landscape, reminiscent of Italy. Although we saw many trams heading to Sóller, we decided to spend the rest of the afternoon enjoying this beach, and forgo the town. My one complaint about the port was that our gelato wasn't very nice, but we'd also brought sandwiches and snacks with us, which did the job. 

We weren't sure where would be best to go for dinner, and since we'd spent the past few days constantly heading back to the Airbnb and getting ready for dinner within Alcúdia, we wanted something a bit different. Therefore, we instead chose a spot in the nearby mountains, where we could then drive the scenic route back home. The only issue with this was that the sun was setting at 8:30pm and we didn't want to be driving along windy mountain roads in pitch black, so we had to get a move on. We had dinner in a gorgeous mountain town called Fornalutx, which was very Mediterranean and we enjoyed some tapas al fresco, before hitting the road.

The mountain roads were so much fun; we took the "MA-10" and as someone who grew up going on road trips across Western Europe and whose family are obsessed with driving and cars, I really appreciated this route. We stopped at two reservoir viewpoints en route, which were slightly underwhelming, and an army base, but the most awe-striking view was of a gorgeous ravine at sunset, which we only stopped at as we had spotted some locals parked nearby. We made good time, meaning that I only drove in the dark for the last 30 minutes or so, and once we were home we quickly showered and went to bed.

This day was one of my absolute favourites as it contained highlights from beginning to end and we got to explore a couple of gorgeous towns and dive into the sea, which was simply wonderful. 

Friday

Our holiday was coming to an end and we still hadn't done something we'd wanted to whilst in Mallorca: go to a secluded cove that was all ours. It was surprisingly hard to find a secluded cove but after hours of research, we figured that Cala Bota would be our best bet. Luckily, we still had the car, so we awoke nice and early and headed straight to Cala Bota, the cove we'd visited earlier on in the week, arriving at 8am. We passed several hot air balloons on our way to the cove, which was very cute and reminded me of my hot air balloon experience in Bristol. We arrived at the cove and were shocked to find five or six cars already parked there, especially as we'd arrived so early and it was a weekday. Nonetheless, we thought we may as well check it out since we'd driven all this way, and as we walked down the path, we passed many locals walking their dogs, which we hoped accounted for the various cars at the entrance. 

I wasn't super hopeful, but as we approached the cove itself we were very happy to find it completely empty! We had it all to ourselves and I could not wait to be at one with nature. We spotted a couple of mountain goats and birds whilst swimming, and since we'd remembered our snorkelling goggles, we could explore the sea life too. We were shocked to see so many sea urchins, but luckily they were fairly far out, and plenty of fish. Oddly, my foot was very itchy, which I put down to mosquito bites, but it was itchy even within the water, and after a very long swim with my boyfriend, we got out of the sea only to realise that we'd both been stung by a jellyfish or sea anemone, me on my foot and my boyfriend on his nose. Both were red and inflamed, but luckily the worst of the discomfort had passed and within no time they disappeared. 

We left the cove after an hour or two, which was perfect timing as we passed some beachgoers on our way up to the car. We'd planned to spend a couple of hours at the secluded cove and then head to one of the more touristic beaches for the rest of the day, in order to explore a bit more of the island. We'd aimed to visit Calo des Moro, a very popular cove, but accidentally ended up at Platja de s'Amarador, a beach within a national park. We found ourselves in a bit of a sticky situation, as we had forgotten to bring towels with us and there were no available sun loungers, but we'd also paid for all-day parking and going to another beach would mean risking even more crowds and potentially struggling to find parking. Therefore, we found some rocks on the edge of the beach which we could sit on and set up camp there. 

The coolest thing about this beach is that you can swim past the headland and over to the neighbouring cove, Cala Mondrago, which is gorgeous. Furthermore, all of the boats have to dock beyond a certain point so it feels like the swimmers and beachgoers are prioritised, which wasn't the case elsewhere. We went for a couple of dips and then dried off as we ate our packed lunch, and before we knew it the evening was approaching, so we headed home to shower and get ready for dinner, whilst enjoying a little pre-dinner appetiser of coffee and olives. As we drove home, we passed a town called Ses Salines, which was very nice and full of windmills. We then returned the rental car, which was an easy and seamless process, and then headed to Alcúdia Old Town for our final dinner in Mallorca. 

We were initially fairly picky about where to eat, but given it was a Friday night and we didn't have a reservation, we were turned away from two restaurants and had to be a bit less fussy. Luckily, our third restaurant of choice, Sa Taverna, had an al fresco table for us, which was ideal for people-watching. We enjoyed several tapas and a selection of grilled meats, which had passersby constantly looking over, and was delicious. We also shared a cheesecake for dessert, and once again I appreciated how 99% of the people we'd spoken to in Mallorca didn't switch over to English once they heard my accent and instead kept speaking in Spanish. One thing I didn't understand about Mallorca however was that the souvenirs were riddled with lizards, despite us not having seen a single one. 

Saturday

Saturday was our last day on the island, however despite our 10am check-out time, our flight was only in the evening, so we still had an entire day to explore. One activity that I'd wanted to try for ages abroad was a cooking class, and I thought that our last day would be the perfect day to try it for several reasons: firstly, we would learn more about the culture without having to lug our suitcase around, secondly we'd have a delicious local meal and the recipes to take home as a souvenir, and finally the cooking class was located in the capital city, where we'd need to head for the airport later on anyway. Plus, my boyfriend loves cooking and is an excellent cook, so it was win-win. 

We headed to Moltak Cooking Class, which was located in a windmill in Palma, the capital of Mallorca. The location was very easy to get to and both the interior and exterior were absolutely gorgeous. On the menu was sobrasada, pa amb oli, padrón peppers, a seafood paella, a Spanish tortilla, and a crema catalana. Drinks were also included, so we were helping ourselves to the wine, and we could take home the recipes at the end. We were extremely excited to make all of the above, and the class size was only four (including us) which meant that we got to play a substantial role in the cooking of the meal. I mainly worked on the padrón peppers and the crema catalana dessert, wherein using a blowtorch for the first time, although I also had other minor roles. My preference would be for each couple to make everything on the menu, but given the time and space I guess it made more sense to divide and conquer. I absolutely loved our teacher, although she was all about measuring with your heart, which as an accountant I struggle with at the best of times, until I heaped the spoons of sugar and flour for the dessert, rather than levelling them (although she was very sweet about it and took the blame!). 

By the time we'd cooked everything and enjoyed the meal, it was 3pm so we didn't have much time to kill before heading to the airport, but we decided to quickly pop in to Santa Catalina market since it was nearby and recommended by the cooking class instructor. Most of the restaurants inside had closed by this point but some shops were still open and it was nice to see. Thereafter, we grabbed another bus to the airport and even with delays, we didn't mind waiting around as we were playing Monopoly Deal in the lounge. 

Although neither Mallorca nor the Balearic Islands had ever been high on my travel list, I was very pleasantly surprised and had a wonderful time exploring the island with my boyfriend, swimming in the gorgeous coves, and enjoying delicious tapas. I feel like it's hard to go wrong with the Spanish coast and it always allows me to brush up on my Spanish, and this time was no exception. The people were lovely, the landscapes beautiful and the food delicious - if you haven't yet been, I'd recommend!