North Menorca

[Lucky13ForBaby]

Hi, I have just booked a 7 night package break for DH, DS (Age 3) and myself to North Menorca for the first week in June. I will be 14 weeks pregnant and in need of rest, relaxation and sun! I have never visited the island before and am looking for some reassurance that the North Menorca is nice as was a cheap holiday. I'm also interested in places of interest to visit to keep DH happy, local cuisine to try etc. Is it worth hiring a car during our stay? Many thanks.

Which resort? I am guessing either Arenal d'en Castell or Son Parc?

Either will be lovely, we first took our DS to Arenal when he was 4 - it has a gorgeous beach, is very, very pretty, a decent selection of good restaurants and bars, you can hire pedalos or kayaks. It's a perfect family resort, although is being quite hard hit by the all-inc hotels. If you are s/c then you will have a great time. If you are going all-inc please try to support the local community if you can.

If you are in Son Parc, then it also has a fabulous beach, but is much quieter than Arenal. Still has several restaurants and bars though.

The north of the Island is more hilly and greener than the south.

I would really recommend hiring a car - Menorca is tiny and only takes 30 minutes to travel from the North coast to South by car, and 45 mins from Mahon (the capital) in the east to Ciutadella (the old capital) on the West coast. Both of these towns are well worth a visit. They are authentically Spanish, have fabulous architecture and plenty going on.

Depending on what time of year you are going, there is bound to be a fiesta happening in one of the many towns and villages.

There are a plethora of Stone Age villages and burial sites you can visit, some of which are very interesting.

The town of Fornells is also on the North Coast and is an idyllic fishing village, has a brilliant fiesta the 4th weekend in July and is well worth a visit any time, lovely harbour / walks and some fantastic restaurants.

Also worth a visit are the lighthouses of Punta Nati, Cavalleria and Favaritx. Quite stunning visually due to the coastal scenery.

This website has lots of useful information :-

www.menorca-net.co.uk/

Enjoy and let me know if you need more info. I will be back for my 11th year running on 19th July.

Watching this thread with great interest!

We Re returning for the 2nd time to Menorca,,we stayed in Santo Tomas last year (gorgeous) and have booked to stay in Arenal d'en Castell this year.

Was a bit perturbed to hear that this resort is noisy!! We love Menorca as it was so quiet, and the short flight time!

Noisy? It's not noisy by normal standards, at least it wasn't when we used to stay there. There is some noise from the Adults only hotel up the hill (Hotel Fiesta Castell Playa I think), but only til about 11pm. Rather bad Tina Turner impersonators last time I was there and some Take That type band.

That said, even that was too noisy for us (although I got slated in the past for saying that), and we now stay inland, in a residential area. But we are really boring. The only noise I want after 10pm is cicadas.

PS - that's why I loathe all-inclusive.

Go S/C PLEASE PEOPLE (if you can).

Ou thanks for the replies. We are going to Arenal on the last day of may for 1 week. We are going half board and plan to eat out at lunch time and also possibly some evenings. We got a cheaper deal this way and due to being pregnant am watching the pennies. Would love to explore the island. Can you recommend a car hire company in arenal? Will they have car seats? I so need this holiday! Am hoping the weather will be nice! Bring on that beach! We like quiet as we have a 3 year old. Dislike anything like Butlins etc (sorry anyone that offends its just not for us!)

Thanks for the website. I'm getting all excited now :) need to go and get myself a little guide book!

If you are staying at the Agua Marina, don't be too put off by the exterior, it's apparently much nicer than it looks and is in a brilliant position overlooking the beach.

If you are staying at Isla Paraiso that is brilliant, big rooms, good food, pools and a mini disco which the kids seem to love. We did S/C there.

I don't like hotels at all, I hate organised entertainment etc, but it's nothing like Butlins. If you do get out into the resort to eat, try Sa Gavina (great food, head waiter Fernando adores children), Restaurant Alcalde is excellent and the Red restaurant down on the beach is really good.

There is a car hire company just at the crossroads near Agua Marina and two more further round the bay, but I don't know their names. You shouldn't have any problem hiring a car at that time of year and they all provide car seats on request for a few euros extra.

Enjoy. Arenal served us very well when DS was small.

Arenal has a bus service that runs regularly to the nice little town of Es Mercadal, where there are some lovely restaurants. There is also a bus service to the capital, Mahon, where there are short boat trips around the port, ideal for smaller children. There is also a bus to Fornells, which Diabolo, mentioned above is lovely and has fabulous restaurants. Bus fares to Mahon 4 euros, less to the other places. Buses are really easy, clean and airconditioned.
There is also a land train, running daily around the resort,approx 7 euros to the little seaside village of Na Macaret, which has a couple of restaurants and a small beach.
One of the larger hotels has a new water park which allows access to non residents for 20 euros a day.
The beach is lovely!
So if you are there for just the week, there is plenty to keep you busy!
Oh, and I've never heard Arenal described as noisy, as with most of Menorca it's all very low key nightlife.

Thanks for reassuring me! We are very boring too and don't like noise after 11pm. That's why we chose Menorca

It's not boring not liking noise Bacon :) I can't wait to go now. Thanks for all the information. It's all very helpful.

I forgot about the land train. The kids love that.

Ohh, that does sound nice!