Majorca if you don't go AI

[PolkaDotMankini]

I've seen - and booked - a lovely self-catering apartment in Majorca for the last week of August 2023. Now I'm second-guessing myself a bit.

Our two DC will be 13 and 10. The teenager wants peace & quiet to read his book, preferably on a warm sandy beach. 10yo DD just wants a pool and other children to play with. I'm a bit concerned she'll be bored.

I've never been to Majorca. The guide book that's just arrived makes the beaches look small and crowded. The apartment is in a group of just 9 in the hills above Sa Pobla, not in a trendy resort. We'll have a car.

Where's good to go for a nice beach? The caves and a waterpark are on the list.

The bay of alcudia which you’re near is a flat wide shallow bay so there’s there.
if you drive up to the lighthouse at cap formentor ( it’s the road in the advert for the Cupra car ) you can spend an afternoon at the beach at platja de formentor which is a sandy/pebble beach in a nice bay.

other things to do; pollenca town has a 400 step street up to a small church ( El Calvari) , the square at the bottom has cafes for rewarding yourself of the journey.

if you’re feeling really adventurous, take the magnificent drive down to Sa Calobra walk through the tunnel to the Torent de Pareis and explore the gorge.
hire a local guide if you can. ( it may be too tough for the 10yr old to get too far )

Definitely go to Puerto Pollensa. It’s got a long sandy beach (man made, but beautiful nonetheless) which always has plenty of sunbeds available and there are lots of really good restaurants in the resort (have a look on tripadvisor for your favourite type of food but check out Casa Vila for Italian, La Cabaña for tapas and Tierra de Fuegas for burgers/steakhouse). You can also get a boat trip from the port to Formentor beach recommended by PP.

For waterparks, I’d recommend Aqualand in El Arenal. Hidropark in Alcudia is nearer to where you’re staying, but imo it’s not that big and better for younger kids. Aqualand has got more thrill slides.

Majorca is lovely, enjoy!

Great, thankyou! Hopefully it won't be too hot for getting around.

We stayed in a self catering apartment in Puerto Pollensa this summer with a 6, 9 and 12 year old. We hired a car and explored the island and did lots of walking - up at 7am to walk when it was cool. Parked at port de soller then walked to soller and got tram back. Beach there has a diving island you can swim out to. Old pollenca has a monestry you can walk up to and a good market. Puerto Pollensa has really long beach to walk along with plenty of pedalo boats to hire. We got boat trip from here to formentor beach which stops in a bay on the way round to jump off the boat and have a swim. Lots of beaches hire paddleboards which we did in a few different places.

Your closest beach would be Muro which was voted Spain's best beach this year so good choice! Can Picafort beach also lovely just south of Muro and not overly crowded (we were there mid July) Alcudia bay is not great - lovely sand but v shallow and no waves

That sounds promising. We're only booked for a week. Is it worth 2?

@tanstaafl Remember that from mid-June to mid-September the road to Formentor is closed to cars. Every car that passes the checkpoint at the edge of Pollensa gets photographed for an €80 fine. The only exception is if you drive only as far as the beach car park, then send in a picture of the ticket that you get there to the people who administer the fines.

@PolkaDotMankini The roads are good in Mallorca, and nowhere is very far away. Both Pollensa bay (the smaller one) and Alcúdia bay (the larger one) are basically one long beach. They don't fill up even in peak season, as long as you are prepared to walk a couple of hundred metres from the point where you enter the beach from the road/car park. I quite like Son Bauló beach at the south end of Can Picafort.

The sun gets pretty intense, so it's worth buying a couple of cheap parasols and the corkscrew tube that goes with them. You screw the tube firmly into the sand as far as it will go (this is an ideal task for a 13yo boy) and drop the umbrella into it. Simply doing that will enable you to pass for a local on the beach. 😀

If you wish to go to the beach at Formentor, I recommend going on a boat trip . We did the scenic drive and although views are stunning, it was very crowded and bikes everywhere making passing on the narrow windy road very difficult. We went at end of September- there may be less bikes in August .

I enjoyed the old town at Alcudia - given how commercial the rest of Alcudia is, I was surprised by how nice it was . I was less impressed with Pollensa town - it didn't seem to have much atmosphere - although bad weather when we visited didn't help. It's worth going to the Sunday market if you like that sort of thing.

I thought Soller / Port de Soller were beautiful - we went into Palma and got the little train .

We stayed at Port de Pollensa so it may be that these things aren't so convenient for you from the place you are staying .

Majorca is a stunning island , so much to do and easy to get around. Pollenca and peurto pollenca, portals, formentor on boat or by bus, soller, Palma is fantastic. Just look away from the massive Brit resorts

Pollenca village is lovely. Port de Pollenca beach is quite nice. The beaches between Alciuda and Can Picafort are all surrounded by quite downmarket resorts and hotels and I’d avoid. Drive to the north of the island and things are much more pleasant and relaxed. Also worth a day trip to Palma. You can leave the car at a big retail/outlet park just off the main road to Palma from Inca (for free) and take a short train journey into the centre of Palma.

I'd second old town Alcudia for a day. In fact it's a don't miss. It's an old Roman walled town - you can walk the walls part of the way round which your kids may enjoy and the views are lovely. Between the walls are lovely narrow streets with excellent restaurants and nice clothes shops,
Gelaterias, sweet shops etc
Old town Pollensa is also beautiful and a hot walk up the via calvarii steps is another good one.
It's also worth considering a day in Palma. We have always managed to find a space in a car park but if you're not confident driving in city, there are buses.

>>It's also worth considering a day in Palma. We have always managed to find a space in a car park but if you're not confident driving in city, there are buses.

Palma likes to imagine it is a Northern European city and is making it increasingly hard to drive. Inside the "Avenidas" (the old town walls), non-residents can only park in underground car parks, and about half of the streets need a permit to drive in them - there are very effective cameras and not-very-effective no-entry signs at the entrance to these areas. So probably safest is to drive in following satellite directions to Plaza España, which is the public transport hub, and park underground there. Otherwise park the car at Inca, or the Festival Park outlet centre (as suggested by jaundicedoutlook), and get the train in - it also arrives as Plaza España.