Mallorca recommendations

[lulubelle1977]

Hello lovely MN's.

Can you offer any advice? First time to Mallorca. Two adults, one early teen.

Looking for recommendations on where to stay, town and hotel.

We're looking for a hotel with a pool. Noting big or kids club etc. done that for many years. Haha. We'd like to chill by the pool, maybe the beach, we're only going for 5 days. Somewhere near where we can go in the evening for dinner and ice cream/ a cocktail. We'd hire a car. Something with old town vibes. No karaoke loud bars. Somewhere where we could have Spanish food and not tourist food. We liked Rhodes town, Lindos, Corfu town but this time Mallorca .

We've been told to look at Pollensa or Palma town. But if you know of hotels or other places, do tell.

Thank you so much.

Soiler is beautiful. I like Palma as a weekend break but it’s very busy. To be honest as long as you avoid Magaluf you can’t go wrong in Mallorca

((also loved lindos and rhodes down))

Town

Another vote for Pollensa and Puerto Pollensa. Cala Dor is also quite nice and has some good restaurants but also does suffer from the odd karaoke bar too, however I loved snorkelling in Esmerelda bay and the beautiful little bays would be the main reason I'd go back to that area. As for hotels, think we stayed in Inturotel Esmerelda in Cala Dor which was okay, but nothing to write home about, the beach was the best thing about it, was a few years ago now though so maybe refurbed? As for Puerto Pollensa we hired a big villa half way between Pollensa and Puerto Pollensa between a big group of 10 of us.

Soller is beautiful, can't go wrong. Palma also fab but bigger/busier and the beach isn't as good.

Soller

Palma Town (get a city hotel with a rooftop pool) or Soller if you want a big village vibe.

Pollenca is so beautiful, definite old town vibes and lovely square and streets with heaps of cocktail and ice cream opportunities.

It's 10 mins drive to the sea though.

Peurto Pollensa stunning location but town itself more recently built. I'd look at the I la dor with your needs.

As pp said as long as you avoid magaluf (and maybe Palma Nova and Alcudia) upu can't really go wrong. Mallorca is so lovely.

Thank you so far. I'm googling as I read.

Puerto Pollensa and Cala D'Or are both lovely. Pollensa has a long sandy beach, Cala D has smaller coves. Some good restaurants round the marina. There are other resorts to avoid other than Magaluf. The bay to the East of Palma, around S.Arenal I would avoid, and I would also avoid Alcudia due to its size. We have just had 2 weeks in Porto Cristo. And it is a lovely small resort, no big high rise blocks, very Spanish, with few people speaking English. A small harbour lined with a few reasonably priced restaurants. A bit quiet, no loud bars etc. If you have a car, there are some stunning small coves within a few minutes drive, and the larger resorts of Cala Millor, Cala Bona and Sa Coma, which, to us, were over developed strips. But had loads of bars and shops. And we enjoyed a day or two there. We stayed in the Hotel Zero Drach del Mar which we would recommend with some caveats. It has been partially refurbished. So a nice modern look inside, fantastic pool area with loads of sunbeds and Bali beds - they charge €25 for the Bali beds but you get that as a credit to buy food and drink. With 3 people you will have no problem using the credit. The caveats. Not enough staff, but they are really friendly and helpful. The bits that haven't been refurbished include plumbing and leccy, so although we had loads of hot water, the bathroom was a tad shabby. It could be chaotic at breakfast as the room layout is not efficient, but if you are patient, the food was good. It was relatively cheap compared to other hotels in the area and we had a good holiday, just the 2 of us. If you are into tennis, Rafa Nadal was born locally, has a huge black catamaran in the harbour, and a beautiful house on one of the headlands. He also has a museum and tennis academy a few miles away which is well worth a visit. It is an incredible facility.

That's great, thank you so much.

Still finding it hard to find the right hotel to stay. I guess because we want to be fairly close to restaurants in the evening but close to the centre are either not quite right or too expensive (just for four days). But I'm looking!

I had a look at Soller but it looks very built up....not sure that's what we're after.

There were a couple of agrotourismo places- like farm stays...they look interesting.

Porto Colom would probably offer what you are looking for. Porto Cristo is also lovely.

Soller is not built up. The Port might look built up from photos but that’s because it is fairly small and built into the hills. It’s absolutely gorgeous and very laid back. Lovely little port with beach, hotels (but not too many) and restaurants. The tram to town is fun but very expensive, unless you are there for two weeks and then you can buy a reasonable pass from the town hall, but there are buses between the two or about a 45 minute walk (or obviously you can drive)

There’s lots of great walks, both long (eg into the mountains/Cuber etc or to Deia and back, though bus also possible one way) and short (eg up to the lighthouse or tower). If your teen would be up for coasteering, Tramuntana Tours is great, although one of you would also need to be willing to jump!

Where did you stay in Soller? Maybe it's just one hotel's photos?

We’re big fans of Alcudia bay, going again in October.
miles long , gently sloping beach, swimming or paddling in the sea.
Alcudia Port has plenty of cafes, restaurants and shops, both food and clothing.
Zafiro Tropic and the Alcudia Garden Aparthotel ( across the road from each other ) offer apartments with a kitchenette.
Offers flexibility if you want to cater some days, plus the fridge is great for keeping the wine cold.
Plenty of bike hire shops, fancy racing bikes, e-bikes or standard bikes to choose from.
cycle along the bay, or go through Alcudia old town and around the bay to Puerto Pollenca.
Pollenca old town has a church which you reach climbing 365 steps from a small square. The square has a few cafes to refresh yourselves in when you get back down.

Be careful when booking, Palma Nova is a another name for Magaluf, I know that to my cost.

Alcudia!

Technically different. And actually, rather nice now - was it 18-30s hell many years ago you went?

Thank you. I've narrowed down to a few hotels now.

One in each district!

What's Illeatas like?

I'm just back from 10 days in Palma Nova - it was fabulous!
The beaches are lovely, very clean, lots of water sports - paddleboarding, banana boat, pedalo etc.
Loads of really nice places to eat along the promenade or the road behind.
Can't fault it!

Soller isnt built up at all, its built on a hill (cliff/mountain?). Anyway, Port de Soller is lovely, lots of tapas bars etc, then get the tram into Soller itself, lovely little narrow streets, very oldy worldy, barely any Brits stay there.......

Sant Elm?
camp de Mar?

Ssshhh 🤭
No one must know…

Lots of stunning places as well not mentioned on here where only really the Spanish go… not telling ( we’re back and forth .. DH works there )
I avoid the English places as much as I can 😊

Soller or Port Soller. We have been to Soller three times now (we usually go to a villa). We went to Menorca this year. Although I like Menorca and would return, Soller would be my go to any day. I even had a look for a 4 night break in September to get my fix!

We go to Can Pastilla. It's just outside Palma, but not close enough to S'Arenal to be badly affected by the German 18-30 crowd. 5 minutes in a taxi or bus from the airport.

It's a small town, more touristy than it used to be but not high-rise like Magaluf or Palma Nova, loads of bars, cafes, restaurants and shops. It's at the end of Playa De Palma so there's a big, long sandy beach with loads of watersports if your teen is active. There's a coastal path that runs all the way to Palma which is great for walking or cycling.

To stay, the Apolo is nice and has both indoor and outdoor pools.
Roc Leo has lovely staff and is geared towards cyclists if that's your thing.
Helios has a massive pool.
Illusion Calma is cheap n cheerful all inclusive with a spa.
Alma Beach is sophisticated adults only and has a rooftop pool - you get some good freebies if you book direct with them, upgraded room, bottle of fizz etc.
For self catering the Embats Apartments are good and the sea/sunset views are amazing, there's no pool but you are literally right on the beach.

The buses to Palma are cheap (about 2 euro each), frequent and take about 20 minutes if you want a day out shopping or a night out in the city. Taxi back is usually less than 10 euro.

For car, bicycle or motorbike hire we have always used Royal Rent and never had any issues. If you want to treat yourself there's a place along the beach that hires out American muscle cars at surprisingly cheap rates - much fun to be had in the mountains in an open-top mustang or camero! You're just off the motorway so getting about the island from there to sightsee is easy.

If the weather isn't so good you have Palma Aquarium, which has a massive shark tank and is a good way to while away a rainy day.
The agrotourism areas start on the other side of the motorway and can be walked to although car or bike is easier, lots of dinky little one-horse villages if that's your thing.

The noise isn't intrusive but you are very close to the airport if anyone likes to do a bit of plane-spotting (looking at you DH!)

Recommended in terms of food and drink:
Mandragora cafe do the best mojitos and a huge plate of food although it's basic fare - burgers, chips, omelette, pa amb oli, pizza.
Flip Flop Cafe for tapas and sangria and watching the watersports.
Honey for takeaway kebabs and Indian.
Internacional restaurant by the marina for fish & seafood.
Osso Polar for ice-cream sundaes.
Cafe Gufo for sunset drinks and snacks.
There's also a burger king and a kfc for the teen if needed!
Delfin cafe for strawberry mojitos in a skull glass.
Futher up towards Arenal but just out of town near the motorway is Can Torrat - a parilla (grill) restaurant that does amazing meat platters and chips fried with whole cloves of garlic. You may need a car to get there though and it gets busy in the summer so best to book in advance.

We love it there, and it's great base to explore the rest of the island too.

Hope you have fun wherever you end up!

We discovered Soller thanks to Mumsnet. 😁 We’d gone to Cala d’Or years ago and I hated it and swore off Mallorca but my husband quite liked it so after reading many many posts here, we went to Soller and absolutely loved it. We’ve been a few times now and plan to spend a year there when we retire.

We rent a villa in the town, but the Port is lovely as well- each has its own feel and with the mountains all around you, it’s stunning no matter where you are.

If you’re into walking, a great walk is to get the bus to Cuber, walk along the GR221 to the Barranc de Biniaraix and then down all the steps. If you’re into hillwalking, you can add going to the top of the Puig de L’Ofre for the most amazing view right across the whole island.

There’s a ferry to Sa Calobra which is overly developed and swamped by day trippers (though again, if you are into walking, the gorge walk down to Sa Calobra is worth doing), but if the seas aren’t too rough, the boat first stops at Cala Tuent which is quieter and has a nice restaurant overlooking the sea. The boat back only runs once a day and is weather dependent, so you need to check that it’s definitely running or else it’s a fairly long (3.5-4 hour) walk back!