Porto de Pollenca or Portocolom with a 14 month old baby

[Lavenderlowe]

Hi everyone! Our daughter will be 14 month old in May and we are going to Mallorca for 6 days. This will be our first holiday together!

I wanted small-er hotel with nice baby facilities, spa for us, a suite or an apartment, close to the beach, in an authentic location. I’m into design, architecture, nature. Our baby is super active, alert, not walking yet but will start soon.

Port de Pollenca: I like the long promenade, cute Pollenca town, Formenteira boat trip, lovely beach and shallow sea. Would that satisfy our active 14 month old or is it more for a 2+ yo toddler? I dislike every singe apartment and hotel in this area… but Cabot Hobby Apartments are ok and have rooftop jacuzzi so we could chill with my DH after baby’s bedtime.

Portocolom has Portomar Apartments which tick a lot of my boxes. The JS Suits also ok but not ideal. Much prefer those facilities and even the beach looks more interesting. But is the town a bit blunt?.. is there anything to explore?

What kind of activity would you choose for a 14 month old who will just start to walk? or a town with nice walks? I’m so confused!

P.S. we’ve been to Cala Dor at Esmeralda hotel, it was luxurious and tranquil, we loved it. But we want to try something new.

I'd go Puerto de pollenca. As you say it's beautiful. I found a beach the absolute best place to entertain a 14 month old, it's soft for toddling and there are no hard edges... pools didn't work at all as you have to hold them all the time. Little nesting cups and a spade to play with, and lovely views for you to enjoy... heaven!

Port de Pollenca. I’ve got relatives in Mallorca and have been all over the island, visited about 20 times and not done yet!

This year we have our first holiday abroad with our 2, they will be almost 1 and almost 4 and we’ve (I have haha) chosen Port de Pollenca. Lots of lovely playgrounds on and off the beach, lovely beaches, plenty of restaurants, very child friendly and of course the Pine Walk. It’s also very flat so pushchair and sling friendly(Portocolom is pretty hilly). It was

Portocolom has a lovely beach but is a lot quieter than Port de Pollenca, just a bit too quiet for me. Distance to the airport hasn’t much difference in it.

It was a toss up for me between Cala D’or and Port de Pollenca for what we want.

Just to add Pollenca and Alcudia are short bus journeys away, as is Formentor (stunning and has a lighthouse) as well as Cala san Vincente with a couple of caves and a gorgeous beach.

Thank you so much for the insight about the pools, I haven’t thought about it! Such a good point. So as everything g else you mentioned.

This is why I love this forum! And it’s actually my first post here. Thanks so much, so many interesting thoughts, great info about hills vs flat surfaces.

Really I wouldn't worry about what a 14-month-old will get out of the holiday. They won't remember a thing and they won't be paying very much attention (source: parent of two ex-14-month-olds). Certainly there is not much to choose between PP and Portocolom on that score.

Portocolom is quieter and more "authentic", although all seaside towns in Mallorca get plenty of tourists. A lot of Mallorcan people go there for weekends. It's not far (by bus, car, or taxi) to Cala d'Or, which is a livelier resort if you want that from time to time. PP is a bit more touristy (although there are still not too many places selling t-shirts with crass slogans) and you would probably have all the lively you'd want as parents of a 14mo, but you can also get to the bright lights of Alcudia from there.

In Portocolom there is a choice of beaches, but unless you choose a hotel in Cala Marçal you will probably have a 500m or more walk to get to any of them. In contrast in PP you can stay within 200m of the beach without too much effort. One plus for Portocolom here though is that the beach on the east side of the bay is super-sheltered (the whole bay is basically a lake) and it might be a nice introduction to the sea for your child. Pollensa bay can sometimes get a bit splashy, although that's mostly along the southern half where there are various windsurfing (etc) schools.

Put them in a float in the pool

This is what I plan to do. There are some lovely little floats with canopies on Amazon that I’m weighing up. Pool is private and we’ve hired fencing so not worried about being knocked into/falling in.

Pollensa, although its so popular you might struggle to find the accommodation you're after at such late notice. we book a year in advance as rooms go quickly.

Yes I got one from Amazon that you clip the baby in to and has an attached sun shade , worked great

Meant to quote this for post above

That's a good idea!
Mine were wriggle bums who both crawled before they could sit... so they never stood for it.