A Mallorca journal
Writing about the island from people who live on it. Less about where to take a photograph, more about how the place actually works, and what is worth your time in each part of the year.
Beyond tourism
The island behind the coastline
Almost everyone who comes to Mallorca stays within three kilometres of the sea. The interior, the flat agricultural plain called Es Pla, is where most Mallorcans actually live, and it explains a great deal about the rest of the island.
Long read · 8 minutes
From the journal
On the water
Why the best day at sea is a half day
The eight hour charter is the default, and for most groups it is an hour or two too long. A case for going out later and coming back happier.
5 minutes
Culture & history
Six hundred years of walls
The dry stone terraces of the Serra de Tramuntana hold a mountainside in place without a gram of mortar. How they were built, and why they are still standing.
7 minutes
Family Mallorca
Where to base yourself with small children
An honest comparison of the four regions from the point of view of a family with a toddler, a pushchair and a limited tolerance for hairpin bends.
6 minutes
Food & wine
Rice is not paella
What Mallorcans actually eat, when they eat it, and how to order in a restaurant that is not expecting you.
6 minutes
For business
Palma as a working city
A port, a university, a growing technology sector and a two hour flight from most of Europe. What the island economy looks like underneath the tourism figures.
9 minutes
Slow Mallorca
The case for coming in November
Warm enough to eat outside, cool enough to walk properly, and the whole island available to you at a third of the price. The argument for the wrong season.
5 minutes
Almost everyone who comes to Mallorca stays within three kilometres of the sea. Almost everyone who lives here does not.
What the island
is like this month
The single most useful thing we can tell you, and the thing least likely to appear in a guidebook.
Spring
March to May
The best walking of the year and the almond and orange blossom in the valleys. The sea is still cold, so boat days work and swimming is for the brave. Everything is open and nothing is full.
Summer
June to September
Hot, busy, and genuinely excellent if you plan around it: early starts, late evenings, and the coast reached by boat rather than by road. August needs booking months ahead.
Autumn
October to December
Our favourite stretch. The sea is warmer than in June, the light is better, the mountains are green again and you can get a table anywhere. Some coastal places close from November.
Reading is one thing.
Planning is another.
If something here sounds like the trip you want, tell us and we will build it out properly, with the timings, the bookings and the honest advice about what to leave out.