The Rough Guide to Mallorca & Menorca (Travel Guide eBook)

Rough Guides

Description

Practical travel guide to Mallorca & Menorca featuring points-of-interest structured lists of all sights and off-the-beaten-track treasures, with detailed colour-coded maps, practical details about what to see and to do in Mallorca & Menorca, how to get there and around, pre-departure information, as well as top time-saving tips, like a visual list of things not to miss in Mallorca & Menorca, expert author picks and itineraries to help you plan your trip.

The Rough Guide to Mallorca & Menorca covers: Palma, So´ller, Port de So´ller, Biniaraix, Fornalutx, Deia`, Son Marroig, Valldemossa, La Granja, Andratx, Port d'Andratx, Sa Dragonera, Pollença, Cala Sant Vicenç, Badi´a de Pollença, Alcu´dia, Es Pla, Binissalem, Sineu, Petra, Porto Petro, Mao´, Ciutadella, Fornells

Inside this travel guide you'll find:

RECOMMENDATIONS FOR EVERY TYPE OF  TRAVELLER
Experiences selected for every kind of trip to Mallorca & Menorca, from off-the-beaten-track adventures in Es Pla, Binissalem or Cala Mondrago´ to family activities in child-friendly places, like Port de Pollença, or chilled-out breaks in popular tourist areas, like Mao´, Palma and Sa Calobra.

PRACTICAL TRAVEL TIPS
Essential pre-departure information including Mallorca & Menorca entry requirements, getting around, health information, travelling with children, sports and outdoor activities, food and drink, festivals, culture and etiquette, shopping, tips for travellers with disabilities and more.

TIME-SAVING ITINERARIES
Carefully planned routes covering the best of Mallorca & Menorca give a taste of the richness and diversity of the destinations, and have been created for different time frames or types of trip.

DETAILED REGIONAL COVERAGE
Clear structure within each sightseeing chapter includes regional highlights, brief history, detailed sights and places ordered geographically, recommended restaurants, hotels, bars, clubs and major shops or entertainment options.

INSIGHTS INTO GETTING AROUND LIKE A  LOCAL
Tips on how to beat the crowds, save time and money and find the best local spots for hiking, windsurfing, scuba diving, snorkelling and cycling.

HIGHLIGHTS OF THINGS NOT TO MISS
Rough Guides' rundown of Valldemossa, Monestir de Lluc, Talati´ de Dalt and Cabrera's best sights and top experiences help to make the most of each trip to Mallorca & Menorca, even in a short time.

HONEST AND INDEPENDENT REVIEWS:
Written by Rough Guides' expert authors with a trademark blend of humour, honesty and expertise, to help to find the best places in Mallorca & Menorca, matching different needs.

BACKGROUND INFORMATION
Comprehensive 'Contexts' chapter features fascinating insights into Mallorca & Menorca, with coverage of history, religion, ethnic groups, environment, wildlife and books, plus a handy language section and glossary.

FABULOUS FULL COLOUR PHOTOGRAPHY
Features inspirational colour photography, including the stunning Jardins d'Alfa`bia and the spectacular Serra de Tramuntana.

COLOUR-CODED MAPPING
Practical full-colour maps, with clearly numbered, colour-coded keys for quick orientation in Palma, Mao´, Ciutadella and many more locations in Mallorca & Menorca, reduce need to go online.

USER-FRIENDLY LAYOUT
With helpful icons, and organised by neighbourhood to help you pick the best spots to spend your time.

Sujets

• Travel
• Spain
• Europe

Informations

• Publié par: Apa Publications
• Date de parution: 15 juin 2022
• Nombre de lectures: 1
• EAN13: 9781839058134
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 14 Mo

Extrait

Contents
Introduction to Mallorca & Menorca
W here to go
W hen to go
A uthor picks
t hings not to miss
I tineraries
Basics
G etting there
G etting around
A ccommodation
F ood and drink
T he media
F estivals
S ports and outdoor activities
S hopping
T ravel essentials
Palma and around
P alma
A round Palma
Western Mallorca
S óller
P ort de Sóller
B iniaraix
F ornalutx
J ardins d’Alfàbia
R aixa
B unyola to Alaró
D eià
S on Marroig
V alldemossa
P ort de Valldemossa
L a Granja
E sporles
B anyalbufar
E stellencs
A ndratx
S ant Elm and around
P ort d’Andratx
Northern Mallorca
T he northern coast
P ollença
C ala Sant Vicenç
B adía de Pollença
A lcúdia
T he Badía d’Alcúdia
Southern Mallorca
B inissalem
I nca
S ineu
P etra
E ls Calderers de Sant Joan
G ordiola glassworks
A lgaida
T he Massís de Randa
L lucmajor
M anacor
A rtà and around
C olònia de Sant Pere
C apdepera
C ala Rajada
C oves d’Artà
C anyamel
P orto Cristo
F elanitx and around
P orto Petro
M ondragó Parc Natural
S antanyí and around
C ap de Ses Salines
C olònia de Sant Jordi and around
C abrera National Park
Menorca
M aó
P ort de Maó
S outheast Menorca
T he northeast coast
C entral Menorca
C iutadella
A round Ciutadella
Contexts
H istory
F lora and fauna
B ooks
L anguage
G lossary
Small Print


Introduction to Mallorca & Menorca

As he wandered Mallorca in the 1860s, the British traveller Captain Clayton couldn’t help but exclaim that the island “Presents to the delighted eye a charming blend of savage wilderness and fertile cultivation. In no part of the world can one behold a more complete picture gallery of all the varieties of natural scenery”. Very few English-speaking travellers ventured to Mallorca and Menorca in the nineteenth century, but those who did were suitably impressed by the beauty of the landscape if not by the islanders themselves, who were generally disparaged as disagreeable and unruly. The same conflicting attitudes survive today: millions of tourists count Menorca and Mallorca as favourite holiday destinations, though surprisingly few know much about the islanders. In fact, this easterly section of the Balearic archipelago – which also includes Ibiza and Formentera – has a rich cultural history, and many of its inhabitants still live in the most charming of country towns – Sineu, Artà and Ciutadella to name but three – at a (safe) distance from the teeming resorts of the coast.
The islands’ image today embraces extreme ends of the spectrum: on one level, Mallorca is a popular haunt of the rich and famous; on the other it has an unenviable reputation for tacky tourism built on sun, sex, booze and high-rise hotels. The truth is that Mallorca manages to be both at the same time: at 5pm you can be carousing with the Brits in Magaluf and half an hour later you can be sipping a coffee in a quiet mountain village. The good news is that the ugly development of the 1960s, which submerged tracts of coastline beneath hotels, villas and apartment blocks, is essentially constrained to the Bay of Palma and a handful of mega-resorts notching the east coast. For the most part Mallorca remains handsome and frequently fascinating, from the craggy mountains and medieval monasteries of its north coast to the antique towns of the central plain.





To the east of Mallorca lies Menorca , the second largest and most agricultural of the Balearic islands, with a population of just 99,000. Menorca’s rolling fields, wooded ravines and humpy hills fill out the interior in between its two main – but still small – towns of Maó , the island’s capital, and Ciutadella . Much of Menorca’s landscape looks pretty much as it did at the turn of the twentieth century, though a lot of the fields are no longer cultivated, and many – but certainly not all – of its beguiling beachy coves have been colonized by villa complexes. Nor is the development likely to spread: the resorts have been kept at a discreet distance from the two main towns and the Menorcans are keen to avoid overdevelopment. Indeed, they have created a chain of conservation areas that protect about half of the island, including the pristine coves that count among its real delights.


Fact file The Balearic islands have a population of just over 1,200,000; Mallorca weighs in with 948,000, Menorca with just 99,000. Foreign-born inhabitants account for around twenty percent of the population; the largest group are from Germany, with an average age of 48. The Spanish parliament – the Cortes Generales – sits in Madrid, but many of its powers have been devolved to seventeen autonomous regions, one of which – the Comunidad Autónoma de las Islas Baleares – covers the Balearics, whose capital is Palma. The mountains of Mallorca are home to the islands’ ornithological star turn, the rare black vulture ( Aegypius monachus ), a dark and solitary bird of striking proportions, standing 130cm tall, weighing anywhere between 7 and 14kg and with an adult wingspan of nearly 3m. They almost died out in the 1970s, but a well-executed conservation scheme seems to have saved the day – there are now about 130 birds. Spain is a Catholic country, though only about 15 percent of its population attends Mass every week. One result of the decline in religious observance has been a shortage of monks and nuns: all the monasteries on Mallorca are now deconsecrated, with several offering inexpensive lodgings (see page 39 ).
Where to go
In Mallorca , the logical place to begin a visit is Palma , the island capital, which arches around the shores of its bay just a few kilometres from Mallorca’s busy international airport. Palma is the Balearics’ one real city, a bustling, historic place whose oligarchic mansions and magnificent Gothic cathedral serve as a fine backdrop to an excellent café and restaurant scene, from the hipster hangouts of the Sa Gerreria neighbourhood to the chef-led, chichi restaurants of the Old Town – plus everything in between. Add to this lots of good hotels and you’ve got a city that deserves at least a couple of days. Indeed, many visitors spend their entire holiday here, day-tripping out to the rest of the island – an easy proposition as it’s only a couple of hours’ drive from one end of Mallorca to the other. To the east of Palma stretches Es Pla , an agricultural plain that fills out the centre of the island, sprinkled with ancient and seldom-visited country towns, the most interesting of which are Sineu and Petra . On either side of the plain are coastal mountains. To the north, the wild and wonderful Serra de Tramuntana rolls along the entire coastline, punctuated by deep sheltered valleys and beautiful cove beaches , notably Cala Deià and the Platja de Formentor. Tucked away here in the mountains is Sóller , a delightful little town of old stone merchant houses that is best reached from Palma on the antique railway , an extraordinarily scenic journey. The mountains also camouflage a string of picturesque villages, most memorably Estellencs , Banyalbufar , Deià – the long-time haunt of Robert Graves – and Fornalutx , as well as a pair of intriguing monasteries at Valldemossa , where Chopin and George Sand famously wintered, and Lluc , home to a much-venerated statue of the Madonna. For walkers, the range is crisscrossed with footpaths and makes for ideal hiking , particularly in the cooler spring and autumn. Beyond Lluc, the mountains roll down to a coastal plain that holds the lovely little town of Pollença and one of the island’s most appealing medium-sized resorts, Port de Pollença , which is itself just along the bay from the sprawling but well-kept resort of Port d’Alcúdia . In the north, Mallorca finishes with a final scenic flourish in the rearing cliffs of the Península de Formentor .




Stone-built houses of Fornalutx
Jon Arnold / AWL Images
Mallorca’s second mountain range, the gentler, greener Serres de Llevant shadows the coves of the east coast and culminates in the pine-clad headlands and medieval hill towns of the island’s northeast corner. Many of the east-coast resorts are overblown, but the pick are Cala Rajada , close to several fine beaches, and pint-sized Porto Petro . There are also a couple of easily visited cave systems – the most diverting is the Coves del Drac – and the comely, artsy hilltop town of Artà , close to the substantial prehistoric remains of Ses Paisses . Different again is the south coast , where a long and rocky shelf jags out into the ocean – though this part of the island is redeemed by the charming resort and seaport of Colònia de Sant Jordi and its accompanying beaches.




Outdoor dining in Palma
Jon Arnold / AWL Images
Smaller, flatter Menorca , the most easterly of the Balearics, boasts two attractive towns, the island capital of Maó , just 5km from the airport, and Ciutadella , 45km to the west. Both have preserved much of their eighteenth- and early nineteenth-century appearance, though Ciutadella has the aesthetic edge, the many lanes and alleys of its ancient centre shadowed by fine old mansions and monasteries. Linking the two, the island’s only main road, the Me-1 , slips across the rural interior, passing the pleasant market towns of Es Migjorn Gran , Es Mercadal and Ferreries . A series of sideroads branches off to the island’s resorts , the best appointed of which are C