Spring Break in Mallorca

Holiday Ratings
Recommended days	7
Budget	£
Difficulty	Easy

Why Mallorca

We had never visited the island before so we thought a week long Spring break in Mallorca would be the ideal way to see the sights. We took Steph with us so it became a family holiday and visited in Spring so it wasn’t too hot for our delicate skin!

Accomodation

We stayed the week in the Marriott resort at Club Son Antem. Although it was out in the countryside with no other locations nearby it was actually an excellent base for exploring the island. The villas were the usual excellent Marriott quality and the staff and facilities were superb.

Capocorb Vell

We arrived on a nice early Sunday flight and were checked in by 1PM so, after lunch and essential shopping, we headed off to visit the closest ‘attraction’. After a very roundabout route due the sat nav not charging properly and the place not being signposted we managed to find it. Hardly the most exciting place on the island – sorry Steph!

The place was called Capocorb Vell and is a bronze age settlement, similar to Skara Brae but larger and cruder. Impressive and a lovely setting, just a shame we drove most of the way on the national cycle network so spent most of the time cursing cyclists!

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Cuevas del Drach

Monday was a gorgeous day and the cat we saw yesterday had left us a nice dead mouse as a thank you. With two women in the house there was no chance of leaving early but we managed to exit by 10.30 and headed to Cueves del Drach – the dragon caves.

Despite the huge number of shuffling deadbeats in front of us I was still impressed with the caves, they really were stunning and like nothing I’ve seen before. We had wrapped up warm, expecting the caves to be cold but they were 21 degrees so pretty toasty really!

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Parc Natural de Mondrago

After lunch we headed to the beach. Well, not really the beach but a nature reserve that extended along the coast. The car park was empty and after a brief walk we reached the coast.

Wow! The sea was a stunning azure blue with a pine forest extending along the shore until we reached the beach. We fought through the crowd of 5 people and Debbie went for a paddle.

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Botanicactus

From here we went to Europe’s largest botanical gardens, Botanicactus. Although a bit worn down the place was impressive with huge varieties of cactii and other prickly things. A long day but well worth it, even with the Lidl visit that inevitably followed…..

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Palma

Tuesday we decided to have a lazy day so didn’t leave the house until 2PM, other than a 7AM walk around the site. Having read up about parking in Palma we went for the park and ride option. It was a bit of a concern at first – the car park was overgrown and deserted and the tube station was entirely empty. The train arrived and was amazing clean and 5 minutes later we were on the edge of the old town.

Banys Arabs

We meandered down the streets until we came to the cathedral, did a quick circuit and then headed to Banys Arabs, a 10th century Arab bath house. This had a lovely courtyard garden and we then headed back to the cathedral to find it was closed. Damn!

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Royal Palace of La Almudaina

Ah well, we then went in to the royal palace which was very well preserved and free of crowds and had great views from the terraces. Shame they didn’t allow photography inside.

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A brief walk along the city walls and harbour front led us to a nice cafe so we had a coffee and took in the views. We then headed back through the streets via lots of shops to the now crowded tube and then home. We rounded the evening off with a surprisngly atrocious meal at the on site restaurant – a shame as it was meant to be a treat and cost more than the entire day’s activities!

Castell Bellver

The guidebook said the mountain roads were treacherous and best avoided, so we went for a mountain drive Wednesday. They were right and to cap it all we got to the nature reserve that promised scenic walks to waterfalls to find it was only open at weekends. Ah well.

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We then drove to the coast and after a brief scenic stop at a tower stopped for a coffee and cake. What amazing views! Although the roads would be improved by banning all the sodding cyclists we carried on to Castell Bellver.

This is an old royal residence on the hill overlooking Palma. More amazing views and a very well maintained castle with some unique design features. It was also very quiet and almost tourist free. After spending a good hour looking around we headed home for a barbie.

Alcudia

We had great plans for Thursday – drive to Alcudia then head north west to the Cape Formentor area, an area of spectacular scenery. We got to Alcudia by 10 after an easy motorway drive and parked right outside the old city gates.

Large sections of the wall were complete enough to walk along and then we climbed down and stopped for the obligatory coffee and cake. Using Steph’s excellent navigation skills (and the fact she was the only one able to read the small print on the map!) we then walked to the Roman remains and theatre. Not a huge amount to see on the site and the theatre was very eroded.

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From there we headed back in to the town and ambled around for a while until we found a nice taverna for lunch. It was bliss to sit outside in the patio area whilst the cook prepared our sizzling beef and we just absorbed the sun’s rays. That was also our downfall as after eating a big lunch none of us could be arsed to go to the cape area so we wandered back through the streets, Deb and Steph did some shopping and we got back to the resort by 2.30PM. At least we were able to have a chilled afternoon.

Soller

Our penultimate day had an early start to drive to Soller, on the west coast. This almost led to the sat nav taking a trip of its own after repeatedly directing me up one way streets the wrong way or down streets so narrow that my wheels were touching the kerb both sides!

We eventually turned it off and followed road signs, parked up and headed to the main square. This had an impressive church which was obscured by a selection of white vans so we ambled over to get a tram to the port.

These are 1930’s San Francisco trams that have been restored for modern use. The tram ride was nice enough but the port wasn’t really what we expected. I think it’s a UNESCO heritage site but, from what we saw, I have no idea why. The bay itself was lovely but the buildings behind it were pretty nondescript.

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I ambled down the beach whilst Steph and Deb shopped and then we caught the tram back (€30 return for us all!) and headed to Jardins d’Alfabia.

Jardins d’Alfabia

Jardins d’Alfabia is an Arabic style water garden. This was a pleasant way to spend an hour or so and the gardens were a delightful ramble of plants and water features. There was also a little cafe on site so of course we had to indulge there!

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Alaro Castle

After leaving the gardens we started the drive to Alaro to see the castle Steph had discovered. The drive was, hmmmmm, interesting! The road got more and more rugged, steeper and with more hairpin bends but we eventually reached the car park ready for the walk.

When we saw the castle above us we thought it was a bit of a joke and there was no way we could get there in the quoted 45 minutes. Deb had suffered so much from the drive that she had to wait in the car so Steph and I walked up through the pine forests, following the path. We came to the castle a lot sooner than we expected and the site was just awesome.

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The views from the top were incredible although we have no idea why anyone would want to fortify such an inaccessible spot! We spent a while exploring the hill (although keeping away from the edges!) before heading back down for a coffee and then driving home for 6PM.

Conclusion

This was a fantastic spring break in Mallorca and we were pleasantly surprised how much there was to see and do on the island. Driving was quite fun although I can imagine in summer it would be very hectic. Going in spring meant there were lots of wildflowers in bloom which was very pretty.

There were plenty of places to stop and have a coffee and enjoy the views and the tourist sites were well organised and good value. We liked it so much we went back a few years later.