As a holiday maker, you can choose between giant resorts with golden sands and boisterous nightlife or opt for a tiny villa on a tranquil cove where fishing is the biggest excitement. Dance the night away in discos or have a drink in a British pub; or stroll along beaches.
Majorca’s popularity for holidays is immense. Every year millions of holidaymakers pass through Palma airport. Yet more arrive on ferries from Barcelona, Valencia, Genoa and Marseilles. This enduring popularity and the huge numbers of holidaymakers who return year after year are the best proofs of Majorca’s unique attractions.
It is the largest of the Balearic Islands, a group which also includes Minorca, Ibiza and Formentera. Majorca — or Mallorca in the Spanish spelling — measures nearly 100 km across and packs in a lot of fine scenery.
The whole of the west coast is one long mountain range whose highest peak, Puig Mayor, reaches 1,445m. The road through the mountains winds through valleys where orange groves glow in the sunshine, and over high escarpments with breath taking views of the sea far below. A few rocky coves are accessible but, for obvious reasons, most of this coast is not developed for tourism and never will be.
The east coast is also hilly but less dramatic. All the way down, the sea has cut deeply into limestone rocks, creating a series of idyllic, pine-fringed inlets. These provide lovely settings for harbours, fishing villages and even fully fledged resorts.
Between the two mountainous coasts lies the central plain of Es Pla, a fertile region where windmills dot the landscape and almond, olive and fruit trees flourish. It is a peaceful, rural area where you will still see donkey-drawn carts, and farmers tilling the land in floppy straw hats. And it enjoys a brief glory every year from mid-January to the end of February, when the landscape is transformed by a white haze of almond blossom.
All this is waiting to be discovered on your holiday. But the Majorca that most people see first is the historic capital, Palma, whose airport is the island’s main gateway, and the great holiday playground around the Bay of Palma. Three-quarters of the island’s population live in this corner of the island and the big resorts of Palma Nova, Magaluf, El Arenal and Ca’n Pastilla make this one of the busiest and liveliest stretches of coast on the whole Mediterranean.
The mass tourism which began in the 1950s has brought prosperity and change to the island, but despite it, Majorcan traditions still survive. Crafts and customs flourish and the islanders are proud of their past. Their language is Mallorquin — a dialect of Catalan, with traces of Arabic, Latin and French. Place-names often have alternative spellings — Puerto Pollensa and the local Port de Pollenca, for example. Even if you speak Spanish it’s hard to understand Mallorquin, but English and conventional Spanish are widely spoken.
Like all Spaniards, the Majorcans are hospitable and relaxed. You’ve only got to watch the paseo — the evening stroll before dinner which is part of life in any Spanish town —to get an idea of their leisurely approach to life. They love their food, too, and long hours are spent over paella or large platters of freshly cooked seafood.
Most people go to Majorca in the summer months when the waters are warm and the sun shines — on average — at least six days of the week. But other times of the year have their attractions too: spring, when the countryside is fresh, green and carpeted with fragrant wild flowers; autumn, when the crowds have gone and the days are still warm; and the end of winter, when the almond trees burst into blossom.
As a place for all tastes and all seasons, a Majorca holiday is hard to beat. One of the first things you are likely to notice as you drive away from the airport is the cobweb shapes of the wind pumps in the fields. These devices draw up water from far underground, and help to keep the island relatively green and fertile in spite of its southerly latitude.