The best places in Mallorca

Mallorca, the largest of the Balearic Islands, is famous for its mild climate, warm gentle sea and a holiday season from April to mid-November. This island will delight lovers of exclusive holidays, people keen on golf, horse riding and sailing, those who are interested in history, culture, art or who would simply like to enjoy the beauty of nature and architecture.

Son Vida

Son Vida, the most prestigious area of ​​Mallorca, is located on the hills near Palma, offering stunning views of the city and the sea. This area is also known as the “Beverly Hills of Mallorca”. It is here that the most expensive residence on the island is located - Villa Solitaire, where Nicole Kidman lived during the filming of the spy thriller “Special Forces: Lioness”. 

Golfers and others are attracted by the Arabella Golf Mallorca complex with three hotels of the world's leading brands, three championship golf courses and one 9-hole training course. Each hotel in the complex is interesting in its own way. Castillo Hotel Son Vida, a Luxury Collection Hotel is located in a 13th-century castle, and its honorable list of guests includes Prince Rainier III and Grace Kelly, Aristotle Onassis, Maria Callas, Anthony Quinn, Pedro Almodovar, Claudia Schiffer and many other famous people. The St. Regis Mardavall Mallorca Resort has one of the largest spa centers on the island, where they offer signature rituals inspired by the Bloody Mary cocktail (with tomatoes, ginger, pepper), with chocolate and vanilla, grape seeds, volcanic stones; detox and Ayurveda, traditional Chinese medicine. The Sheraton Marbella Arabella Golf Hotel offers excellent conditions for a holiday with children, including free golf lessons for the younger generation.

A 10-minute drive from Son Vida is the village of Portals Nous with one of the most prestigious marinas in the Mediterranean - Puerto Portals. Its berth can accommodate 650 boats at a time, there are restaurants and bars, fashionable boutiques, a sailing school, and regattas are organized. In addition, the Classic Rally of Mallorca has been held annually on the village's race track since 2014.

A 20-minute drive from Son Vida takes you to the picturesque resort town of Santa Ponsa, home to one of the largest beaches on the island – the beach with the same name and a sand strip of 1,300 m. In Santa Ponsa, you can play golf and tennis, visit a water park, do water sports, and scuba dive: nearby are marine reserves and a sunken 133-meter frigate.

Valldemossa

30 minutes from Son Vida, at an altitude of 437 meters, is the charming village of Valldemossa, the highest in the Balearic Islands. It is recognized as the most beautiful in the world, according to National Geographic, and is included in the UNESCO World Heritage List.

In Valldemossa, you can see the old palace of King Sancho, built by the King of Majorca, Jaime II, in 1309 for his son Sancho, who suffered from asthma. In 1399, the Carthusian monks settled in the palace. And it was in this monastery that Chopin and George Sand lived. In memory of this, the Frederic Chopin Piano Festival has been held here annually since 1930. And in the gardens on the monastery grounds there are busts of Chopin, the artist Santiago Rusiñol and the poet Ruben Darío. 

On the way from Valldemossa to Deià is the fishing village of S’Estaca: stone houses piled on top of each other on a cliff right above the sea, offering an incredible view from the water. Nearby is the former mansion of Michael Douglas with the same name – S’Estaca. This luxurious residence in the Moorish style once belonged to Archduke Ludwig Salvator of Austria. On the territory there are gardens and a garden plot, vineyards, equipped cellars, because at one time the actor was engaged in wine production.

Deià

Poet and novelist Robert Graves once wrote: “The quiet villages of Mallorca are not the places to go for inspiration. They are for those whose heads are already swarming with ideas and who require absolute silence to write them down.” In particular, he was talking about the coastal village near Valldemossa – Deià, where he spent most of his life. Creative people began to come here to visit and just to visit: poets, artists, musicians. Some bought real estate in these places, others stay in the bohemian La Residencia, a Belmond Hotel Mallorca, whose collection includes paintings by more than 85 local artists. The Mirò restaurant in this hotel is decorated with 33 originals by Joan Miró.

The hotel organizes creative workshops with the participation of artists, sculptors, potters from all over the world. Until recently, when on holiday in Deià, you couldn’t miss dining at the Es Racó d’es Teix restaurant by Josef Sauerschell. Now, in its place, Ca Ses Sauerschell’s has opened under the management of the three daughters of this famous chef.

Fans of agritourism and slow tourism will love the Sa Pedrissa hotel, located on the territory of a 16th-century farm, mainly engaged in the production of olive oil. Everything is home-grown here: oil and honey, vegetables and herbs, chickens and sheep. You can feed the local donkeys and ponies with apples and carrots taken at the reception. Vacationers will be offered dozens of ways to relax: dawn walks to the bay, morning yoga, hiking and visiting a local winery, master classes in weaving, pottery, jewelry making, romantic tasting dinners with five courses on observation platforms above the sea.

Alcudia

Alcudia, a resort town in the north of Mallorca, is located next to two bays: Pollensa and Alcudia. Fortifications from the late 13th century have been preserved here. Golfers will be interested in the golf club in Alcanada - the only one on the island located right on the coast. It is easily recognizable by the lighthouse on the islet near the shore. The owner of this golf club is Hans-Peter Porsche, a representative of the famous automobile dynasty. The course, designed by Robert Trent Jones Jr., has hosted tournaments such as the Rolex Challenge Tour Grand Final.

Near Alcudia is the Sa Bassa Blanca Museum. The center of the museum complex is a palace in the Spanish-Moorish style, built by the Egyptian architect Hassan Fathy, with fountains and gardens in the courtyard. Previously, this palace was the home of the artist couple Ben and Yannick Jacober, now they have opened a museum here with numerous paintings and sculptures. Part of the collection is the work of Ben and Yannick, and part is the work they collected over half a century.

The center of the exhibition is 165 portraits of children, mostly representatives of royal families and aristocracy, painted in the 16th-19th centuries by European artists, including the old masters Ottavio Leoni, Frans Pourbus the Younger, François Quesnel, Charles Beaubrun, William Verelst. Many of the heirs to the throne depicted in the paintings had a tragic fate - the same as that of the Jacobers' daughter, who died at the age of 19. This collection is dedicated to her memory.

Moving north from Alcudia, through the Bay of Pollensa, you come to Cape Formentor with its working lighthouse. Nearby is the new Four Seasons Resort Mallorca at Formentor, named the most expensive opening of last year in Spain. The 1929 building is hidden in the shade of pine trees and carefully restored gardens with Mediterranean and exotic flowers. The 40-hectare property even has working vineyards, and guests can join in the harvest at the end of summer. Intimate weddings are held in the garden. The hotel organizes excursions to the Tramuntana Mountains, Valldemossa and Deia, yacht trips along the coast and to Menorca, forest walks with a biologist and snorkeling with a marine biologist. In 2025, the hotel will offer seven restaurants and bars, including Shima with Nikkei cuisine.