Activities

Everything here is done from the house without moving base: the centre of Pollensa is five minutes away by car, Port de Pollensa ten, Cala Sant Vicenç fifteen and Palma airport fifty.

Walking in the Serra de Tramuntana

The range has been a UNESCO World Heritage site since 2011 and it starts less than twenty minutes from the door. The five walks we recommend to our guests, from easiest to most serious:

• El Calvari — 365 steps from the Plaça Major. Half an hour climbing between cypresses, with the whole village at your feet. The one for your first evening.
• Puig de Maria — 3.4 km there and back, 1 h 45. A cobbled path up to a 14th-century sanctuary. It works surprisingly well with children.
• Vall de Bóquer — 7 km there and back, 2 h 30. The birdwatchers' one: in spring and autumn it is a European classic.
• Camí Vell de Lluc — the last stage of the GR-221, about 4 to 5 hours along the old pilgrims' path.
• Penya des Migdia — for trained legs, with easy scrambling and vertical views over the bay.

The season for walking here runs from October to May. In high summer the range goes past 35 degrees and there is little shade on the ridges. Distances, times and starting points are in the walking guide.

The sea

There is a beach for every plan: Cala Molins, quiet and easy with children; the bay at Port de Pollensa for kayaking and paddleboarding; and Formentor beach, fine sand and shallow turquoise water. The sea stays warm from the whole summer and holds 23-24 degrees until the middle or end of October, so autumn is often better than June.

Formentor, and the restriction nobody mentions

From June to September you cannot drive up during the day: there is a shuttle bus from Port de Pollensa and boats across the bay to the beach. Outside those hours you can, and sunrise at the lighthouse with an empty road is the best plan there is from this house. The three stops — the Colomer viewpoint, the beach and the lighthouse — are in the Formentor guide.

Sunday is market day

From 8:00 to 13:30 in the Plaça Major and the streets around it. Fruit and vegetables from local farms on the square, crafts in the side streets. It is what we recommend for your first Sunday, and one market shop fills the kitchen for the week. How to do it well, including what time to go.

Riding

Port de Pollensa is Europe's road cycling capital and it is ten minutes away. Cap de Formentor is 35 km there and back with 600 m of climbing; Sa Calobra, the island's most famous ascent, is 9.4 km at 7 % average; and the Lluc loop is the long ride of the range. The season runs February to May and September to November. The routes are in the cycling guide.

Eating well

Do not leave without an ensaimada with a mid-morning coffee, or without trying frit de peix. In the village, Restaurant Il Giardino has a very careful Mediterranean kitchen and La Fonda is known for its rice. And the kitchen here lets you cook market produce, which is another way of getting to know the island. More places in the food guide.

Culture and fiestas

The Museu de Pollença is a good introduction to local history and to Mallorcan painters, and the Pont Romà is a short walk away. In August the Moros i Cristians are re-enacted and the whole village comes out. On Good Friday at dusk the lights go out and the Davallament comes down the 365 steps of the Calvari: in the street, no ticket.

Which month for what

• Beach — May to October, and the second half of September is the best of it: the sea is still 24 degrees and the coves empty out.
• Walking — October to May.
• Cycling — February to May and September to November.
• Fiestas — Easter for the Davallament, July and August for the Festival and La Patrona.

With children there are also adventure parks with zip lines and courses by age, and Mallorcan cooking classes with a local chef: the family plans are here.

Port de Pollença, ten minutes away

Half of these plans live in Port de Pollença, ten minutes from the villa by car: the sandy beach with shallow, calm water — the right one with children —, the Pine Walk for a stroll under the pines at sunset, and the bay where the kayaks and paddleboards are rented and the sailing lessons happen. On Wednesday mornings the Port holds its own market, the companion to the Sunday market in the town.

The boats to Formentor beach also leave from the Port — the right way to go in summer, as we explain in how to get to Formentor — and it is Europe's road cycling base: if you are coming to ride as a group, there is the house built for cyclists.