Mallorca
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Porto Christo, Mallorca
Marcia and I honeymooned in Porto Christo, Mallorca, in June 2000. It was a fantastic week. Porto Christo is a small coastal town on the north east side of the island. The tonw has a small beach, but there were three very nice beaches all withing a bus or "train" journal. The "train" was a jolly middle aged lady driving a tractor that pulled a few open air carraiges along the roads in a circular route which started in the town and wen past the beaches. The beaches were all really great, one (which was accessable by a short bus ride) was a large beach with still waters, great for swimming. Another was in a small bay, with larger rougher waves, great for messing about etc. I do not recall the third well, but remember it was somewhere between the other two in style. All the beaches had sun loungers with large palm umbrellas to shelter from the sun, and there were cafes nearby to purchase drinks. We did find that it was better to shop in the town and take our food to the beach as it was a bit pricey on the beach. We stayed in a dodgy hotel, I forget them name, but it was through a travel agent - Thomas Cook I think. We only booked the holiday 2 days before we went, and therefore could not be too fussy. I would recommend trying to find some nice locally run hotel in Porto Christo if you visit.
The town itself had a few nice bars, one did really good cocktails. There were few nice places for local fish, plus some "English cafes" where you could buy just about anything with chips. While we were there it was about 35 degrees Celius, pretty nice weather for a beach holiday.
A bit about Mallorca in general
Mallorca (3640 sq.km) is known as an easy-to-reach Mekka for friends of sunny beaches. With a coastline of more than 550km in high season, the island is flooded by millions of tourists from all Europe. This is both a blessing and a curse for the inhabitants, and they are well prepared for it and provide a very well-organized tourist infrastructure.
Nevertheless, Mallorca can show even other faces when you leave the coastline and take a look at the inner country. Prices fall with each kilometer you move away from the coast, and reach the usual Spanish standards in the center of the island or even some parts of the mountain area.
Geographically the island can be divided into three parts. The Serra de Tramuntana rocks extend from south-west to north-east, while the Serra de Llevante stretches along the eastern coast. Between them lies the central plain (Llanura del centro).
The natives speak so-called Mallorquin, a Catalan dialect, sometimes referred to as an independent own language. Of course, everybody speaks Castillian (normal Spanish), too.
In tourist areas, you will frequently come across people speaking English, German, French and other common European languages.
Get there
By plane
There are frequent flights from many European cities to Palma de Mallorca airport. In particular, many of the discount airlines have daily flights.
There are also flights from Menorca and Ibiza, but these are about double the price of the ferries from these islands, and save only about an hour.
From the airport public buses run frequently to central Palma. Many car rental agencies have their offices at the airport.
By boat
You can catch a ferry to Palma de Mallorca from the other Balearic Islands or from several points on the Spanish coast, including Barcelona and Valencia. You can catch a ferry to Alcudia from Menorca.
This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikitravel article "Mallorca".
