Guide to the Balearic Islands

Spain Balearic Isles Contents Introduction 1 Mallorca, Menorca, Ibiza and Formentera 8 Getting around 14 United Intineraries: Kingdom Mallorca 15 Menorca 22 Ibiza and Formentera 28 London City visits: Palma 32 Mahón 35 Ciutadella 37 Ibiza 41 Leisure and entertainment 44 Useful addresses 48 Paris France Bay of Biscay Spain Portugal Madrid Lisbon Balearic Isles Mediterranean Sea Atlantic Ocean Ceuta Melilla Algeria Morocco B a r ce lo n Cap de Cavalleria a Cala Pregonda IslasBalearic Baleares Isles Cap Gros Punta Rodona Punta Nati Fornells 723 Cap de Favàritx Ciutadella de Menorca 721 es Mercadal Ferreries Alaior Cala Blanca es Migjorn Gran Cap de Catalunya Cap de Formentor Pta. del Esperó Cap de Artrutx Cala Sta. Cala Sant Vicenç Galdana Maó Playa de Son Bou Punta Beca Port de Badia de Pollença Cala en Porter Sant Lluís Villacarlos Pollença Cap des Pinar MENORCA Binibèquer Cala dÁlcaufar Pollença Alcúdia AIRE Cap de Menorca Cap des Bisbe Escorca A AN Badia Cap de Ferrutx NT U 712 d'Alcudia 710 M Port de Sóller A Can Picafort Cap des Freu TR sa Pobla Deià Sóller E Cala Rajada Punta de sa Foradada D Inca Muro Son Serra Valldemossa A Capdepera Playa de Son Bunyola R R Artà IE Alaró 713 Sta. Margalida Cap Vermell Banyalbufar S Esporles Bunyola Sineu Sant Llorenç Cala de Ses Ortigues des Cardassar Son Servera Estellencs Petra 711 Manacor Badia de Son Servera Sant Joan SA DRAGONERA sa Cabaneta MAR PALMA 715 Portocristo Algaida MALLORCA Andratx Calvià 714 s'Arenal Cala Magraner Magaluf Felanitx Santa Ponça Llucmajor Portocolom Cap de Cala Figuera Campos s'Algar MEDITERRÁNEO Barc Badia 717 e Barcelona lona T de Palma arragona sa Rápita Valencia Santanyi Portopetro Punta de Cala Beltrán ses Salines Colònia de Sant Jordi Cap de ses Salines Freu de Cabrera CONILLERA Parque Nacional Cap de Portinatx Punta des Moscarter allorca Ibiza Marítimo-Terrestre CABRERA Balansat Archipiélago de Cabrera Punta des Jonc Cap dÁubarca Sant Joan Baptista Palma de M TAGOMAGO Sant Miquel Sant Carles Punta Prima Denia Cala Salada Santa Eulària des Riu CONILLERA Sant Antoni de Portmany 731 733 Platja de Sta. Eulàlia Valencia Cap des Llibrell Sant Josep IBIZA Ibiza (Eivissa) FreewayAutovía HistoricRuinas ruinshistóricas (EIVISSA) Sant Jordi “B”Ctra. Road Red básica 2º orden CaveCueva N Cap Llentrisca LocalCarretera Road local CampCamping site Cap des Falcó Denia SÉSPARDELL RailwayFerrocarril GolfCampo course de golf S'ESPALMADOR MonasteryMonasterio PanoramicVista panorámica view es Pujols AirportAeropuerto NationalParque NacionalPark Punta de sa Pedrera Punta Prima CastleCastillo SpaBalneario sa Savina Sant Francesc de Formentera MonumentMonumento MarinaPuerto deportivo Cala Saona Punta de sa Creu FORMENTERA el Pilar de la Mola Punta Rotja Escala 1:1.000.000 Cap de Barbària 10 0 10 20 30 Km. C/Conde de la Cimera Nº 4 © Cartografía digital 28040 Madrid Tfno. 5536033 Año 1999 There are those who maintain that there is no such thing at all as the Balearic Isles. Nestling in the western Mediterranean, halfway between the Iberian Peninsula, the south of France and the north of Africa, the Balearic archipelago is made up of a string of islands which, while obviously forming a clear geographical entity, are marked by as many points of disparity as similarity. One of the reasons for these differences is doubtless due to the historical imprint that has been left engraved on each island: Ibiza, impregnated by a lasting Carthaginian and Moorish influence; Mallorca, heir to a pronounced Roman presence; and Menorca which to this day bears the traces of long years of English occupation. The islands’ respective topographies are at once alike and different, as are the kinds of tourism they receive. The Mallorcan summer season is, in general, a more sophisticated and less tranquil affair than that of Menorca, while in Ibiza the accent is definitely on nightlife. Although such simplistic clichés are often rather casual with the truth, the above definitions contain an undeniable basis of hard fact. Mallorca. Cala Fornells 1 The archipelago has become a Ibiza. D’en Bossa beach tourist industry giant and the numerous islets, the most leading holiday destination in notable of which is, without a the western Mediterranean. The shadow of a doubt, Cabrera, islands boast an excellent officially declared a Sea & Land combination of elegant summer National Park. Together, the resorts, coves and beaches, to islands cover a surface area of a say nothing of the many little over 5,000 square fascinating places hidden away kilometres and have 1,239 in the interior. kilometres of coastline. The Balearics are made up of The Balearics, also formally three major islands: Mallorca, known as Illes Balears, is an Menorca, Ibiza (Eivissa) plus Autonomous Region with its Formentera, as well as own governing Authority. There are 17 such Autonomous Regions in Spain. The island institutions are the Balearic 2 Regional Authority, the Balearic within reach of public transport. Parliament and the three island However, most visitors to the Councils, namely, those of archipelago favour car rental as Mallorca, Menorca and Ibiza & their chosen form of transport. Formentera. The Balearic Isles have a The larger islands are permanent population of over interconnected by plane and 700,000, almost half of whom ferry, and a busy schedule of live in the capital, Palma. The direct flights links each of their city is situated 132 miles from airports with principal Barcelona and 140 from destinations around Europe. Valencia, with daily plane- and Only Mallorca has a rail service, ferry-services covering the yet each island operates a crossing to and from the comprehensive bus and coach mainland. Ibiza and Menorca network that puts all points Menorca. Cala Font harbour 3 have approximately 80,000 and Dragonera Island 65,000 inhabitants respectively. attractive tourist destination for Although the islands enjoy a the inhabitants of Northern mild, classically Mediterranean Europe, unaccustomed as they climate, this is characterised by are to such conditions. typically insular features, such as the high humidity. It is this Fresh water was traditionally factor that accounts for the drawn to the surface by means marked differences in the of windmills, which stand seasonal temperature range. silhouetted against the skyline, Temperatures vary from an forming a characteristic island average of around 19.5ºC in backdrop to irrigated farmland spring, to 27ºC in summer, areas, particularly on Mallorca. 20.5ºC in autumn and 15ºC in This placid landscape, dotted winter. The annual average here and there with windmills temperature for the group as a (now fallen idle), can still be whole is in the region of 17ºC, seen in the Pla de Sant Jordi, with negligible inter-island Campos, Muro and sa Pobla differences. districts. Over the course of the calendar year, the Balearics enjoy The most developed industries something like 300 days in the Balearics and those of sunshine, a circumstance having the greatest impact which makes them an especially abroad are undoubtedly those engaged in the production of Ibiza 5 footwear, costume jewellery, island known to the outside furniture and cultured pearls, world. Numerous European the latter two being chiefly artists and writers were concentrated in the Manacor subsequently drawn to the district. islands and were struck by their evocative and varied scenery. However, the revolution that Scores of travel books and a has most profoundly affected considerable number of the islands’ economic and social paintings have not only structures in the entire course of immortalised the period but their history has come from the have come down to us as a post-50s tourist boom. The testimony of that time. vanguard of the current wave of tourists appeared in the 19th Thanks to the clement climate, century, when eminent scenic beauty and special quality travellers, such as Georges Sand, of light, the Balearic Isles were Chopin and the Archduke chosen by numerous writers, Ludwig Salvator of Austria first painters and artists of all kinds visited Mallorca and, through as the place where they could their literary works, contributed develop their art to making the beauty of the Conejera Island 6 form in an atmosphere of the gleaming, whitewashed peace and quiet. In the title he cubes of Ibiza recall the passage gave to one of his works, of the Carthaginians who, in Santiago Rusiñol referred to their wake, left exotic-looking Mallorca as, La isla de la calma houses redolent with the feel (Isle of Calm). It was in the and atmosphere of the towns fifties and, more particularly, in and villages of North Africa. the sixties when the tourist Menorca, for its part, conserves boom really took off. the indelible, unmistakeable stamp of British colonial rule Apart from the standard hotel- (1713–1782). type accommodation on offer, a complementary range of top- quality lodging has been developed -in the form of marinas, golf courses, country cottages and the like- which holds out the possibility of relaxing well away from the main tourist centres. Despite the many buildings erected in recent decades to cater for the steady influx of tourists who arrive all year round, the Balearics preserve a rich store of traditional architecture, a legacy of their folk heritage. Mallorca, Menorca and Ibiza provide examples of an architecture which, though rooted in tradition, stems from diverse origins. Mallorca, altogether more seigneurial, presents dwellings whose layouts are reminiscent of the villas of classical Rome. Alongside these, Mallorca. Bellver Castle and the City of Palma 7 close on 5,000 ft. in the shape Mallorca, of Puig Major, mountain Menorca, Ibiza scenery can be enjoyed at its and Formentera purest. Situated in this, the steepest part of the island, are Each of the Balearic Isles has towns as picturesque as features that distinguish it from Valldemossa, Sóller and Deià.

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