Mallorca Travel Guide: A Slow Guide to Hotels, Food, Swimming Spots and Island Life
Mallorca has been on our radar for a while, so we finally went. Not for a quick weekend in Palma or a week spent between a hotel pool and the nearest beach, but to properly explore the island and figure out the places we would actually recommend to someone going there for the first time. We drove around, ate very well, swam whenever we could, stayed in some beautiful places and came home with a camera roll that was getting slightly out of hand. Now, our Mallorca Slow Travel Guide is finally here.
As always with L’escale Voyage, it is not an attempt to list absolutely everything you could possibly do on the island. There are plenty of websites already doing that. This is our edit: the places we liked, the things we did, the addresses we would send to friends and the details we think are actually useful before you go.
So, what’s inside?
Quite a lot (but never too much). Because we don't believe in sending you to thousands of places, instead we prefer to keep it slightly shorter list on the recommendation, and give you the chance to experience it nicely, but never too much...you're still on vacation.
First, there is the photography. Everything was photographed by L’escale Voyage during our time in Mallorca, because we wanted the guide to show the island as we actually saw it rather than fill it with the usual stock imagery of someone jumping into turquoise water. So an always, we kept clicking, filming and gathering images that we loved to share.
Then there is our introduction to Mallorca, with the practical things and small details that are useful to know before you arrive. The island is big enough that where you stay, how you get around and how you organise your days can make a real difference to the trip.
For places to stay, we have put together a selection of guesthouses, fincas, agroturismos and boutique hotels with character. We are not particularly interested in recommending somewhere simply because it has a nice swimming pool. The places in the guide are there because we liked them, their setting, their atmosphere or simply because we would happily stay there ourselves.
Food, naturally, takes up a fair amount of space too.
We have included our favourite restaurants, tavernas and places to eat, from the more considered addresses to simpler spots where the food does exactly what it needs to do. These are places we actually tried, and in some cases went back to more than once. Consistency matters. A beautiful lunch once is nice; knowing you can recommend somewhere without crossing your fingers is better.
Then there are the swimming spots.
Mallorca has a good amount of places to get into the sea (though we thought we would have found more small calas to be honest but still managed to find a few we loved), and we have picked the ones we genuinely spent time at. Some are easy to reach, some are quieter, some are better suited to a lazy afternoon and others are worth knowing about when you are already exploring that part of the island.
We have also gone beyond the obvious Mallorca itinerary.
The guide includes things to do and places to explore, from art studios and galleries to traditional crafts, local markets, salt flats, perfume shops and the historic Sóller train. There are plenty of small discoveries like these across the island, and they are often what make a trip feel like more than a succession of beaches and restaurants.
And, of course, there is more.
Because the best travel guides are rarely about ticking boxes. They are about having enough good information to make your own decisions once you arrive.
Mallorca, our way
There is no shortage of Mallorca content online. You can find a list of the island's best beaches in about three seconds, followed by another list claiming to have found the 12 beaches nobody knows about.
We are not trying to compete with that.
Our Mallorca guide is deliberately more personal and more edited. It is built from our own time on the island, our own photographs and a lot of looking, eating, swimming, driving and occasionally wondering why we had decided to take that particular road.
It is for anyone planning a trip to Mallorca who wants a beautiful, useful guide without having to wade through endless generic recommendations first.
Hotels, food, swimming spots, places to explore, practical tips and plenty more, all in one guide, with our signature L’escale touch.
So, that's Mallorca.
Now all that's left is to book the flight, find a few good places to stay and leave some room in the suitcase.
Pack your bags. We're going to Mallorca.
Our new Mallorca Travel Guide is now available.