Magical Majorca

Majorca has long been a byword for the British package holiday, but anyone who dismisses it as merely a beach-and-bars destination is missing the real magic of this beautiful Balearic island. Scratch beneath the surface and you find soaring mountains, sleepy stone villages, hidden coves and a capital city that ranks among the most underrated in the Mediterranean.

Palma is the place to start. Its vast Gothic cathedral, La Seu, rises golden above the waterfront and is partly the work of Antoni Gaudi, while the old town behind it is a maze of honey-coloured lanes, leafy courtyards and tucked-away tapas bars. A morning spent wandering here, coffee in hand, is one of the great pleasures of any visit.

Away from the city, the Serra de Tramuntana mountains, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, run the length of the north-west coast. Here the pretty village of Deia drew writers and artists including Robert Graves, the monastery town of Valldemossa once sheltered Chopin and George Sand, and the vintage wooden train to Soller rattles through orange groves and tunnels to one of the island’s loveliest valleys.

Add in turquoise calas tucked between pine-clad cliffs, excellent local wines and a food scene that has quietly become some of the best in Spain, and it is easy to see why so many visitors fall under Majorca’s spell and keep coming back. Magical is exactly the right word.