Things to do in Mallorca

Mallorca is the largest of the Balearics and splits into three landscapes that have almost nothing to do with each other. The Serra de Tramuntana runs ninety kilometres down the northwest coast — a UNESCO cultural landscape of dry-stone terraces built over a thousand years, with the road from Sóller to Sa Calobra dropping through thirteen hairpins that cyclists come from across Europe to ride. The centre is flat farmland and stone villages. The east and south have the calas: narrow coves with pine to the waterline.

Palma holds most of the island's people and its best single building, the cathedral of La Seu, whose rose window is the largest in the Gothic world and whose side chapel Gaudí never finished. Away from it, Valldemossa, Deià and Fornalutx are the mountain villages worth the drive; Alcúdia keeps a walled Roman and medieval core; and Sóller still runs a wooden tram to its port.

Things to do in Mallorca divide between coast and mountain, and the island rewards choosing one per day rather than both. Boat trips leave from Port de Sóller, Alcúdia and Palma; hiking and cycling belong to the Tramuntana; the caves at Drach and Hams are the wet-weather option. Season runs March to November, with April to June the sweet spot — warm, green and before the summer fills the calas. Tours in Mallorca book easily outside July and August.