Things to do in Marratxí

Nobody plans a holiday around Marratxí. It is a working municipality seven kilometres from Palma, on the road inland to Inca. Two things concentrate here: the island's clay trade and its small aircraft.

The clay towns

Pòrtol and Sa Cabaneta are the potting villages. Workshops on their main streets still throw and fire on site, and most sell straight from the kiln room.

• The siurell. A white clay whistle daubed with red and green, shaped as a rider or a fat little man. It is the closest thing Mallorca has to a national mascot.
• Household ware. Glazed cooking pots, jugs and the wide shallow dishes local kitchens use.
• The Fira del Fang. A clay fair held each spring, when the potters set up together and the prices drop.

Son Bonet and what flies from it

Son Bonet was the island's first civil airfield. Its first commercial flight went out in 1927, and a flying school followed in 1935. It served as Mallorca's airport until the big one at Son Sant Joan opened in 1960.

Light aircraft and helicopters use it now, and the sightseeing flights leave from the old control building. They are chartered whole, not sold by the seat.

• Half an hour. A loop over the bay of Palma and the coast either side of it.
• An hour, westward. Down to Andratx and the cliffs, timed for the sun going into the sea.
• Longer runs. North to the Formentor headland, or a flight that lands somewhere for lunch or a tasting.

Practical

• Getting here. The Palma to Inca train stops in the municipality, but a car is what most people use.
• Wind decides. Flights move or cancel when it blows, and morning air is the smoothest. Ask how refunds work before paying.
• Weight. Helicopter operators ask for passenger weights when you book. This is not a formality.
• Cost. A short flight starts in the high hundreds of euros for the aircraft, and the price rises with the hour rather than the head.
• Workshop hours. Potters keep Spanish trading hours and shut for the afternoon. Mornings are safer.
• Also here. The island's outlet shopping park sits in the municipality, off the motorway.
• Weather. Inland Mallorca runs hotter than the coast in July and August, with no sea breeze to help.