The TL;DR version: We went to Mallorca. You should go, too. Soon.

It seems that 2021 is the year Covid has forced us to discover places that were under our radar previously. We went to Dubai in February, reluctantly, and we really liked it. Now we’ve been to Mallorca, and we loved it too. We’ll have to confess: if you said „Mallorca“ to us, we’d think beaches, resorts, German retirees, maybe Rafael Nadal? We didn’t know much about the island, and did not expect much. But it was a direct flight, Mallorca’s covid numbers were low, and the testing requirements were not that harsh, so the decision was easy. We went for 10 days.

And boy oh boy, we may have left our heart in Mallorca. We honestly loved our stay. Here’s our small report and some thoughts.

Getting in

We flew direct from Prague to Palma with Smartwings/Czech Airlines. The flight is not fabulous but it’s just 2 hours, and while the airport in Palma is surprisingly large, the process of getting through was fairly easy. Uber is not allowed in Palma, so you take a taxi from certified stands right in front of the airport. The drive to the centre of the old town takes less than 15 minutes, which is great.

Covid situation and restrictions (in early May 2021)

Now, we are writing this in early May 2021, so what you need to get in and out of Mallorca will depend heavily on where and when you will be reading this. (Oh Lord, I hope this section will age horribly… fast.) Anyway, coming from Prague, we had to take a PCR test not older than 72 hours before arrival. We had to take a covid test on our return flight, and got it from Clínica Rotger at the top of the Rambla street (Via Roma). It was easy: our hotel made the reservation, and we were in and out in about 15 minutes, and got the results of our antigen test in about 2 hours. You had to register with both Spanish and Czech healthcare authorities as you arrived in each country. You could do both online and it was easy.

As for the restrictions: when we arrived, outdoor dining was allowed until 5pm, with a 10pm curfew. But four days into our stay, things changed: the curfew was moved to 11pm, and outdoor dining was also allowed for dinners… from Mondays through Thursdays. (Fridays through Sundays still relied on the older system). Face masks were required everywhere, and the degree of compliance was very high… before dark. Jan was jogging just before the curfew and you could see face mask compliance falling rapidly, especially among the younger crowds hanging around.

Tourism

Maybe that’s a strange observation to start with but it’s something we noted a lot. Mallorca definitely is a place whose economy is tied with tourism to a degree, and people seem to have a love-or-hate relationship with it: the balconies of many apartments were adorned with either „SOS Turismo“ banners or banners that loosely translated as „Place for the locals, not the visitors“. We absolutely loved Mallorca, but we did visit it during low season… in a pandemic year, so would we have loved the mountain towns and the beaches if they were full of tourists? We’re not sure. It was nice walking around and having the towns to ourselves. But the empty shops and restaurants of owners who looked tired and concerned was nothing to cheer about. We guess our point is: if you travel now, you will beat the crowds and support the local owners now. So go ahead and book a flight to Mallorca now. Simple as that.

Hotels

We stayed in the Samaritana Suites, which are apartments serviced by the Posada Terra Santa hotel in the old town. This is not a paid post or anything - we paid for our stay in full - but we really liked the apartment, and the service provided by the hotel. (Side note: we now prefer apartments to hotel rooms just too have a separate bedroom where our JJ could sleep while we work in the evening.) The location was great, too, near the two things that got us started in the day: Mistral Coffee Roasters and Fika Farina. We were looking into other hotels and serviced apartments, too: Hotel Francesc, Palma Suites, Ocho Suites, Can Bordoy Grand House, Nakar Hotel or Can Alomar Hotel. If we wanted to get a „local“ experience, we’d look into apartments in Santa Catalina, which was a neighborhood we often ended at anyway.

Coffee

We got our morning coffee at Mistral Coffee Roasters, just steps from the Placa Mayor, for two reasons: it was very near our hotel, and we liked the coffee the best overall. They roast on the spot, and you can buy their beans as a souvenir. We loved our mornings on the bench outside, sipping our first cortado. Another notable coffee shop was La Molienda near Via Roma. If you like coffee and are from Prague, you may remember Zuzka, the barista/waitress at the late Café Lounge. She works in La Molienda now and it was great seeing her again.

Another coffee shop we liked was La Finca. Again, it was in the vicinity of our hotel, and they served breakfasts, too, but we honestly didn’t have any. Elefante in Santa Catalina also served a great cup. We also tried Café Riutort, a place that seemed very popular and had a really nice vibe, with Mukka Coffee just a block away. We also stopped by Rose Velvet Bakery, which everybody seemed buzzed about, and while it had a Czech barista (yay!), it did not become a favorite of ours. (Nothing wrong with that though.) Finally, we had a cup at Mama Carmen’s at Santa Catalina - loved the outdoor seating and the breakfasts looked nice, but our coffee was way out of balance to the point of being undrinkable. Maybe whoever dialled that espresso in that day had had a bad day. We wanted to try Arabay near Placa Mayor, but it never seemed open when we walked by.

Food

We had the best meal of our stay at Stagier. It was actually so good we went twice, and loved both visits. It’s a tiny corner place but it hits all the right spots - the food is amazing and well informed (the board shows the executive chef’s stages in some of the best restaurants in the world), but it is a casual, unpretentious place that serves dishes with Spanish, Peruvian and Asian influences… and it all works. We didn’t have a bad dish there. Honestly, if you go to one restaurant in Palma, make it this one.

Before we get into other restaurants we ate that, we have to stop here and stress that you should definitely visit the markets. Just buy stuff there and have a picnic somewhere, at least once. The market we often frequented was Mercat de l’Olivar - it was well stocked with great purveyors and produce. We went to Mercat Santa Catalina, which was smaller. We also intended to go to Mercat Pere Garau but ultimately didn’t get there. The sardine shop Don Pere Ultramarinos looked awesome.

Anyway, for quick bites, bread and pastries, we frequented Fika Farina. Great baguettes, croissants, montaňas (local coconut pastry), cinnamon and cardamon buns and so on. Great stuff. We really liked Fornet de la Soca: an antique bakery that had as great old-school vibe, and the pastries were great, too. We also went several times to Thomas Bakehouse in Santa Catalina, owned by Thomas, an Austrian from Vienna, and his wife Michelle of Lebanon. Really nice stuff, too. Please note: none of these had any major seating areas, at least not at the time we visited them.

We had a few bigger meals, too. The first one was at Restaurant Botanic, a modern, vegetable-forward restaurant in a nice, modern hotel. The outdoor seating in the back was beautiful and we liked some of the food, while some was okay but perhaps forgettable. Another lunch we had was at Vandal, a popular upscale tapas place in Santa Catalina. We did like the food here, although compared to Stagier, it was more about the plating and the philosophy than just straight-forward flavour. But we can definitely recommend it: it was fun and a „place to be“ for sure.

We had another lunch over at Andana, and it was great. They have a Big Green Egg and the dishes are simple yet tasty. We would definitely recommend this one. One lady next to us had the suckling pig with fries, and while we didn’t order it, we talked about it for the rest of the trip - it looked and smelled awesome. We had Canarian tapas at La Vieja de Jonay Hernandez, along with cocktails. That was another super fun meal.

As for bars, we didn’t do much. We went to La Sang Bar to get some natural wines, but until indoor dining is back in Mallorca, it’s only a bottle shop - they have no outside tables. But watch out for them - this would be the wine bar we would have visited if we could. And then we had some natural wines and local grilled sandwiches (think small panini) in Café Canamunt, and absolutely loved it. It was probably one of the smallest kitchens we have ever seen, but the service was great and the wines and food too. Definitely recommend it.

We also went to Restaurante Casa Julio - we walked past it one day and it seemed packed with locals, so we said why not? What a mistake. We didn’t die or get sick or anything, but it was a mediocre meal that was easily the worst of our trip. We also had pizza at Rikito. Yum. So in summary, our must go’s would be Stagier, Andana, Café Canamunt, La Vieja and maybe Vandal. We liked these the best. Have a look at the map below what other places we were considering.

One last place: Heladería Rivareno for ice-creams. OMG. We were there virtually every day, with the same order (we know, we’re horrible): chocolate for JJ, Bacio for Jan, and Morena for Zuzi. Honestly, go there. The flavours are more on the conservative side but really good.

Trips in Mallorca

You shouldn’t stay in Palma alone, because the island is incredibly beautiful. We rented a car for four days and drove around a bit without changing the hotel - even the farthest corner of the island is just about an hour away from Palma, so it was easy to go in and out.

While the roads are actually very nice, we did find the driving a bit stressful. First, parking in Palma’s old town is nearly impossible - you will get towed away if you stop just about anywhere (trust us, we went there), so if your hotel in the old town has parking facilities, use them. Also, driving in the mountains isn’t for less confident drivers - there are many turns and twists literally at the edges of rocks high above the sea, which is beautiful but can get terrifying if you’re not used to it. Finally, local drivers did sometimes behave in ways you would not expect as a Central European, so just use caution.

That said, definitely do rent a car and drive around the island. We did get our car from Sixt - we have found their cars to be in top shape at a great price, provided that you book way in advance - the prices get incrementally higher the later you book. (We don’t have any paid collaboration with Sixt - we just tend to use them quite a bit.)

So what are the places we visited?

First things first: we made a custom map for ourselves, which you can find below. You can use that to plan your trips.

A good place to start is Valldemossa. It’s just a 20-minute drive from Palma, and it’s a beautiful little town in the hills. It was beautiufully landscaped and clean and taken care of. For some reason, it reminded me of Santa Barbara in California, but with cats. Lots of cats. And mountains and old buildings. You can combine that trip with Deiá, a truly beautiful mountain village surrounded by lemon trees. If you feel like driving on curvy roads down a steep hill, go down to the local beach. It’s picturesque but tiny though, but it sure is a nice drive. Finally, go to Soller, have a croissant at Forn de Barri, and then either drive or take the tram to Port de Soller and have paella at Ses Oliveres, followed by a splash on the beach. We did all these three places in one drive, and it felt a bit rushed. Maybe try to break it down into something more manageable.

The best day of our trip was a drive across the island to Pollenca and Formentor. Pollenca is a small town that features El Cavalri, i.e. 365 steps to a small pilgrimage church on top of a hill. The views are stunning. There are a few beaches in the area, of all shapes and sizes, but the one we liked the best was a smaller beach in Formentor in the middle of pine trees. The road there leads via Mirador Es Colomer, a viewpoint that you definitely should not miss. You can continue to the Formentor lighthouse at the very edge of Mallorca - it’s a 15-minute drive that is either stunning or super scary, depending on where you stand on driving on cliffs.

We also drove East one day - you can visit the sald fields in Trenc, the town or Santanyí or the Mondragó natural reserve, or the views from Mirador des Pontás. We enjoyed all of these.

You should visit Mallorca

We think the gist of this article is that you should go to Mallorca now. It is a beautiful island that is easily accessible, at least from Prague, and right now pretty empty. So you’re hitting two birds with one stone here: visiting the place without people, and supporting local businesses when they need it the most. Have fun in Mallorca!