We decided to visit the island of Mallorca in the summer of this year after we had a delightful experience with the kids and my brother in Malta in 2023 (read about this trip here).

I already wrote one post with the summary of Mallorca – you can access it here – but now I’m going to tell you what we did on each of the 8 days we spent there. I was so enchanted by the island that I’m thinking about going back one day – and I usually don’t want to go back to places I’ve already been. That says a lot, right?

Arriving in Mallorca

We flew from Lisbon to Mallorca on Friday, 16/08/24, with 2 Vueling flights that unfortunately were delayed by 2 hours each. We took these flights with a stopover in Barcelona to save 500 euros, but today I think that this saving was not worth it. We arrived very late at night at Palma airport, and still had to wait 1 hour for our car that we rented with the company. OK Mobility.

Then we had to drive 1 hour from Palma airport to our hotel PROTUR Turo 4* SUP, in Cala Ratjada, on the other side of the island, and we arrived exhausted around midnight. Luckily the hotel was great, our room was quite spacious and the kids slept in the car, so the arrival was quite smooth. Thank goodness we only had 4 backpacks to carry besides the kids! 🙂

Some photos of this first hotel:

Day 1 – Saturday (08/17/2024)

We woke up with our alarm clocks so we wouldn't miss breakfast and we met my brother and his boyfriend who were in the next room. What a wonderful reunion, we missed them so much!!!

We had breakfast together in the hotel restaurant, which had a lot of food options, lots of staff to serve us and a very pleasant space. Practically every table had children and I was impressed by the number of German families in the hotel – I would say about 80%. Interesting, right? I had no idea there would be so many Germans there.

We got ready to spend the day out and around 11am we left the hotel heading to Muro Beach.

Muro Beach

When we were planning the trip, we read that This beach is highly recommended for those with children, because it has a very large beach, lots of free parking spaces and tents to rent for the whole day. The waves are small, the water is crystal clear and warm, and we spent the whole day enjoying this island paradise.

We took a quick trip to have lunch at the restaurant my brother had booked, Can Gavella, and we loved the paella with a sea view and the excellent service. It was worth leaving the sea to have this experience!

We went back to the beach and spent the rest of the afternoon enjoying the sun and the heavenly sea water with the kids without complaining about the cold for a minute. Just like in Portugal… lol

We left there when we were tired of the sun and walked around Cala Ratjada a little before returning to the hotel to enjoy the pool for a while.

Dining in Cala Ratjada

We got ready for dinner and walked to the pizzeria. Charm, which is located on a main street. This restaurant had interesting decor, well-dressed waitresses and the pizza by the meter was a hit with us. We ended our first day in Mallorca on a good note!

Day 2 – Sunday (18/08/2024)

My wonderful brother's birthday and boat trip day! 🙂

We had breakfast and got ready to spend the whole day on a boat trip that my brother booked to celebrate his 41st birthday. We drove for 1 hour to Port of Pollensa and after a long time looking for a parking space, we managed to catch our boat with a super friendly sailor, James.

Boat Trip

The day was a little cloudy, but I think that was actually a good thing because we didn't get too sunburned or tired from the sun. We passed by some beautiful places, which I confess I can't remember the names of anymore, and we had a wonderful day eating the snacks we bought at the market and drinking the drinks we brought and also those the boat company offered.

We all went into the sea, played in the water and swam to a rocky beach where there were goats that stole food from people who arrived by boat. I thought it was crazy! It was so good to be together in a wonderful place celebrating the life of such a loved one. My first Marcelo! 🙂

The tour ended and we returned to the hotel exhausted. It's amazing how spending a few hours at sea can be so tiring, right?

Dining in Cala Ratjada

We got ready and went to dinner on the same main street as the day before, but this time at a steakhouse with tables on the terrace called The Gaucho. We ate delicious dishes and walked back to the hotel.

Day 3 – Monday (08/19/2024)

We had a leisurely breakfast, played a little at the hotel and left at the end of the morning to explore the Cala Llombards. My brother and his boyfriend had already left earlier to meet the Caló del Moro, which from the photos looked amazing, and then they met us there.

Cala Llombards

Our trip was a bit hectic with Patrick vomiting in the car, me buying swimsuits and trunks for the kids (I completely forgot to get them) and taking a long time to park because the place was full, but we finally managed to sit in a tiny space on the sand very close to the sea, just the way I like it. The place is really beautiful, but the large number of people took away some of the charm.

We enjoyed the calm, warm water, had some snacks – we even bought dried coconut and watermelon from a street vendor –, Celo and Patrick went to explore the rocks and when we got hungry, we went out for lunch in Cala D'or.

Cala D´or

As the children had slept in the car, we drove around a bit to see the region, but because of the cloudy weather, the beauty was somewhat compromised.

We had lunch/dinner at The Sivina, a very touristy but pleasant restaurant, and then we walked around the city, had ice cream and drove 1 hour back to our hotel.

My brother and his boyfriend wanted to go out for dinner, but the four of us stayed at the hotel enjoying the nighttime entertainment for children, with lots of music and dancing, and we ordered some snacks at the hotel bar to end the night.

Day 4 – Tuesday (08/20/2024)

We had a very complete breakfast and left the hotel relatively quickly as it was going to be a busy day. We stopped at a store to buy a float for the kids and drove for 15 minutes to Cala Mesquida, one of the places recommended for children by CHATGPT and other family blogs.

Cala Mesquida

It took us a long time to find parking near the beach, which was quite frustrating, but we loved the place! Look how beautiful it is:

We stayed less time than we would have liked, because we had to go to the next attraction of the day, the famous ones. Caves of Drach. My brother had bought the tickets and reserved a mid-afternoon time slot, so we had to make sure we got there on time. We drove for about 40 minutes and we arrived!

Drach Caves

We followed the signs to enter the tour and joined a huge line to enter the caves. We were unsure whether the tour was on foot or by boat, but by the speed at which people entered the line, we deduced that it was on foot – and it was.

The place is quite impressive, with several beautiful rock formations, artificial lights that make the experience more magical, some stairs and then a classical music show with the band in little boats sailing in a completely dark environment with lights only on the musicians. I confess I felt a bit like I was at Disney.

After the show was over, we could either stand in line and wait for half an hour to ride the boat for 5 minutes or we could walk to the exit. We chose the latter, of course.

We found the place to be very beautiful, but I don't think it was worth leaving that paradisiacal beach for this. Especially knowing that right next to our house there is a cave that is just as beautiful – or perhaps even more impressive – that we have already visited and recommend to everyone. See more details about the Mira de Aire Cave, in Portugal, here:

Having lunch in Porto Cristo

We left the cave very hungry and stopped to eat at Fussio Lounge, in Porto Cristo, very close to the cave. A cool restaurant with a view of the river and excellent service. We loved it!

Our second hotel

We continued our journey to our next hotel, which was in the city of Alaró, in the Serra Tramuntana.

The chosen one was the Can Xim Inland Tourism, which is a kind of Bed and Breakfast in a very quiet city. I didn't like finding out that they don't have employees and we ended up having some stress that I told in this post, but it was our base for the next 4 days on this Mallorca trip. At least the room was spacious and quiet! Some pictures:

We arrived exhausted after a 1 hour trip, we packed our things in the room, took a shower and went out for dinner at Gallardo's Pizzeria, which was very close to the hotel. It's a shame that Juju couldn't handle the tiredness and fell asleep before trying the delicious pizzas there. We walked back to bed!

Day 5 – Wednesday (08/21/2024)

We had a delicious breakfast at the hotel restaurant overlooking the town square and decided to have a quiet day with the kids while my brother and his boyfriend went to Sa Calobra. Jú had been coughing really bad for a few days and I thought the night had been really bad, so I thought it would be best to take her to the hospital to get checked out.

A trip to the hospital

We went to the D'Inca Regional Hospital, a public hospital on the island that was relatively close to our hotel, and we were very well taken care of. As we had IATI insurance – I always do this on our trips – we arrived and didn’t have to pay anything. We were seen by the pediatrician, who quickly detected bronchitis, and then we were sent to a special room for her to undergo nebulization for over an hour. Juju loved all the attention she received, but after 2 hours in the hospital, she already wanted to go back to the pool and beach, of course. Fortunately, she didn’t have a fever and was in good spirits, so we went back to the hotel and had lunch at the hotel restaurant called Traffic – simply delicious! – and we relaxed the afternoon in the pool and in the hotel’s small garden.

Port of Soller and Soller

At the end of the day, we drove on a wonderful road for almost 1h until Port of Soller, a cute city on the coast, where we parked the car and met up with people.

We caught the famous train from Port de Soller to Soller, and I think half an hour later, we were walking in this other cute little town with lovely landscapes. The train ride was a hit with the kids and I even think it could have been a little longer. 🙂

We walked around a bit, then went into the church. Saint Bartomeu and we went looking for a restaurant to have dinner. Everything was full or already had reservations, and we ended up going to an OK place called SaCova, which had a nice view and good food.

Afterwards we ate ice cream in the square and took a taxi to where our car was in Port de Soller. We returned to the hotel with a gigantic moon on the road, took our showers and went to sleep.

Day 6 – Thursday (08/22/2024)

We all had coffee together and went our separate ways, as they had booked to go on a beach club in Palma de Mallorca with some friends.

Sa Calobra

We went to see the place they had visited the day before called Sa Calobra, and because of the super positive evaluation, we went with high expectations. It was truly the most beautiful place on the entire trip!

First, the road to get there has incredible views. Second, the sea water is incredibly beautiful and when the sun shines, you are mesmerized by the turquoise blue. Third, the view with mountains, rich vegetation, islands and boats make the place a true paradise. Here are some photos:

The only thing that left something to be desired were the restaurants there. There aren't many cool, trendy places, you know? They're just restaurants with snacks and basic foods that you can even take home with you, if you want, because after all, with a view like that, who wants to stay inside a restaurant, right? I even understood later. Anyway...

We drove for 1 hour to get there, parked the car in a paid parking lot, and walked to the beach which according to my son was the “The most beautiful thing in his life”! It's a good walk and we had to carry Juju at times, but thankfully we didn't take too many things with us.

Since the beach is not sand but pebbles, we wore flip-flops the whole time, but I strongly recommend that you wear flip-flops. We took the snorkel and we spent a good while watching fish and it was really exciting to see Paddy experimenting snorkel for the first time in his life! How happy he was to be able to swim without lifting his head and to actually be able to see fish at the bottom of the sea. We were so proud of his courage and achievement! Doting parents always… 🙂

Juju was very happy playing with the pebbles on the beach and in the river that is right behind the sandbank and even went into the shallow water. When the sun stopped shining on the beach, we thought it would be better to go back to eat something at one of the restaurants/snack bars and go back slowly on the super winding road, since Paddy got seasick.

Port of Sa Calobra

We ordered some fried fish at the restaurant Breeze that is in the middle of the road and before we hit the road, the children wanted to go to the beach Port of Sa Calobra. This one also has a nice view, but you could see that the water wasn't as impressive because of the hustle and bustle and dirt from the boats that dock nearby. Anyway, they had a great time and we sat down to rest.

Dining in Alaró

We returned to the hotel with the children sleeping in the car, took a shower and went out to dinner at the restaurant. Traffic again. We ordered black seafood rice which was divine and just before we went to the room, my brother and Luan arrived from beach club to say good night to us.

Day 7 – Friday (08/23/2024)

Last day at the beach in Mallorca…

We had breakfast and got ready to go to a new beach, the Es Trenc, which was on the other side of the island. We drove for 1 hour and when we got closer to the beach, we saw guards blocking the access because it was already full of people. So frustrating…

Sa Rapita and Es Trenc

We ended up driving to the Sa Rapita, which is right next door, and fortunately it was emptier. The problem was that there were some algae that made the landscape not so paradisiacal, so we had the brilliant idea of walking to It's Trenc after the lifeguard said it was close.

The kids had a great time on the sand, playing in the sea and with the giant alligator float we had bought at the beginning of the trip. At this point, we had already named the alligator – Jaque! – and he was already part of our family, of course. Kids…lol

We walked, walked, walked and halfway there we decided that only dad would come back to get the car and pick us up at the second beach. We always thought about dad's health, of course!!!

Thank God we didn't see any algae in It's Trenc and we spent hours enjoying that delightful turquoise blue paradise. The sand is very extensive and there are bars spread along the beach, so it was really pleasant to spend the day there. We didn't even notice the time passing by.

On the way to Es Trenc, my brother stopped at restaurant super cool Noray and booked a table for 5pm, so we knew we would have to leave the beach around that time. It was sad to say goodbye, but we were rewarded with a delicious paella at least.

We waited for Marcelos to pick up the cars and returned to the hotel feeling very tired. We took a shower and went out for dinner at a burger restaurant in the city, Yours Tafona, and we slept super well afterwards.

Day 8 – Saturday (08/24/2024)

It's time to say goodbye to Mallorca! 🙁

We had our last breakfast together at the hotel with a view of the square with the market and took the car to Palm, the capital of Mallorca. We wanted to see the city's famous cathedral before dropping off the car at the airport and catching our planes to Portugal in the afternoon, so we had to hurry.

Palma de Mallorca

We parked the car in a parking lot underneath the cathedral, bought the tickets online on this site and we quickly went out for a walk. It is very impressive due to its grandeur!

Here is a summary taken from CHATGPT:

The Cathedral of Mallorca, or La Seu, is an impressive Gothic building located in Palma de Mallorca, begun in the 13th century on an old mosque after the conquest of the island by King James I. Its construction lasted for centuries, with major renovations in the 20th century carried out by Antoni Gaudí. Among its highlights are the enormous 12-meter rosette, one of the largest in the world, and its grand naves. Situated on the seafront, La Seu is one of the most iconic symbols of Mallorca, representing the rich history and culture of the island.

We entered at the appointed time ticket, we walked around its beautiful interior, took lots of photos and then headed back to the car. It was very hot and the kids were exhausted, so it really had to be a quick visit. We returned the car to OK Mobility and had time for a quick lunch at a restaurant with robot waiters, before catching our first flight to Barcelona and then our second to Lisbon. It was a full and confusing day of travel, but it was necessary to get back to our little home.

Another perfect trip with my beloved family. Thank you, God! 🙂