Villas in Mallorca

Mallorca is different, both from what you would expect, and from other European destinations. Its great beauty and understated and relaxed charm has drawn the famous since the 19th Century when Chopin had a scandalous relationship with the writer George Sand in Valldemossa; in the early 20th Century famous regulars included Winston Churchill, Agatha Christie and Gracy Kelly.

Today, mass tourism is a small and dwindling part of the story: of course there are pockets of development, but it is easy to miss them and even these resorts are not on anything like the scale that you might find in mainland Spain. At about 1400 square miles, it is only about the size of Kent, but offers incredible variety of landscapes from the beautiful and very dramatic mountainous west coast to the flatter interior and South. Palma, the capital, is surely one of the prettiest towns in Europe with a lovely bay and spectacular cathedral, similar to the one in Barcelona (but smaller and nicer).

As an established destination, Mallorca is very well set up for most things you might want to do, but also refreshingly different, a fashionable and relaxed take on the good things about the mainland. Nothing is very far from anything else (and the roads are excellent) so it makes a very good place for a get-away-from-it-all-and-relax holiday; but there is great variety with some stunning landscapes and lovely towns: Palma, Pollenca, Deia, Valldemossa should all be seen and can be easily within a day, although you may want to spend considerably more time in any one of these.