Brash or civilised? The Daily Mail’s travel section found it to be the latter.

It’s not hard to see why Britain’s pioneering package tourists in the Fifties were so delighted with Majorca. The place is breathtakingly pretty and perfectly charming. In most places the views have hardly changed since Chopin made his ill-advised visit 170 years ago (when the Polish composer’s lover George Sand called the locals light-fingered ‘monkeys’ their unhappy winter stay went from bad to worse).

Earlier this month we rented a house between Pollensa and Alcudia, on a swathe of flat land framed on either side by primeval jagged mountains. We were just a few miles from the sea but the odd distant mobile phone mast apart, it was deliriously unspoilt. Pollensa and Alcudia were also thoroughly delightful, by the way.

Tourism from the UK to Majorca has been going longer than you might have expected. Nearly 75 years ago, Agatha Christie featured the locale in her 1936 story Problem At Pollensa Bay (I imagine el butler did it).

It’s easy to presume that Majorca is simply an island version of mainland Spain yet visitors quickly discover it is its own small world: quiet, intelligent and very civilised.

Hang on, you might protest: Majorca is famously the island that boasts the inelegant delights of Magaluf with Rovers Return pubs, all-day English breakfasts and binge drinkers permanently blotto from eternal happy hours. True: but to imagine all of Majorca is like Magaluf is to suggest the whole of Wales resembles Barry Island.

Less than ten minutes after leaving Palma airport in your hired car you are likely to be very far from the madding crowd. Heading north to Inca and beyond, the holiday throng quickly vanishes. To read the full article visit the Daily Mail by clicking here

For the Majorca weather visit yourmajorca.net

Minorca Blog

The biggest of Cala En Porter’s hotels has just opened after an extensive refurbishment - it’s good news for the village and for holidaymakers making their way to Menorca for their holidays.

The village has been out of favour with some of the tour operators, perhaps because it’s a little quiet for some, but the hotel will provide a great base for those wishing to visit the island and book their flights and accommodation seperately.

With views of the Mediterranean, the Azul is within an easy stroll of the resort’s amenities, including a choice of restaurants and bars, many with evening entertainment, but for those preferring a quiet week away they are catered for too.

The most recent reviews on tripadvisor from those who have been on their Menorca flights and stayed there have been glowing, and include comments such as this one from Switzerland:

We stayed 1 week in playa azul and took the hotel as a last minute offer for around 350Eur/pp including flight. For the price we paid, the hotel offered much more!

Overall we got much more then we paid for and we are really happy with Hotel Playa Azul.

And from a UK tourist who had their Menorca holidays recently:

Just got back from a week at this fab hotel, from the moment we walked through the hotel reception till the day we left it was brilliant, the staff especially the resturant and bar staff were very freindly and attentive - nothing was too much trouble, the food was first rate.

And as well as for independent travellers booking their trips online the good news for the hotel is that Thomas Cook are now offering it either seperately or as part of a package.

New photographs for Cala En Porter are due soon at yourmenorca.net and photos of the hotel are at social media like stumbleupon

Playa de Muro Majorca

Often family holidays can centre around the beach, and finding a good one near to your hotel or villa is an important part of having a good time - and getting it wrong can mean the whole trip is a bad experience.

So where are the good beaches in destinations ideal for a family holiday?

For Majorca, the most popular European vacation island, the answer is Playa de Muro, according to a recent leading quality British newspaper’s travel section.

Playa de Muro is located in the north of the island when looking at a map of Majorca, and the closest holiday resort is Alcudia, popular with both German and British tourists.

The travel section reports that the goldensands are ‘never ending’ and that the beach has earned Blue Flag status, with a number of good hotels located along the beach, offering a good choice for those wanting to be near a beach and searching the internet for Majorca hotels.
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They advise that you can wade out quite a long way in the clear water before getting out of your depth, so this is a great option if you have small children. You can hire a pedalo, try all sorts of watersports or take a boat trip.

It’s often a bit breezy, so good for kiting too. If you need a bit of peace and quiet while enjoying the great weather in Majorca.  Paths lead to the Albufera nature reserve, which is the largest wetland area on the island.

There is no shortage of bars and restaurants according to the report, whether you want paella, patatas bravas or pizza. If you walk along far enough, there are quieter parts of the beach with picnic areas in the shade of the trees by the dunes.

And for those about to go on their holidays in Majorca they even give some advice about how to find Playa de Muro:

From Alcudia, drive along the bay, past the S’Albufera Nature Park. There are lots of free places to park. You can also get there by bus.

Internet versions of national newspapers are a rich source of good information for tourists to read about destinations - The Daily Telegraph in the UK being one example of quality journalism. In Europe and North America travel journalists write about diverse but related travel topics, and subscribing to them is money well spent, but many are still freely available. Social media also has independent reviews, such as Yahoo Buzz.

More information about the islands and photographs of Playa de Muro are available at yourmajorca.net

Good news for Majorca comes from Microsoft, who are planning a new ‘Centre of Innovation’ on the island.

Microsoft currently runs technology centres in over 20 locations worldwide. Microsoft technology Centres for Innovation have been launched in an effort to provide technological solutions and market expertise.

The company has centres devoted to specific areas such as law enforcement, financial services, real estate, business and other industry sectors. Microsoft refers to these centres as “collaborative environments” where experts come together with business managers to create and implement software systems.

Microsoft has already established a centre in Spain - Manresa, Catalonia in Spain’s northeast corner. This particular centre is dedicated to innovation in productivity.

The second centre will be located in Majorca’s capital Palma. This centre’s focus is on tourism industry technology solutions. It’s an important one not just for Majorca but for Spain since tourism makes up a significant portion of the Spanish Gross Domestic Product.

Majorca holidays are a popular choice for many Europeans.

Maria Garana, the company’s president for Spain, referred to this centre as “a worldwide reference for technological applications in the tourism sector.” Garana notes that the Majorca centre will provide tourism technological solutions for clients all over the world, not just in Spain. This seems fitting, considering that the country itself is a world leader in tourism promotion and generation.

The Centre for Health Innovation in Manresa is the company’s first in the world. Microsoft has always provided health care software technologies. However, the proposed new centre will be the first which will be devoted solely to health care software solutions.

Experts in both industry sectors had suggested possible locations for these centres to be built. Places like Alicante, Benidorm and Elche had been proposed.

No matter where the Centre for Health Innovation eventually ends up, it promises to be a busy one. The Centre will likely be used by clients from all over the world.

Doctors, universities, hospitals and other health care service providers within Spain are excited to anticipate this new resource developing in their own backyard. They will, undoubtedly, be some of the Centre’s most enthusiastic users.

Meanwhile, the newest Centre for Cloud Computing will join the ranks of a number of other such centres worldwide. The company is concurrently developing another Centre for Cloud Computing in Taiwan.

These centres will focus on pay-as-you-go cloud computing services, which can translate into substantial savings over traditional cloud computing models. No word has been issued so far on where the Centre for Cloud Computing will be established in Spain.

It may take a few years to see what the impact of these two new Microsoft centres will have on Spain’s economy. Officials from many of Spain’s industry sectors are excited, though, at what possibilities may open up once these to centres are fully established.

More information about Majorca is available at yourmajorca.net and includes the Majorca weather and a map of Majorca

In London The Evening Standard ran some articles about holiday destinations for this year, and said about Majorca:

Mallorca is famed for its miles of white-sand beaches and fashionable areas in the north — writer and poet Robert Graves was just one of the island’s many famous residents. Palma, the capital, is a charming, cosmopolitan city with notable architecture, galleries, nightlife and restaurants. BA’s new weekend service from London City Airport to Palma starts at the end of May Friday to Monday, from £69 one way.

Mallorca Rocks, sister to the Ibiza Rocks hotel, opens in May. The opening party for this combined hotel and venue kicks off with the Kooks and Zane Lowe. The huge hotel will have 448 one and two-bedroom apartments, three bars and a five-a-side football pitch, large outdoor pool and tennis courts. Opening deal of £77pp for seven nights self-catering with ticket for the Kooks (www.mallorcarockshotel.com).

Cap Rocat, a chic new five-star hotel, opens just outside Palma in June. The former 19th-century fortress will have 24 rooms and suites with interiors by Antonia Obrador (the designer behind Claudia Schiffer’s house and Michael Douglas’s Mallorcan home).

It’s character-chic, with original fittings incorporated into the design — door handles are made from bullets, old canons are used as tables.

There will be a nightclub called The Bunker, cookery lessons, two swimming pools and a private beach club. Doubles from 350 B&B (www.caprocat.com).

This year — this month — is the 200th anniversary of the birth of composer Frederic Chopin. In 1838, the 28-year-old Pole arrived on the island with his lover, the radical-thinking French author George Sand.

Although he didn’t spend long here, Mallorcans celebrate his time on the island in the annual Chopin Festival.

Started in 1930, the Festival takes place in the cloisters of Valldemossa’s Monastery (the Real Cartuja de Valldemossa) in the north of the island. The programme primarily consists of works by Chopin but there’s music by others too. As well as concerts, which fall on four Sundays in August, there are exhibitions and other events. (www.festivalchopin.com).

Luxurious Mallorcan manor house La Residencia, in Deia, has a new nature trail which features donkeys to accompany guests — and carry the lunch — as they pass through pinewood forests and olive groves. Lunch is a picnic with locally sourced food taken in a shepherd’s house. Walk and lunch, 65 (www.orientexpress.com).

Finally, Jumeirah, the Dubai-based hotel group behind the seven-star, sail-shaped Burj al Arab, plans to open a five-star resort in Puerto Soller early next year.

In true Jumeirah style, the 120-room hotel will be the “most luxurious in Spain”, set on a hilltop overlooking the Bay of Soller and the Mediterranean beyond (www.jumeirah.com)
www.spain.info/uk

For Majorca hotels and a Majorca weather forecast visit yourmajorca.net

Good news for those thinking of having a Majorca holiday this year - prices are lower than last year according to Euro weekly News, who say:

SPENDING the night in a Palma de Mallorca hotel is 12 per cent cheaper than at the same time last year, Trivago reports. Despite the drop, in February 2010 the average price for a hotel room in Palma stands at 107 euros a night, remaining the most expensive in Spain, beating Madrid 99 euros (third most expensive) and Barcelona hotels at 102 euros (second most expensive).

More notably was the 18 per cent drop in prices recorded in the northern Spain city of San Sebastian, where a hotel room will set you back 93 euros on average.

By comparison, in the lower end of the spectrum, the cheapest in Spain are Leon and Logroño (62 euros), Santiago (66 euros) and Murcia (67 euros).

Nevertheless, the average price for a room in Spain increased by four per cent, now at 84 euros a night on average. When compared to other European countries, Spain remains among the cheapest along with Portugal (76) euros and eastern European destinations like Hungary (67 euros) and Poland (64 euros).

The most expensive hotel stay in Europe is Switzerland, with an average room price of 163 euros. For more European news click through to Euro weekly News here

For Majorca hotels visit http://www.yourmajorca.net

The Aberdeen Press & Journal’s Ellen Branagh recently recounted a visit to Majorca in the paper, and among other things had this to say:

ANYBODY with memories of youthful nights spent partying in resorts such as Magaluf and Palma Nova might be surprised to find that Majorca has undergone a dramatic change of image in recent years.

This wild child of an island in the Balearics has grown into a sedate maiden aunt symbolised by the elegant streets and squares of its capital, Palma – which with budget flights from numerous UK airports, is easy to reach for an off-peak break.

The Majorca weather alone, so much brighter and milder than here, can send spirits soaring in winter.

The Spanish city is also small and compact enough to explore on foot or by bike. Its old walls remain in place, topped by the occasional windmill, and the splendid historic quarter, from its imposing Gothic cathedral to Arab baths, art museums and Gaudi-inspired buildings, will keep any culture vulture interested.

If glamour and sophistication are more your thing, wander up the Passeig del Born – Palma’s answer to Barcelona’s Las Ramblas – where designer shops have muscled their way in, or gaze in awe at the yachts moored in the port as you enjoy lunch in a waterfront restaurant.

Perhaps Palma’s shops are so good because cruise ships arrive so frequently. All the top names, including Zara and Mango, are found in the retail-drome of Porto Pi Centro, and there’s a great choice of leather goods and other fashion wear in Avinguda Jamme III.

All these shops were within easy walking distance of my hotel, an oasis in the heart of the city just a few minutes’ walk from the cathedral.

The Hotel Dalt Murada is a former 16th-century manor house, one of the Reis de Mallorca hotel group – an association of independently owned hotels ranging from city boutique hotels to farm complexes and rural manor houses.

Restored nearly six years ago, the Dalt Murada has been in the owner’s family for several generations. It definitely has its own “wow factor”. Boasting three double rooms and five suites decorated with antique Majorcan furniture and art, it oozes history and culture.

Our penthouse suite was no exception. A private terrace overlooking the cathedral often tempted us from the cool, airy lounge area, while the bedroom was almost filled with an imposing four-poster bed.

The piece de resistance was a double Jacuzzi in the bathroom – perfect for enjoying a glass of cava during a break from sightseeing.

Bike tours are big in Palma, with people enjoying them as an easy way to see the sights. But it’s just as easy to arm yourself with a Majorca map for a stroll around the myriad streets and alleys, enjoying the sunshine as you go.

The cathedral area is beautifully kept, and it’s well worth going inside to see the sheer size of the building and its cloisters. You are never lost for a museum to visit in Palma – they seem to fill every corner. And if you fancy venturing farther afield for some culture, then Bellver Castle, just outside the city, is easily reached by bus.

Read more: http://www.pressandjournal.co.uk/Article.aspx/1458907?UserKey=#ixzz0gNeNMPFM

Thomson Holidays have included Majorca as one of their top ten holiday destinations they think will perform well in 2010 - they comment:

Majorca has always been a big hit with us Brits and that’s not about to change. Just a short flight away, the island offers great weather, trendy cities and beautiful sunsets. The un-favourable exchange rate won’t be such a problem next year as more hotels start to offer all-inclusive board in Majorca which shows the island is adapting to demand. 

In 2010, First Choice will introduce the first ‘Splash’ resort to the island, the 3 sun Hotel Saturno in Alcudia. Customers can benefit from ‘Free Kids’ places, a choice of flexible durations including 10 and 11 nights and unlimited use of the on-site water-park. First Choice also features one of its flagship family Holiday Villages in the resort of Ca’n Picafort which was awarded overall winner out of all Holiday Villages, by First Choice customers in 2009.

More details for Majorca with holidays from both First Choice and Thomson Holidays are available by visiting yourmajorca.net - they also include a Majorca weather forecast