There are not only Gran Canaria and Tenerife in the Canaries, but also Lanzarote, Fuerteventura, La Palma, La Gomera and El Hierro. The account is good: the archipelago off the Moroccan coast has seven islands. Some are more suitable for lazing around others for hiking. One thing is certain: when you forget the concrete (present in some places only) and whatever the purpose of your trip, you can only be conquered by the Canaries. We will help you choose your island.

Balearic Islands: secret and unusual Mallorca

We imagine it concreted, colonized by hordes of holidaymakers who have come to roast on its beaches throughout the summer. Yes, Mallorca is tourist. Yes, it is seaside and, in places, shows a sprawling urbanism.

But it is another trip that we invite you here: to discover an island that has also kept its secret gardens, its virgin coves, its deserted islands, its wild dunes and fantastic hiking trails. This Mallorca overflows with charm, it’s up to you to discover it.

Mallorca, prehistoric version

It could be the beginning of a tale. Once upon a time there was a mysterious people who, occupying the Balearic archipelago in the Bronze Age, erected strange dry-stone monuments there. These talayots gave their name to a whole culture, called talayotic. What is it about? Kinds of towers moored in villages evoking today immense mazes of rocks and stacked blocks.

In Capocorb Vell, 35 km south-east of Palma de Mallorca, there are five of them: three round and two square talayots, surrounded by around twenty dwellings – or rather tangled walls which partially restore their memory. Supported by a gigantic slab, a hypostyle hall retains its vault.

And, offshore, still stands a section of the Cyclopean enclosure, as indestructible. An impression of vanished power emanates from these heaps, as if a submerged city had once stood here, before the umbrella pines and olive trees took over the territory.

If Menorca has the most impressive megalithic monuments in the Balearic Islands, Mallorca is not lacking. We also find some in Ses Païsses, in the north of the island, and right in the middle of the seaside resort of S’Illot, on the eastern coast, opposite the buildings and the sellers of fluorescent buoys. Some of these 3-year-old villages 000 years brought together more than 200 people, farmers and breeders of goats and sheep. It is with Roman colonization, it seems, that they sank into oblivion.

Majorca’s paradise gardens

Later came the Byzantines, then the Moors, who tried to make these rocky islands a large garden. North of Palma, at the foot of the Serra de Tramuntana, the Alfàbia estate is one of the few places that still testifies to their presence. The finca (large farm), still active, it retains a beautiful ceiling almohade to muqarnas (stalactite) of 12 e s, as can be seen in Fes or Marrakech.

The bewitching garden spans centuries of patient work. We approach it by a large staircase framed by royal palm trees. Above, two stone lions watch, carpet near an aljibe (cistern) letting the light filter gently; water drips, ferns grow there, mirroring themselves on the jade-colored surface. The basin feeds the water games which, with a simple press of a switch, arise under the pergola before passing out over the slope. Unprecedented luxury of unused water.

The walk continues between palm trees, magnolias and bougainvillea, rubbers and cedars of Lebanon. In this tufter, a kiosk serves a freshly squeezed orange. And classical music leads into the house, where paintings and furniture from past centuries pile up. A gothic armchair represents Tristan and Yseult.

Another area 3 km away goes back to the Arab conquest: Raixa. The place has been reinvented to 18 e s a Majorcan cardinal. The large loggia speaks of Tuscan villas and the triumphal staircase framed by sculptures climbs up to a proud marble Apollo. Above: a huge tank (with carp) and a gazebo.

Majorca with a view: bastions and nests of secret eagles

Regular prey of the conquerors and the Barbaresques, Majorca lived for a long time pegged at the foothills of its mountains, to better see them arrive. Three fortresses still bear witness to medieval concerns and fierce fighting.

Only one is easily accessible: you park at the foot of the flat summit once occupied by the Castell de Santueri, with a 360 ° view of the plain and its olive trees. Round tower, square towers and machicolations have been restored on one side.

Facing west, the castell of Alaró is established on the foothills of the Serra de Tramuntana. A narrow, dented road rises for 4 km to the Es Verger restaurant – a simple farm where, on weekends, the Majorcans disembark in large numbers to devour the family paletilla de cordero, the shoulder of lamb confit in the large fireplace. From there, it takes a 45-minute walk to reach the eminence on which the ruins stand out. Three times nothing: a valiant tower from which you cross the porch and, higher up, a hermitage that has become a refuge with its terrace planted with a large carob tree. Under the eyes: the whole central plain.

Rest, far, far from the crowds, the splendid Castell del Rei. It takes at least 2 hours of arduous walking from Pollença to reach this eagle’s nest incredibly anchored to a natural fortification covering the cliffs of the northwest coast, 476 m above the sea. It looks like a Cathar castle draped in his impregnable solitude. During the conquest of the island by the king of Aragon, to 14 e s, never place not yielded.

GR 221 Mallorca: the most beautiful hike in the Mediterranean

The Castell d’Alaró is (almost) on its way. Stretched along the Serra de Tramuntana , for nearly 92 km, the GR 221 should one day make it possible to reach one end of the west coast of Mallorca from the other: it is the most beautiful, underlined by palisades cliffs and barren peaks. For the moment, some large sections crossing private properties are still missing.

Islanders are more willing to speak of the Ruta de Pedra en Sec, the dry-stone path. And that is what it is all about: a path built and reinforced by the Majorcans to serve, in the past, their meager acres of land cultivated in terraces. Entire sections are only made of stairs.

Thus, the endlessly climbing route through the Barranc (ravine) of Biniaraitx (pretty village) is more than 2,000 (short) steps in a row to join the map of l’Ofre! The steep, meticulously paved, hugs the flanks of a torrent, slaloms between olive trees and approaches the bottom of a circus before rising on its flanks with a multitude of hairpins. Up there: a reservoir.

The Consell de Mallorca (autonomous government) has created a network of seven very well-equipped refuges along the GR 221 and on the secondary trails, where hikers can stay overnight and eat. Given their popularity, it is better to reserve their place there in the best seasons: spring and early autumn.

Dragonera and Cabrera: deserted islands in the Balearic Islands

Offshore, two virgin lands invite to other hikes in a natural setting. Two uninhabited islands on either side of Mallorca, both protected.

To the southwest, the long island of Sa Dragonera (4 km), where Barbarossa once released, unrolls its lizard spine on ultramarine blue. Land side: rough slopes carpeted with sparse vegetation. On the seaside, sheer peaks grazing the superelevation, as if the island, like an iceberg, was about to tip over. This large raft, classified natural park, is served by boat throughout the summer from the seaside resort of Sant Elm (not too crowded). In the line of sight: a corpulent pier, an old guardhouse that has become an interpretation center and three lighthouses so high that they seem to float in weightlessness.

It is from Colonia Sant Jordi, in the south-east of Majorca, that we sail towards the island of Cabrera. Leaving the all-concrete of the station, the boat enters 1 hour later in the deep and vast bay of es Port, guarded by the silhouette of the Castell stowed on its promontory. At its foot, a small port with a few white houses, a cantina much appreciated by sailors and a refuge to forget yourself in this parallel world.

From 1808 to 1813, more than 7,000 grognards captured during the Spanish Campaign survived with difficulty in this place, renamed Napoléonville, almost left to fend for themselves. The rat, it is said, was then used as currency.

Panoramas and deserted beaches of Mallorca

In the north of Mallorca, the immense bay of Alcúdia, colonized by invasive seaside town planning, is surrounded by two almost intact rocky points.

In the west, the Pinar cape, very rugged, culminates at 446 m at Talàia d’Alcúdia, reached after 1 hour of effort from the old hermitage of Victòria. Once the superb panorama (360 °) consumed, we descend to the opposite slope. The path, descending in the middle of the càrritx, large bushy grasses 2-3 m high, joins the beach of Coll Baix, hidden at the foot of the small eponymous pass. At the end, you have to dive through the pines, hit the big rocks to finally reach this discreet ribbon of sand, a little course, which no construction comes to disfigure.

East of Alcúdia Bay, the Llevant Peninsula Natural Park forms the largest stretch of unspoiled nature in Mallorca (16.7 km 2). No road crosses it: only 13 paths allow you to explore it. From Cala Mitjana, reached by a track, a very beautiful route leads in less than 2 hours to the beach of S’Arenalet d’Albarca, where camping and refuge are established.

Along the way: the solitaire Cala Matzoc; the watchtower of Albarca (there were around fifty all around the island), from which one discovers, while crawling on a wobbly ladder, a fabulous panorama on the coast clad with cliffs; then the deserted platja of Sa Font Salada , spreading out its wide carpet of sand, appreciated by nudists, at the mouth of a river. A real miracle.

Coves and secret beaches of Mallorca

Except for the bays of Palma and Alcúdia, it is on the east coast of Majorca that the largest seaside resorts are grouped. However, the entire coastline is not colonized. On closer inspection, some calas (coves) even escape the concrete.

At the gates of the Llevant peninsula park, Cala Mesquida, very constructed on one side, is not at all on the other: a vast field of dunes crossed by wooden walkways precedes the Cap des Freu. Further east, on the outskirts of Cala Ratjada, the long, clear sandy beach of Cala Agulla stands against a pine forest. Far from being deserted, it is nevertheless frankly beautiful.

It is between Porto Cristo and Cala d’Or that the most discreet calas gather. The tiny Cala Petita, with a V of sand extended by a long, tapered cove. The very accessible Calas Anguila and Romantica, which have remained attractive despite the urbanization of the area. And the most beautiful: Cala Varques, 30 min walk from the road. Unspoiled vegetation, thick sand, crystal clear waters – a daydream.

Further south, we park just above the charming Cala Sa Nau to go and plant our feet in the sand, under the pine of its unique xiringuito (beach bar) and taste a grilled fish. Even better? You have to run to Caló d’en Moro, past Cala Llombards. A narrow beach reached on foot facing a perfect rectangle of turquoise waters.

Majorca, countryside

The journey ends inland, somewhere between the old village of Petra, dominated by its hermitage, and that of Montuïri, with alleys lining a low promontory. There, in the middle of the countryside, between fields of wheat, almond orchards (in bloom in February-March) and cypress hedges, remains a bit of Mallorca of yesteryear. The agricultural area of Els Calderers was born of the Reconquista in the 13 th s; 500 years later, the Verí family built a solid three-story mansion there, testifying to the lifestyle of the rural big bourgeoisie, now an ethnographic museum.

One enters it almost on tiptoe, to discover a large living room furnished in the old style giving, inside side, on a vast patio. Three trees chirp there, potted plants multiply there, around a goldfish pond and an old well. Most of the rooms on the ground floor open onto this oasis.

The cracked varnish portraits and the library with stacked volumes invoke a long family history. The trunks let imagine journeys and the cellar, with giant thunderbolts, speaks of great harvests. Upstairs, away from humidity, the vast reserves have kept their stone trays filled with authentic crops: wheat, corn, beans, chickpeas and almonds produced on the property. The rooms are next door, with their frills and falbalas of yesteryear. Below, we join the workshops and the stables, still inhabited by geese, goats, calves and black pigs. A nice slice of lived history.

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