Product Description

The Rough Guide to Mallorca is the ultimate handbook to this beautiful Mediterranean island. Includes comprehensive coverage of all the sights, from Miro's hillside studio to the echoing cloisters of Valldemossa monastery, and from Palma's old town to the remote beach at Cala Tuent. Detailed descriptions - with route maps - of the favourite walking routes in the Tramuntana mountains. Includes insider's reviews of the best places to eat, drink and sleep to suit all budgets.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #509066 in Books
• Published on: 2001-06-07
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 304 pages

About the Author
Phil Lee has written or contributed to the following Rough Guides: The Pacific Northwest, Canada, Norway Brussels, Holland, and Belgium & Luxembourg.

Excerpted from The Rough Guide to Mallorca by Phil Lee. Copyright © 2001. Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved
PRACTICALITIES Access to Mallorca is easy from Britain and northern Europe, with plenty of charter flights and complete package deals, some of which drop to absurdly low prices out of season or through last-minute booking. From mainland Spain, both ferries and flights are frequent and comparatively inexpensive. The island has one airport and one major ferry port, both on the outskirts of the capital, Palma. From here, the rest of Mallorca is within easy striking distance by car – it only takes a couple of hours to drive from one corner of the island to the other – and to a large extent by public transport too. The main constraint for travellers is accommodation. From mid-June to mid-September rooms are in very short supply. If you go at this time, you’re well advised to make a reservation several weeks, sometimes months, in advance or to book a package. Out of season, things ease up and you can idle round, staying pretty much where you want. Two or three weeks are sufficient to see most of the island; on a shorter visit, head for Palma and the northwest coast. Bear in mind also that six of Mallorca’s monasteries rent out renovated cells at inexpensive rates – it’s well worth sampling at least one.

CLIMATE Spring and autumn are the ideal times for a visit, when the weather is comfortably warm, with none of the oven-like temperatures which bake the island in July and August. It’s well worth considering a winter break too: even in January, temperatures are usually high enough during the day to sit out at a café in shirtsleeves. The island sees occasional rain in winter, however, and the Serra de Tramuntana mountains, which protect the rest of Mallorca from inclement weather and the prevailing northerly winds, are often buffeted by storms.

Customer Reviews

Up to Standard
Good guide books to Mallorca are hard to find so this is my recommendation for the best book to make a start to your reading and reserach.
As ever this Rough Guide is strong on arrival, departure, transport and accommodation but it's strength is really in the chapter about Palma.
It skillfully leads you away from the Majorca of the 60s ad 70's or if you are so inclined back to them again.
You could have a very happy week-end break in Palma with this book to assist you and it is indeed a city worthy of a visit even if you don't want a beach.
With so many cheap flights now available from the U K this is a perfectly viable destination for a short break, whether it's a city or seaside break.
The Rough Guide encourages you to look at the north west of the island where the upgrading of Mallorca is most visible. It is indeed a very beautiful, peaceful destination with several new hotels and one or two good restaurants. It's biggest drawback is it's lack of beaches but you do have wonderful mountains as your backdrop and the coastal views are stunning.
This part of the island was made famous,of course, by Robert Graves so my suggestion would be to read "Wild Olives" by William Graves, a son of Robert's before you go.
The Rough Guide will, however will lead you to such famous delights as the gardens of Alfabia and to lesser known ones such as the lost gardens of Raixa.
It is not shy of admitting to Mallorca's weak spots so I fail to see how you can go wrong by choosing this book as your companion to Mallorca.
Further reading could include Pamela Legge's "Enjoying Majorca" and Peter Kerr's two books about his new life on the Island, "Snowball Oranges" and "Manana Manana".

complete,concise,useful,more than just a rough guide
Rough guides have never failed me before and I wasnt dissapointed with this one. Quite well researched and put together in a logical manner. Would reccomend it to any one planning to visit Mallorca.

Decent guide despite negative author speaking Balearics!!!
This book looked to be the best guide to Mallorca, and I guess that view hasn't changed (given the dearth of decent guidebooks to this well-visited island). However, don't buy this book if you are expecting an upbeat insight into what is good around Mallorca. The author tends to focus on what is wrong with Mallorca, without necessarily having been to the places he writes about. I suspect he has filled in certain blanks along the way by whizzing past places by car, or by trusting the opinions of locals from neighbouring villages. The book is helpful in taking you around the various areas on the island, and also providing a good insight into facts and history. So the guide is helpful in that respect. Bottom line though - please form your own opinions on some of the wonderful places in Mallorca, and don't take the word of this rather negative author. I hope I never sit next him in the plane on his way home from a holiday.