By admin Next up on our tour: Mallorca. With a population estimated at nearly one million people, Mallorca is the largest of the Balearic Islands, and I can attest that it felt a lot more urban than either Ibiza or Menorca. I actually had no idea that the island was so highly populated (its airport is also the third busiest in Spain, after Madrid and Barcelona). But I’m getting ahead of myself.
The Quandary of Getting to Mallorca
We faced the same difficult decision when planning all of our inter-island travel: do you fly or take the ferry? There didn’t seem to be significant time or cost savings with either option. We ultimately decided to ferry to Mallorca, and then flew to Menorca. Spoiler alert: neither trip went smoothly.
The ferry to Mallorca was late and confusing. I’m not going to go into all the boring details, but we had to go through a lot of rigamarole to eventually get on the boat, and the staff was not the most helpful. After an hour or so of delays, we were finally on our way, however. Unfortunately, I can’t say that I’d recommend flying either, as we encountered an even more confounding situation flying to Menorca a couple days later (we can table that story for now, though). The ideal option would definitely be to have your own super yacht, but Nina and I sadly did not have one of those toys at our disposal.
Staying at the St. Regis
I had selected the St. Regis Mardavall Mallorca Resort for our accommodations, as I had points to burn, and could use a Suite Night Award for an upgrade. Plus, it’s no secret that I am partial to the St. Regis brand. Well, the SNA worked out quite nicely. We were upgraded multiple room categories and landed in a massive suite on the top floor of the resort, overlooking the sea. Quote from Nina that made me smile: “I feel rich when I travel with you!” The best part was that it didn’t cost a dime.
After getting settled and dancing around our suite, we figured we should get acquainted with the rest of the property. We picked up a couple of the famous St. Regis Bloody Marys from the bar, and headed out to explore.
Dinner at Marc Fosh
For our first night on the island, I had made reservations at Marc Fosh, a fine-dining restaurant in Palma with one Michelin star.
Day Two: Boat Cruise
As I mentioned in my Ibiza post, Nina and I love getting out on boats when on vacation, so we booked small group boat tours in both Ibiza and Mallorca. Unfortunately, our first choice tour in Mallorca ran into technical difficulties last minute, so we had to scramble to find a backup. It wasn’t as great as our original plan, but we brought a bottle of wine and were determined to make the most of it. We met up with our guide and a couple of French girls who hardly spoke English, and we were on our way.
After tooling around for a few hours, Nina and I realized that we were close to the St. Regis. Remember the small dock I mentioned? Rather than head back to Palma, we asked if we could be dropped off at our hotel. Not a problem.
I’m afraid I don’t have much exciting news to report from our last night. We hung out on our terrace, played music in the suite, showered and had dinner at the hotel restaurant. Boring, I know. But at least we got a good night’s sleep before our flight to our last Balearic island destination: Menorca.
