Places to Visit in Majorca
Alcudia
A perfectly restored walled city on the site of a Roman settlement, with remains of Roman houses and an amphitheatre.
This is a gem of a place, a maze of narrow streets enclosed by medieval ramparts, carefully restored as a mode of Majorca's new tourist image. There were Phoenician and Greek settlements here, but the town reached its heyday in the 2nd century BC, when the Roman invaders made it their capital, Pollentia, meaning 'power'. Destroyed by Vandals in the 6th century, the town returned to greatness under the Moors, who built alkudia ('the town on the hill') The wall as you see today was added after the Spanish conquest in the 14th century.
You enter the city through one of the two town gates the Portal de Moll, with two square towers and two massive palm trees standing guard, is the symbol of Alcudia. The narrow streets of the old town, especially Carrer d'en Serra, are resonant of Palma's Arab quarter. Look for the Ca'n Torro library, at Carrer d'en Serra 15, opened in 1990 in a former mansion.
Palma Bay
The former villages of S'Arenal and Magalluf sit facing each other across palma Bay. Once upon a time, a fisherman casting his net into the sea at S'Arenal could have gazed around an empty coastline where the only buildings to stand out would have been Palma's cathedral and castle. Nowadays however this once bare coastline is much more developed.Like it or loathe it, you are bound to spend some time in Palma Bay even if you are not staying here, you should visit at least once. One moment you can be in Puerto Portals , with its chic marina crammed with millionaires' yachts (you have to be seriously rich just to look at the restaurant menus here). The next on a deserted beach -follow the road beyond Magalluf through the pine woods. Suddenly you are among tiny coves where, out of season, you might still find your own private beach. Eventually you reach the headland of Cap de Cala Figuera where you can look back at sweeping views of the entire bay.
Cliffs plunge into the clear blue sea, with not a hotel in sight. Come up here at midnight for utter peace and solitude; but listen carefully and you might just be able to hear the disco beat of Magalluf pounding away beneath you.
Cap de Formentor
This wild peninsular on Mallorca's northeast tip has stunning views, sandy beaches and the island's original luxury hotel - Hotel Formentor.
The 20-km drive from Port de Pollenca to Majorca's most northerly point has scenery as dramatic as anyone could wish. Cliffs 400m tall jut into the sea, their weird rock formations attracting nesting seabirds, while pine trees seem to grow out of the rocks. The drive is also famously scary - a local legend has it that the parish priest and the local bus driver arrived at the Pearly Gates, and only the driver was admitted to heaven. The reason? He had led far more people to pray.
On the way back, stop at Formentor beach and the Hotel Formentor, which opened in 1929 and has been pampering the rich and famous ever since. The fine sandy beach used to be reserved for the hotel's guests, but democracy has since opened it to all those who are inquisitive enough.
Castell d' Alaro
A popular walk to a ruined castle and hilltop chapel offering spectacular views over the Mediterranean.
A popular walk to a ruined castle and hilltop chapel offering spectacular views over the Mediterranean. A castle has stood on this site since Moorish times; it was so impregnable that the Arab commander was able to hold out for two years after the Christian conquest. Later, in 1285, two heroes of Mallorcan independence, Cabrit and Brassa, defended the castle against Alfonso III of Aragon and were burned alive on a spit when he finally took it by storm. Their punishment was a consequence of their impudent defiance of the king. They pretended to confuse Alfonso's name with th | 
