Bahia de Palma (Palma Bay)

Palma Bay attracts thousands of holidaymakers every year, and offers plenty of attractions incluiding boat rides and water sports on the nearby beaches.

The former villages of S'Arenal and Magaluf 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 he would barely be able to distinguish them among a continuous stretch of hotels, a concrete jungle extending all the way to Magaluf. And he wouldn't be there anyway as there are few fish left to catch.

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 to see some of the best, and the worst, that Mallorca has to offer. Each of the resorts has its own character young or old, British or German, cheap and cheerful or jet-set rich. One moment you can be in Portals Nous, with its chic marina crammed with millionaires' yachts (you have to be seriously rich just to look at the restaurant menus here). the next in seedy Magaluf, all British pubs and wet T-shirt contests.

Occasionally you come across a glimpse of what this coastline must once have been like. Follow the road beyond Magaluf 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 Magaluf pounding away beneath you.