Our third and final post about Mallorca features our time spent on the southeast side of the island. The landscape in the east is less mountainous but filled with incredible beaches, towns and caves.I know we started these posts about Mallorca with the mountains, and man are they gorgeous, BUT if you google Mallorca, Spain, you will be bombarded with images of their insanely beautiful beaches. The shimmering shades of blue water next to the cream and sand colored cliffs is so striking it seems unreal. We knew we wanted to see it in person so we booked four nights at Finca Hotel Rural Es Turó in the tiny town of Ses Salines. The hotel and the property were fantastic. Our room was a suite including all the amenities, with the porch being my favorite ever! Ses Salines is a small town with a lot of great food and shops but our hotel was aptly named "rural"; being outside of town, down a tiny, one lane dirt road. If you miss the turnoff sign, you could find yourself on unmarked roads smashed between stone-fenced-lined private properties. This may or may not have happened to us (insert a mild but very serious panic attack) and retracing your steps is the best advice we can give if you find yourself similarly situated. Once we figured out where we were going, Ses Salines was super easy to navigate and the main reason we picked the Finca was the convenience to, I'm sure you've guessed it, the beaches. If you've been following along with us for a while, you know we love beach tours. We spent a week in Hawaii beach hopping around O'ahu and during the three days were were in La Digue, we explored 7 beaches all by bike! We knew we'd do something similar in Mallorca. There are a lot of beaches to choose from, so we picked which to visit based on convenience of parking, overall location and just vibes. Here are our picks: Cala Llombards - Our favorite. Get there early for both parking and beach space. Also, make sure and walk out on the cliff and see the views beyond the inlet (cover photo). Stunning! Es Trenc - This beach is part of a park so you have to pay to use their lot and they will tow if you stay past the closing time. Very similar to Cayman or Turks, Es Trenc is long, flat, with plenty of sand to accommodate a crowd. We went for sunset and shared the beach with few other beach enthusiasts. Cala Romantica - road signs will say S'Estany d'en Mas. This one was beautiful. There was nice parking here and the water was calm. Lots of beach space. Cala Domingos Petit - might find it on blogs as Cala Tropicana. Probably our least favorite. There was seaweed all along the beach and even in the shallows. Knowing the amount of other places you could visit, we'd say skip. Cala Gran and Cala d'Or in Santanyí - This town was great. We found street parking and was able to visit both beaches by foot. Cala Gran was so pretty. It had food vendors along the walking path and a lot of teens/college aged kids were spending the afternoon there. The water was gentle and easy to swim in. Cala d'Or beach is small but the views are pristine. A lot quieter, I don't remember any food vendors on the beach and the boats weren't inside the inlet here (you are close to a marina at this beach). We really liked Cala d'Or. Besides eating and beaching, we did visit the Drach Caves in the northeast part of the island. We read a lot of incredible reviews about it and decided it was worth a visit. It really was remarkable, the photos do it no justice. In fact, I'm only posting the single best photo we have and that's just so y'all can get a sense of why you should see it for yourselves. After walking through the whole underground system, we found ourselves in an subterranean amphitheater for the musical finale. Once the auditorium was filled, the lights were turned off and a string quartet in candle-lit boats rowed into the area to perform some classical pieces for about 10 minutes. Really an amazing and unique experience! We then took a boat across the underground lake to reach the exit. Overall, we felt the caves were not to be missed. Obviously there are several options in Spain's Balearic Islands region (Ibiza being the most famous spot) but the mountains of Mallorca made me put this place on my bucket list and the beaches made me buy the plane ticket! And after going, the food, the people, the weather... it was all amazing. Couldn't recommend it more.
Until Next Time, C + D
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