Mallorca covers an area of 3,640 sq km and has a coastline of 554 kilometres. In 1950 the first charter flight landed on a small airstrip on Mallorca, the largest of the Balearic Islands. By 1999 the number of annual visitors had topped nine million - most in search of the three ' S's: Sun, Sand and Sea. However, there's much more to the place. Mallorca offers some outstanding walking in the mountainous northwest especially in spring. Cycling tours are also increasingly popular with many Lycra-clad cyclists racing past at high speed.
Water sports are well catered for, personal water craft found at most beach resorts, scuba diving, sailing schools, and yacht charter are common. The island is also very popular with ‘yachties’ because of the numerous good anchorages within easy range.
Palma de Mallorca (or simply Palma) is the main centre and a charming city. The northwest coast, dominated by the Serra de Tramuntana mountains, is a beautiful region of olive groves, pine forests and small villages, with a spectacularly rugged and rocky coastline.
The capital, Palma de Mallorca, is on the southern side of the island on a bay famous for its brilliant sunsets. Locals refer to what lies beyond the capital as the part forana, the 'part outside'. A series of rocky coves and harbours punctuate the short south-western coastline. Offshore from the island's westernmost point is the large, uninhabited island of Sa Dragonera.
The spectacular Serra de Tramuntana mountain range runs parallel with the north-western coast and includes the mountain of Puig Major (1445m), Mallorca's highest point. The north-eastern coast is largely made up of two bays, the Badia de Pollenca and the larger Badia d'Alcudia.
On the North-western coast, Valldemossa owes most of it’s fame to the ailing composer Frederich Chopin and his lover George Sand spending their ‘winter of discontent’ there in 1838-39. Their stay wasn’t entirely a happy one, Sand later wrote Un Hiver de Menorque (Winter in Mallorca) which made him unpopular with the Majorcans.
Not far away is the idyllic village of Deia, stone buildings perched on the steep hillsides of the valley. It became the haunt to an international colony of writers, actors and musicians. The English poet Robert Graves died here in 1985 and is buried in the local hillside cemetery.
The eastern coast is an almost continuous string of sandy bays and open beaches, which explains the densely packed tourist developments. In contrast, most of the southern coast is lined by rocky cliffs and the Mallorcan interior is largely made up of the fertile plain known as Es Pla. It’s on this plain that much of the agriculture and industry take place. Felanitx is famous for it’s ceramics whist Manacor is famous for it’s manufactured pearl industry and is where most of the islands furniture is made.