I went to Mallorca in summer, I wish I'd done this instead

The Spanish island is one of Europe’s hottest hot spots, but you may be better off visiting in shoulder season.

To say Mallorca, in Spain’s Balearic Islands, is a popular holiday destination, is something of an understatement. It’s so popular, in fact, that last year it made headlines as locals marched in protest at overtourism.

Around 10 million visitors flocked to the island in 2024 – four million of whom arrived in July and August. Four of those, I admit, were my family. We rented a property in the island’s north in peak season because, like other parents, we are frustratingly limited by school holidays.

Based in a whisper-quiet villa we had a wonderful, albeit hot, holiday with temperatures in the high 30s before a wild storm broke. We made the most of our pool and the beach at the pretty resort town of Port de Pollença and headed inland to wander the picturesque, historic old town of Pollença and the Roman and medieval-walled town of old Alcúdia in the early morning and evening to avoid the heat of the day.

But as we wound our way through mountains peppered with pretty villages and gazed at the spectacular coastline, I mulled over how pleasant it would be to visit in the shoulder seasons of spring or autumn, before or after both the crowds and the heat.

Mallorca is an island with a split identity. Both high-end and mass-market, it’s home to celebrity residents, from the King and Queen of Spain to tennis superstar Rafael Nadal, and is full of luxury hotels, such as Grand Hotel Son Net and Virgin’s Son Bunyola, as well as budget resorts, hugging stretches of the coast.

We headed inland to wander the picturesque, historic old town of Pollença.

But for all types of travellers, there are benefits to visiting in shoulder season, the topmost being financial. While hotel and villa prices inflate dramatically in July and August, you can get substantially better deals if you go off-peak. Our lovely Vintage Travel three-bedroom Villa Llosia, for example, rents for around $1500 a week in April, increasing fourfold in August.

The second benefit is you get to walk or cycle in Mallorca’s magnificent landscape, outside of the prohibitive heat of July and August. You can tackle some of the many trails in the spectacular Serra de Tramuntana mountain range on the island’s northwestern coast, for example. This Unesco World Heritage Site covers 1000sq km and multiple villages. It’s here you’ll find the celebrity-haven village Deià, which was the former home of literary giants including war poet Robert Graves and authors DH Lawrence and Jules Verne, and current home of Virgin Group founder Richard Branson and Hollywood A-listers, Catherine Zeta-Jones and Michael Douglas.

One route I’d love to walk is a 45km loop from Port de Pollença to Cap de Formentor, the peninsula on Mallorca’s northernmost point. It’s now home to a Four Seasons Resort which opened in August 2024, taking over the historic Hotel Formentor and immediately becoming the most exclusive and elusive new resort on the island, not least because access along the winding roads to the peninsula, one of the island’s most beautiful locations, is restricted between June and September.

Our lovely Vintage Travel three-bedroom Villa Llosia rents for around $1500 a week in April, increasing fourfold in August. Picture: Gary Taylor. 

If you time it right you’ll still be able to hit the beach on an off-peak visit, plus actually secure a sun lounger. Temperatures average in the mid-20s in September and October, when the sea is still warm, and low to mid-20s in April and May. More importantly, in April and May, the average hourly sunshine is eight or nine hours, dropping to six, by October. It also cools off at night, meaning you can sleep comfortably.

Finally, you’re more likely to be able to sample the island’s fêted food. With 11 Michelin-starred restaurants in Mallorca, including Maca de Castro in Alcúdia and Béns d’Avall in Soller, you don’t have to go far to find world-class cuisine, but in peak season you’ll be lucky to get a table.

In August we did need to book if we wanted to dine in the most popular restaurants. This becomes much less of a problem in shoulder-season, when towns like Pollença, Sóller and Valldemossa return to the locals. While lots of tourist eateries might be shuttered, you can instead access the restaurants the locals eat in, which is usually the very thing travellers want to discover. 

Restaurant booking become less of a problem in shoulder-season, when towns like Sóller return to the locals.

Finally, most importantly of all, if you go when all the other tourists don’t, the locals will be pleased to see you.

How to get to Mallorca, Spain

There are multiple flight routes from Australia to Mallorca, via European hubs such as London, Madrid or Milan.

Where to stay in Mallorca, Spain

Vintage Travel has holiday houses all over Mallorca.

Originally published as I went to Mallorca in summer, I wish I'd done this instead