Treasure island

Arabella Youens revels in the history, food and culture of the largest Balearic island, now earning a justified reputation for sophistication

- Arabella Youens

OVER the years, Mallorca has shown contrasting facets to different people, but its transformation from a symbol of the ravages of sun-and-sangria package holidays to a sophisticated Mediterranean destination is—reality television shows aside—well underway. The dated mid-market hotels that blighted the beaches near Palma are increasingly being torn down or updated (even the beach at Magaluf has been rebranded Calvià Beach) and townhouses and farmhouses across the island are being converted into elegant luxury or boutique hotels.

The largest of the Balearics, Mallorca also has the biggest airport, with the most frequent year-round flights to all European capitals. It has, at the last count, 17 international schools, and high-speed fiber-optic broadband covers 82% of homes. But its lure goes far beyond such practical considerations: no other island in the Mediterranean can match it for culture, landscapes, and cuisine.

Tourism made the former agricultural island rich. In a quirk of fate, it was the daughters of Mallorca’s landowning families who benefited first. Before the onset of mass tourism in the 1950s—and, with it, the arrival of bikinis and behavior that was uncomfortable for the Catholic population —the sea was regarded with suspicion; historically, it had been a source of trouble, in the form of pirate attacks and disease. As a result, sons of the wealthy were gifted land and fincas on the fertile plain in the center of the island, with the daughters given parcels of seemingly worthless coastline.