This wild peninsula on Mallorca's northeast tip has stunning views, sandy beaches and the island's original luxury hotel. The 20-km drive from Port de Pollenca to Mallorca's most northerly point has scenery as dramatic as anyone could wish for. Cliffs 400 metres tall jut into the sea, their weird rock formations attracting nesting seabirds, while pine trees seem to grow out of the rocks. The drive is also famously scary. A local legend has it that the parish priest and the local bus driver arrived at the Pearly Gates and only the driver was admitted to heaven. The reason? He had led far more people to pray. 6 km from Port de Pollenca you reach the Mirador des Colomer - scramble up the steps for views over a rocky islet. A path opposite the steps leads to an old watchtower from which you can see the whole of the peninsula, as well as the bays of Pollenca and Alcudia. The road continues through pine woods and past more matadors (each one helpfully indicated with a picture of an old-fashioned camera) before tunnelling through En Fumat mountain, where you look down over Mallorca's most inaccessible beach. Eventually you reach a lighthouse with the inevitable bar and shop and more stunning views, all the way to Menorca on a good day. On the way back, stop at Formentor beach and the Hotel Formentor, which opened in 1929 and has been pampering the rich and famous ever since. The fine sandy beach used to be reserved for the hotel's guests, but democracy has opened it to the masses.
Do not believe anyone who tells you that they have discovered the perfect unspoilt cove on the north coast - at least, not if its name is Sa Calobra. This is indeed a beautiful spot, which is why tour buses pour in by the dozen every day, even in winter.
The journey to Sa Calobra is as memorable as the bay itself. A twisting road around Puig Major plunges 800m in just 12km, turning 270 degrees at one point to loop under itself (a feature known as the 'Knotted Tie') The easier approach is by boat from Port de Soller, passing genuinely isolated bays with an excellent view of Puig Major, albeit spoilt by the military installations on the summit of Mallorca's highest mountain.
Once there, walk through 200m of tunnels to reach the Torrent de Pareis ('twin streams'), which begins several kilometres up in the mountains at the confluence of the torrents of Lluc and Gorg Blau. Up to 400m high and only 30m wide, with some sections never seeing daylight, this dramatic gorge culminates in a small pebble beach where you can picnic among the crowds. In summer, when the gorge is dry, you can hike inland between the cliffs; do not attempt this in winter.
A side turn off the road to Sa Calobra leads to Cala Tuent, a small cove with a sandy beach and a 13th-century church, Ermita de Sant Llorenc. Cala Tuent is likely to be quieter than Sa Calobra; but don't believe anyone who tells you they have discovered the real unspoilt cove.
Dark and cool, these limestone caves on the edge of Porto Cristo have become one of Mallorca's top tourist sights. Groups of several hundred people at a time are herded along 2 km of smooth paths by guides who tell you in four languages how to interpret the bizarre stalactite formations - a cactus here, a flag there, the Fairies' Theatre, Diana's Bath... You might just think they resemble thousands of spiky parsnips hanging from the ceiling. Try to imagine how Walt Disney would conjure up a fabulous witches' cave and you have the idea. The one-hour tour ends with a floodlit, floating violin concert on Lake Martel, Europe's largest underground lake. The lake is named after the French geologist Edouard Martel, who first explored these caves in the late 19th century, at the commission of Archduke Ludwig Salvator. Afterwards you can return by boat across the lake to the exit.
Visit Caves website
Fascinating network of underground caverns, whose weird stalactites and stalagmites conjure up mysterious images of Heaven and Hell.
If you only have time to visit one set of caves on the east coast, this is the one to see. Now that they are a sanitised tourist attraction, it is hard to imagine how French geologist Edouard Martel felt when he first stepped into these caves, dark, mysterious and terrifying, in 1876. In fact they had been known about for centuries - Jaume I found 2,000 Arabs hiding here with their cattle during the Christian conquest and they were later used by hermits, pirates and smugglers - but it was Martel who first studied and chronicled these grottoes, 46m above the sea at Cap Vermell, at the instigation of Archduke Ludwig Salvator. Another early visitor was Jules Verne; the caves are said to have inspired his Journey to the Centre of the Earth.
The guided tour comes with special effects and the various chambers are given Dantesque names - Hell, Purgatory, Paradise. The descent into Hell is swifty followed by a 'son et lumiere' display. Stalactites point down from the mouldy roof like daggers, somehow defying gravity. One of the chambers is as large as the nave of Palma Cathedral and the Queen of Pillars, a stalagmite 22m tall, could almost be a Gothic column. It is growing upwards at the rate of 2cm every 100 years, which means that in another 5,000 years or so it will be joined to the ceiling.
You emerge from the caves to a view of the sea, framed by the cavern entrance. Disabled visitors and those with limited mobility will find the staircases in here particularly difficult. All visitors should wear sensible shoes, as the floor can be slippery.
Visit Coves d'Arta website
You cannot miss these caves as you drive from Manacor to Porto Cristo. Most people only want to visit one set of caves and the giant billboards and flags at the entrance are an attempt to ensure that this is the one. In fact you are better off continuing to the 'Cuevas del Drach' (see above) or up the coast to the 'Coves d'Arta'. But for serious speleologists, here are the facts. The caves were discovered by Pedro Caldentey in 1905 and the electric lighting was added by his son. Their name means 'fishhooks', which the stalactites are said to resemble. You get a guided tour and, yes, another concert on an underground lake.
Visit Coves des Hams website
This 200-hectare nature reserve on a headland jutting out from the east coast is an oasis of peace amid a desert of high rise apartments and hotels. Once the whole coast was like this - thankfully, environmentalists have saved this small section from development. Walk south from Cala Millor, or north from Sa Coma, on a well-defined 1.5km track, Eventually you reach the Castell de n'Amer, a 17th-century watchtower. Have a drink at the summit and look down at what you have left behind.
The 'mountains of the north wind' which run the length of Mallorca's north coast are home to the island's most spectacular landscapes. Pine-covered slopes almost lean into the sea; as you climb higher, forested hills give way to barren crags and peaks. The people of Mallorca have good reason to be grateful to the mountains - in winter they act as a buffer, shielding the plain from the fierce tramuntana wind and absorbing most of the island's rain and snow. In summer they provide a cool retreat from the heat of Palma and the south.
The Serra de Tramuntana runs for 88km from Andratx to Pollenca, with the rocky outcrops of Sa Dragonera and Cap de Formentor at either end. Ten peaks are over 1,000m, most are concentrated in the area around Lluc. The highest are Puig Major (1,445m) and Puig Massanella (1,349m). There are no rivers, though there are several mountain torrents which swell rapidly after rain, and the Cuber and Gorg Blau reservoirs, essential resources on an island so often affected by drought.
The mountains are best seen slowly, on foot. You smell the wild rosemary, hear the sheep bells, frighten the goats, breathe in the air and marvel at pine trees growing out of red rock - a divine version of the colours of Mallorcan village houses. If you have to drive, try to avoid the peak months of July and August, and take care - the roads here are the most dangerous on the island, and the endless procession of hairpin bends requires total concentration. The most dramatic drive of all is the C710 from Soller to Lluc, traversing tunnels and gorges on its way between Puig Major and Puig Massanella.
