Towns & Villages in Deia — 2 of Our Favourites

Graves moved to the village in 1929, leaving in the the thirties during the Spanish Civil War, returning in 1946 with his wife and family to make it his permanent home until his death in 1985. Muses followed, friends came to stay and, before long, Deià had established a reputation as a foreign artists' colony. Graves was hardly the first to discover Deià, an 1878 guidebook noted its "collection of strange and eccentric foreigners" and it has stayed that way ever since.

Today the village is still very much an artist’s town with a number of art galleries and gift shops, along with a good selection of restaurants. Controlled urban expansion has meant that this little village has kept its traditional beauty and charm in spite of all the goings on. Now found on every tourist itinerary as a prime example of ‘the other Mallorca’, it has become a popular haunt for the rich and famous, including visitors like Richard Branson, Princess Diana and Andrew Lloyd Webber. Foreign residents, which make up half of its population, are certainly affluent , evident in the average house price for the municipality. These expats not only respect, but immerse themselves in the traditional Mallorcan life created and preserved by locals from the area.

Being a part of the Serra de Tramuntana mountain range, awarded World Heritage Site status, means that Deià is surrounded by some of Mallorca’s finest landscapes. There is a relaxed vibe here but, at the same time, it's a popular place for cycling and hiking enthusiasts to base themselves.

With just a handful of houses and a hotel, it would make an ideal base for a walking holiday in the nearby mountains. The views are postcard perfect,  in fact you are far more likely to see it on a postcard than you are to actually go there. Picasso once lived in the village during a short stay on Mallorca.