Melia de Mar Luxury Hotel, Illetes

This stylish modern poolside bar is situated within the Portals Hills Boutique Hotel.

This cosmopolitan beach club is located in a beautiful spot in Illetas. Their large terrace overlooking the sea features comfortable sun loungers and day beds.

This beach club in Illetes (a 10 minute car ride from Palma) is one of the best on the island with its restaurant and terraces overlooking a small sandy beach and a rocky cove.

Only 9km from the capital of Palma, Illetas is a holiday resort claiming three picture-perfect beaches. Illetas beach is the main beach, and is more sheltered than the huge stretch of sand that makes up the beach in front of Palma's cathedral, making this one of the nicest beaches in the Bay of Palma.

Cala Major is located within Palma Bay, around four kilometres to the west to the city of Palma.

Playa Oratori is the popular local beach for Portals Nous and Puerto Portals.

Attracting thousands of tourists annually and especially popular with Brits and package holiday makers, Palmanova is a purpose built resort next to Magaluf in south west Majorca. Palma Nova actually hosts three separate ‘Blue Flag’ beach areas, Playa de Palmanova, Playa Son Matias and Playa Es Carregador.

The closest beach to Palma is at Ca'n Pere Antoni. This stretch of golden sandy beach starts just beyond the cathedral. A promenade and cycle path runs along its length but behind these lies the main road that takes you to Palma airport.

Portixol is found just to the east of Palma's cathedral and is home to a little bay within which a little sand and shingle beach known as D'es Portitxolet Beach resides. The water is generally calm here due to the sheltered nature of the bay.

The painter and sculptor Joan Miro spent most of his life in Barcelona, but both his wife and mother were Mallorcan and he always longed to return to the scene of his childhood holidays to draw inspiraton from what he called "the light of Mallorca".

A well-preserved 14th-century royal fortress with fragrant pine woods, an interesting museum and superb views over Palma Bay.

Spain gets the theme-park treatment at this 'village' in the outskirts of Palma, where reproductions of famous buildings from Cordoba, Toledo and Madrid are gathered together with typical houses from the Spanish regions.

Es Baluard Museum of Modern & Contemporary Art  was opened in 2004 as a cultural institution for research and dissemination of Balearic & Mediterranean art from the 20th and 21st centuries.

With twin turrets and an angel over the door, this 15th-century seafront building looks half-castle, half-church. In fact it is neither.

A royal palace has stood on this site next to Palma's cathedral since the Muslim walis (governors) built their alcazar soon after the Arab conquest.

Illetas (also known as Ses Illetes) is a small upmarket resort on the southwestern coastline of Mallorca. Just a few kilometres west of Palma, many flock to the area in the peak summertime thanks to its soft sandy beaches and crystalline turquoise waters.

Cala Major (also known as Cala Mayor) and its neighbour Sant Agusti are holiday resort towns on the outskirts of Palma.

Portals Nous is a small town 10km to the west of Palma. This is the place to stay if you want to spend time at the swanky marina of Puerto Portals.

Puerto Portals is widely known as the most glamorous marina on the island. It has become an attractive destination for the rich and famous to moor their yachts and now caters for more than 600 yachts up to 60 metres in length. Unlike many other ports in Mallorca, there is a year-round buzz here. It’s the place to visit for designer shopping, people watching and first-class restaurants and bars.

The good, the bad and the ugly sides of Mallorcas tourist development meet along a 25km stretch of coast. Tacky resorts sit next to exclusive retreats, it seems that everyone wants a slice of Palma Bay. One moment you can be in Portals Nous, with its chic marina crammed with millionaires' yachts, the next in seedy Magaluf, all British pubs and wet T-shirt contests.

There are still people who can remember when Palma Nova was just a village. Then, along came the tourist boom and the 'new Palma' was established as one of the first purpose-built tourist destinations on the island.