Sights in Palma de Mallorca

Rialto Living is Palma's most famous interior design and concept store. Located right in the heart of the city, it has a small art gallery inside with temporary art exhibitions.

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.

This small museum of religious and historical antefacts is based in a wing of the former episcopal palace tucked behind the cathedral.

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

The Gran Hotel was Palma's first luxury hotel when it opened in 1903. Designed by the Catalan architect Lluis Domenech I Montaner, it was the building that began the craze for modernists (art nouveau) architecture in the city.

Based on the collection of Antoni Roig Clar, this museum showcases over 3,000 toys from all around the world and from different eraas.

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.

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.

The Museu Fundación Juan March houses a small collection of 20th century Spanish art shich belonged to the Mallorcan banker Joan March, once one of the world's richest men.

Just next to the cathedral is the impressive Palau March (Bartolome March Foundation) with a great collection of 20th century sculpture.

Billed as Mallorca's most important museum, this undoubtedly contains some fascinating exhibitsbut beware that it is difficult to get excited about bits of stone in glass cases if you do not understand the captions. The museum has recently been refurbished, so we are hoping it is now more tourist-friendly.

A wonderful 18th-century Baroque building with feature courtyard and decorative touches, Casal Solleric is now home to temporary exhibitions specialising in contemporary art and photography.

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".

At the centre, overseeing all the activity is a statue of Jaime I astride a horse. This is a popular meeting point. Ice cream parlours, tapas bars and fast food joints sit side by side along the pedestrianised zone. If you've hit your limit of 'cafes con leches' but haven't tired of observing life in the capital, then I suggest crossing the road and entering the park behind the station. From a grassy patch or a wooden bench, you can carry on watching without any obligation to spend a cent. Enjoy!

The facade of this 13th-century church in Palma (remodelled after it was struck by lightning in the 17th century) is typically Mallorcan - a massive, forbidding sandstone wall with a delicately carved postal and a rose window at the centre.

The Plaça Major is Palma's main square and one of the busiest in Palma being also a city landmark. Rectangular in shape and surrounded by historic arcaded buildings, it was once the headquarters of the Inquisition. This rectangular space surrounded by traditional yellow buildings with green shutters has been the centre of the city life throughout the centuries.

The square takes its name from Sa Llotja, the impressive Gothic market exchange building which overlooks it from one side. The decorative sandstone facade, contrasted with the lush green palm trees, makes for an idyllic setting. The plaza opens out towards the seaside promenade on one side and, on the other, tables and chairs from the surrounding restaurants spread out across the cobblestones. A great spot during the day and the evening.

Until the 1960s the sea reached up to the city walls, providing the perfect reflection for the cathedral. When the building of a new road changed all that, an artificial lake was constructed to reproduce the effect. The park around the lake is now a popular weekend and summer spot, with several cafes, a mural donated by Joan Miro and an art gallery in the vaults of the old city walls.