Event Previews & Reviews from Mallorca

A trip to Deià on the north coast of Majorca is a must for anyone wishing to experience the diversity that this beautiful island has to offer.

The Diamond Jubilee celebrations may be over in the UK, but here on Mallorca, we enjoyed a quintessential English garden party at La Residencia Hotel in Deia to mark the British monarch’s 60th year on the throne.

On Saturday, February 1st, I went along to the 2nd edition of The SuppER Club, hosted by The Van Mallorca. This was a Japanese evening held at the trendy Zunray Yoga Studio on Calle Sant Feliu.

This weekend saw the BVAW beach volleyball tournament in Alcudia. From the 22nd to the 24th of May the beach filled up with couples in volley vests, short shorts and tiny bikinis leaping, diving and spiking in an attempt to be crowned winners of the Beach Volleyball Around the World’s 2015 tournament.

After a day of heavy rain, the sunshine came out for the second edition of The Spring Fair in Port Adriano. From 11:00 to 19:00, an area of the port was dedicated exclusively to family fun.

Casa Font i Roig is one of the many historical dwellings that have been converted into small boutique establishments in Mallorca. Many of these places have top-notch restaurants and, in the summer months, they often offer themed evenings like BBQ or Tapas Nights. So, on a warm summers evening, we went along to try Casa Font i Roig’s Friday night BBQ bonanza.

Pitched in a large tent on the outskirts of Mallorca’s capital city of Palma, Grup Trui hosted this years Mallorcan take on the German beer festival, the Oktoberfest. Frothy litres of beer and currywurst were served by waiters and waitresses in traditional German dress and a band played classic tunes to entertain the crowds.

Festivals in Mallorca are a considerably more boisterous affair than our more reserved British fetes with their Maypoles and cream teas.

The Dijous Bo autumn fair is held in Inca on the fourth Thursday after the feast of St Luke (18th October) in November, and is the largest fair of its kind in Mallorca. As with most of Majorca's autumn fairs, it originated as an agricultural fair celebrating the harvest, and has since grown to include a range of sporting and cultural entertainments.

June is upon us now and here in Mallorca that means we have some BIG opening parties ahead of us and the beginning of some of the major events of the Summer.

On the third Thursday in September, a selection of Palma’s art galleries open their doors to the public free of charge, for the cultural extravaganza that is known as the Nit de l’Art. Organised by Art Palma and the Association of Independent Art Galleries of the Balearics, it is one of the top social gatherings in Palma’s events calendar, and you can pick up flyers for the event in tourist offices and art galleries.

The mountains that surround the Soller valley met their conqueror 100 years ago. The thinkers of the hidden valley knew that progress was going to be impossible unless they ended Soller's mountain isolation. At the turn of the century Soller was a boom town trading in cotton and oranges and moving these goods other than by sea was, quite simply, impossible. The majestic mountains and, in particular, the Alfabia mountain range prevented passengers and goods being transported to the island’s main port in Palma de Mallorca.

Soller and its hidden valley celebrate all things orange in June with the Fiesta of the Orange. From the 2nd to 17th June, both Soller & Port de Soller go back to their roots and give the orange the place in its calender that it deserves. Soller has a micro climate and water supplies that produce the best oranges.

At risk of ruining one of Mallorca’s best kept secrets, I am going to share my experience of La Fira del Vi de Pollença, in English – Pollenca’s wine fair.

If you were in Palma on Friday night, you might have wondered what was going at the Parque del Mar, in front of the Cathedral. A massive pair of inflatable legs stretched out from the centre of a dazzling stage complete with bright red heels. 

‘Sa Rua’ is one of Palma’s biggest spectacles. Each year, dozens of floats and carnival goers covering a range of themes parade through the streets of the city. With 42 themes and 16 floats this year, 2018 was the biggest yet!

Out of all the many food festivals that are held on Mallorca throughout the year, The Frenchman and I were most eagerly awaiting the Tapalma tapas festival (7-11th October 2010). I mean, seriously, who wouldn’t want to crawl round dozens of Palma’s bars and restaurants, eat their best tapas at bargain prices, and wash it all down with lashings of discounted beer and wine? It sounded like the grown-up version of a student pub crawl.