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.

If you are in Mallorca this weekend, you might notice how the island is gearing up for one of its biggest fiestas of the year. Each June, the locals get together to celebrate in honour of Sant Joan (John the Baptist).

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.

The people of Mallorca, like their mainland brothers, love a fiesta. Almost every weekend there seems to be a saint or a historical event that requires face paint and explosions, or at the very least a market. The Fiesta Sant Joan in Mallorca celebrates the life of John the Baptist and in Majorca Sant Joan is a very big deal. Every other street, shop and restaurant seems to be named after him, he's the Patron Saint of four towns and he even has a town named after him.

Nikki Beach are famous for their exceptional parties, and Dubai Meets Mallorca on Saturday 3rd September was yet again another amazing event with a fantastic, fun filled atmosphere.

Is there anything as thrilling as the Correfoc? Literally translated as 'fire run', it's a festivity in which people disguised as devils take to the streets with pitchforks loaded with squealing fireworks.

On December 2nd, I joined a whole host of families as they flocked to Santa Ponsa’s Christmas Market, held in the industrial area of Son Bugadellas.

Before you reach for your top hat or fascinator, this is not Ascot, nor is it actually horse racing as you know it. For in Mallorca, it is trotting races that is the king of sports. The specially bred horses (with a height of 1.5 - 1.7 metres) pull a small and lightweight cart which carries a ‘jockey' around a race track going at speeds you would not think possible. This sport has been popular in Majorca for 200 years and tracks in Palma and Manacor host races once a week.

In recent years, Mallorca has embraced the street food trend that has hit Western Europe, with food festivals popping up at various events around the island. This new found love went to the next level, as the first weekend in June saw Barcelona’s legendary VAN VAN make its debut trip across the Spanish waters to Palma’s Parc de la Mar, next to the city's iconic cathedral.

Extreme by name, extreme by nature. The race up and down Puig Massanella from the picturesque village of Mancor de la Vall is considered by many to be the toughest race in the Cursa de Muntanya race series. This year’s race was made all the more difficult because local landlords would not allow runners to cross their land on the return from the peak.

Santanyi's weekend market is one of the better markets on Mallorca. It's not a big market, certainly not as big as the sprawling market at Sineu, but it has some interesting stalls with unusual gifts to take home, some fresh local produce and even some clothing and art.

Every year in Pollensa the town hosts a week of festivities (La Patrona), from around the 20th July and culminating with an epic battle on the 2nd of August. All throughout the week there are concerts, exhibitions, displays, parades and late night parties and the whole festival is accentuated with canon fire, shotguns, bell ringing, trumpets, drums and fireworks.