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Last Updated: Jan 28th, 2008 - 17:11:39 |
Majorca has been seen as a dirty word in recent years, typified by beer adverts and 18-30 holidays to Magaluf. Not the type of place for a quiet family holiday at any rate.
However, Mallorca, as it is known outside the British Isles, is beginning to regain its image as the beautiful and tantalising island it was before the 1960's developers arrived and is attracting the more exclusive holidaymaker.
German supermodel, Claudia Schiffer is a champion of the island and promoted the Balearics at the World Travel Market in London earlier this month. She was recently forced to sell the six acre, multi million pound complex she had built on the island, which she fell in love with during childhood holidays, as she felt her retreat had become too much of a tourist attraction.
Celebrity homeowners also include Michael Douglas and Catherine Zeta Jones, racing driver Michael Schumacher, and the Norwegian royal family.
The island lies in the Mediterranean Sea between Balearic bedfellows, Ibiza and Menorca, 100 miles off the southeast coast of Spain, and is the largest of the three.
Away from the hordes of tourists, Mallorca is again being discovered as an island of great variety, with beautiful beaches, rugged mountains and bird-rich marshlands.
If you shy away from the 30-kilometre stretch of high-rise hotels around the capital, Palma, on the west coast, and occasional purpose built towns on the east; Mallorca boasts wonderful beaches all the way along its coastline.
In the north west of the island, the Serra de Tramuntana harbour contains some beautiful cove sands and there are a whole host of picturesque towns and villages to nose around in such as Deią, Sóller and Fornalutxis. It is in the northwest that you will also come across two of the island's intriguing monasteries, at Valldemossa and Lluc. They become especially intriguing upon the discovery that renovated cells can be booked from £16 a night, and bowing to the modern age, doubles are available as well.
Palma is worth considering as an initial base, as for all the modern development of its bay, the capital itself has a number of note-worthy sights including its cathedral and the city has good transport links with the rest of the island.
For those who require their holidays to be more strenuous, water sports abound at the island's larger coastal resorts and good quality golf courses are springing up constantly.
Property prices are on the increase despite, or perhaps because of a gradual decrease in German and British tourism numbers in recent years but there are still a number of foreign inhabitants.
The island is home to 50,000 Germans, 6,000 Britons and 2,000 Americans and 95 per cent of the economy is based on tourism but, there are still many places to discover where you will feel you're the first explorer to visit.
More news stories about Majorca:
Balearics voted most popular destination
Picking the perfect wedding venue
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