The H. Concept

In August, I spent a week in Mallorca with five friends of mine to relax and enjoy the Mediterranean summer.
We stayed at El’Arenal, which is in the south of the Island, right next to Palma, and super close to the airport, but I highly recommend you to explore the Island regardless of where you are lodged.

We stayed at Hotel Bahamas which has cost us 260€ per person with half board accomodation. It’s not an amazing hotel (considering 3 stars hotels spectrum), but it’s far for being the worst. I only wished that the bedrooms were a bit more updated and also the food was more condimented. Despite that, it has a good quality/price ratio.

There are plenty of activities that you can do on the Island. If I had have the time or Money I would have done much more!

I'm very keen on water sports and anything that involves water basically. I had my eye on diving, parasailing, windsurf, kayak, banana boat, pedal boat, etc… but I end up doing paddle surf, and I almost did parasailing (I couldn't found the rental guy...).

As I said before, explore the island! So, with that thought in mind, we rented a car, in our case was more like a huge van (we laughed so much when we saw it), for two days, that way we visited the north part of the Island and also the east side. We choose to see one beach at each place because our main goal was to rest and enjoy a full day of beach. The elected were Playa de Mondragó near Santanyi, and Playa de Alcudia.

Another recommendation is to do a boat excursion. We did the Crucero Paraiso, from Cruceros Cormoran, that departed from Santa Ponsa.
The Mallorca Cat (the boat's name) has a submarine vision that allows to have a glimpse of sea bottom and its fauna. We enjoyed the views of sheer cliffs and bays such as Cap Andrixol, Cala Llamp and La Mola. We made a stop at Cala Egos for a swim and after that continued cruising to circle the Dragonera Island once a famous pirate refuge, now protected as National Park.
It was 49€ per person, with transfer from the hotel and lunch included. The staff was very helpful and super friendly.

We spend the rest of our days in Arenal beach, enjoying the dolce far niente (I'm pretty good at that), and also visiting Palma (there are regular buses doing the connection).

I cannot exactly suggest restaurants because I had my meals at the hotel's restaurant apart from lunch, which we normally had by the beach. But a good tip for you is that, every beach that we visited had one or more restaurants were we would have a light meal (sandwiches, hamburgers with salad,… and a lot of ice creams). Have attention to restaurants near the marina or busy areas, they tend to be very pricey (and with poor service sometimes).
Don’t Forget to try an ensaimada (a delicious spiral yeast bun dusted with icing sugar) I ate a bit for breakfast, have some tapas, eat paella accompanied with a glass of sangria, and to end with a sweet flavour, my beloved nougat turron.
I brought to my parents a box turrons (that didn’t last long so it was impossible to take a picture). A bottle of Aimada, which is a licor with the flavour of ensaimada. I bought the Crema version and it’s very very good, and also a pack of small bottles of olive oil with diferente “flavours” and sea salt with different condiments.

What to bring in your suit case?

When I planned this trip, the goal was Beach, relax, enjoy the good company and obviously, have fun. So for a beach holidays, I advise to take the minimum, since you’re going to spend most of the time in a bikini, or with shorts and a t-shirt. Even for dinners, our night walks, or night clubs I've chosen very laid back looks.

I hope you have enjoyed this small journal!!!

Sunday morning and early afternoon were spent at the Louvre. You should prepare your visit in advance, and select which masterpieces/galeries you want to see.
We opted to see Decorative Arts, Italian paintings from the 17th century to the19th century (where is the famous Mona Lisa), French paintings from the 19th century, Egyptian and Greek Antiquities.
The rest of the afternoon was spent on Montmartre, with a visit to Sacre Couer.

To end up the day, we went to Place de la Concorde and went through Champs Élysées, where we had a relaxed dinner.