Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Landscape & Wildlife
All of the Balearics are beautiful, but Mother Nature really pulled out the
stops for Mallorca. Whether you're slow-touring the wild west, where lime-
stone cliffs drop suddenly to curvaceous bays and water 50 shades of blue;
rambling through the hinterland, where hills rise steep and wooded above
meadows cloaked in wildflowers, olive groves and citrus orchards; or loun-
ging on flour white beaches on the south coast, you can't help but feel that
Mallorca's loveliness is often underrated. Trust us - it's stunning.
Mallorca's Landscape
Mallorca, shaped like a rough trapezoid, is the largest island of the Balearic archipelago.
Technically. The island chain is an extension of mainland Spain's Sistema Penibético
(Beltic mountain range), which dips close to 1.5km below the Mediterranean and peeks up
again to form the islands of Mallorca, Menorca, Ibiza and Formentera. The stretch of wa-
ter between the archipelago and the mainland is called the Balearic Sea.
The Coast
Mallorca's coastline is punctuated for the most part by small coves, save for three major
bays. The Badia de Palma in the south is the most densely populated corner of the island.
The two large, shell-shaped bays of the north, the Badia de Pollença and Badia d'Alcúdia,
are enclosed by a series of dramatic headlands, Cap de Formentor, Cap des Pinar and Cap
Ferrutx.
A series of plunging cliffs interspersed with calm bays marks the south, which is where
you'll also find Mallorca's two main island networks: the Illa de Sa Dragonera (offshore
from Sant Elm) and the 19- island Parc Nacional Marítim-Terrestre de l'Arxipèlag de
Cabrera (from Colònia de Sant Jordi).
Among the most complete guides available to Mallorca's caves are the Cuadernos de
Espeleología I and II (Speology Notebooks I & II), by José Bermejo.
Mountains
The island's defining geographic feature is the 90km-long Serra de Tramuntana, a Unesco
World Heritage Cultural Landscape since 2011. Spectacularly buckled and contorted, this
range of peaks, gullies and cliffs begins close to Andratx in the southwest and reaches its
 
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