Santa Ponsa - a resort town in the southwest of Mallorca and travel around the island
We rested in Santa Ponsa with a family of 3 for 11 days in the first half of July.
Hotel - Zafiro Rey Don Jaime, reviewed in the appropriate section.
Santa Ponsa is located in the southwest of the island of Mallorca, about 20 kilometers from the capital.
This is a small resort town with many hotels, cafes, bars and souvenir shops.
According to my observations, most of the tourists are English. Very little is heard of Russian and Ukrainian speech both on the beach and in the city.
There are many older tourists, but there are also young people.
We did not find any special sights in Santa Ponsa.
Even the parrot park you read about in other reviews no longer exists.
According to the hotel guide, locals often complained that parrots start making noise early in the morning. And last year or the year before last, the leadership of the town decided to cut off all the nests of parrots that were in a small park on the embankment.
After that, the parrots "got offended", flew away and never returned to the park.
Sea – clean, transparent, usually calm. In the first half of July, the temperature is 24-26 degrees, then a gradual increase begins.
At 6-7 o'clock in the morning, when the air is still slightly warmed up, the water seems to be generally hot.
The beach has fine sand. Fairly clean. Cleaned constantly, but not very carefully.
Entrance to the sea is smooth.
Near the water's edge is a free seating area, then there are several rows of sun loungers with umbrellas, and then again a free seating area, on the edge of which there are large trees. In their shade, you can comfortably relax even in the heat.
The beach wide and deep. And although there are a lot of people, at any time of the day you can accommodate yourself so that no one bothers you.
Beach before sunrise
Sea before sunrise
Ducks living on the beach
Sun loungers are worn and not very comfortable. The price is €4.5 for a sun lounger and €4.5 for an umbrella.
There are several outdoor showers, one toilet (next to the medical aid point, the cost of visiting is €0.5).
There are no changing cabins.
On the beach you can rent a catamaran or a board for skating.
The only big grocery store in town is the EROSKI Supermarket, a 10-minute walk from Zafiro Rey Don Jaime.
When leaving the hotel, turn right, then at the first crossroads again right, go to the hotel Pirates Village (it has a very original facade, visible from afar) and turn left. After 150 meters - a supermarket.
There is a very good selection of products at reasonable prices.
There are several car rental locations near the hotel.
The closest one is near McDonald's. They speak Russian, but the prices are not the lowest.
There are a couple more on Carrer Gran Via Puig del Teix, a street parallel to the Zafiro Rey Don Jaime.
The conditions are approximately the same for everyone, but there are not always free cars.
FIAT Panda - one of the most popular rental cars in Mallorca (petrol consumption with manual transmission - about 7 liters per 100 km), cost us 100 euros in three days.
If you have time to search and cars are available, you can rent for 10 – 15 euroscheaper.
Journey to Palma
If you want to walk around the historical part of Palma, it is better to take the bus, as it is very difficult to find parking in this area, and most parking lots are paid.
From Santa Ponsa to Palma, you can take three bus routes - 102.104, 111.
102 reaches Palma in 35 - 40 minutes. But there are not always enough places, and you may not fit on the first bus that comes.
104 travels to Palma in about an hour and a half. The ride is usually much more comfortable: than in 102, as you take an empty bus, which fills up gradually on the way to Palma, but also takes much longer.
It's more time-efficient to wait for the next 102 than to go to 104.
111, like 102, reaches Palma in 35 - 40 minutes.
All 3 routes will take you to the Cathedral, one of Palma's main attractions.
The ticket price is the same - €3.45.
At the same time, as far as I understand, the fare is constantly growing: The timetable at stops also indicates 3.40 euros.
Movement interval 102 and 104 - 30 - 40 minutes (depending on time of day), < em>111 - about 1.5 hours.
Bus timetables are available at every stop and at most hotels, including Zafiro Rey Don Jaime.
If you want to immediately leave on the 102 bus, then I recommend going not to the stop in the center where most passengers gather, but to the stop opposite the supermarket EROSKI.
IMPORTANT! At a stop on the way to the center of Santa Ponsa!
The fact is that the bus turns around in the center, so you need to choose a stop located in the direction FROM Palma!
This way you will have a much better chance of leaving.
Another useful tip that we read in the reviews of other tourists and used ourselves.
In front of the Cathedral there is an information kiosk where you can get a free map of Palma's historic area and get information about places of interest or other places you want to visit.
Some employees of this kiosk even speak some Russian.
So, you need to take a red booklet CitySightseeing Palma from this kiosk with a map and advertising of various shops and services.
Find the Mallorca Pearl store on the map, walk to it, show this booklet. And they will give you small pearl earrings for free.
Booklet for getting earrings in Palma
You can walk around Palma for hours, enjoying the architecture and color of this beautiful city.
Streets of Palma de Mallorca
Streets of Palma de Mallorca
Streets of Palma de Mallorca
Streets of Palma de Mallorca
Streets of Palma de Mallorca
Major shopping malls and Outlet in and around Palma are best reached by car. Parking is free and you can always find a spot.
We have been to FAN and Festival Park Mallorca. The second is larger in area and the number of stores.
The set of shops is different. For example, in FAN there is a big H&M and in Festival Park Mallorca is a huge NIKE.
During the sales period, discounts in various stores reached 70%, while the range was quite wide, both in models and sizes.
Journey to the lighthouse at Cape Formentor.
It is advisable to leave Santa Ponsa at 8:30 - 9:00.
This is due to the fact that the lighthouse is very popular among tourists, and there are many who want to visit it.
Near the lighthouse itself, parking is free, but there are no more than 20 parking spaces, so an early arrival makes it possible to leave the car without unnecessary strain on the nervous system.
The last part of the route (about fifteen kilometers) runs along a steep mountain serpentine. People who are sensitive to motion sickness need to be prepared for this.
The road to the lighthouse at Cape Formentor
And on the road there are mountain animals with very strong horns. Some of them are not afraid of cars at all.
On the way to the lighthouse, there are several viewing platforms that offer breathtaking views.
There is not enough parking space at these sites - for 2-4 cars.
There are many more parking spaces on the largest intermediate platform. There is even a cafe and a toilet (however, only customers of the cafe can visit it).
If you arrived at this site before 10 am, then it is better to make a stop and then continue on your way, as there will already be a lot of people on the way back, and it is much less possible to park and take pictures normally.
If you got there later than 10, then I recommend not to stop, but to go to the lighthouse.
From the same site, along the road perpendicular to the path to the lighthouse, you can get to another attraction of Cape Formentor,
You can go to it after visiting the lighthouse.
After driving about one and a half kilometers along a steep serpentine (the road is even narrower than the serpentine to the lighthouse), you will come to a crossroads.
Here you can leave your car. Revenge is enough for about 20 cars.
From here, one road (usually closed) leads to the meteorological center, and the other (pedestrian) to a low tower, the purpose of which remains unclear to me.
Walk to the tower for about a kilometer. All the time on the rise.
Near the tower there are strange structures made of stones. Who made them and why is also a mystery.
Mysterious stone structures near the tower
The height of the tower is about 15 meters.
You can climb the tower by iron steps driven into the walls.
Note that going down is more difficult than going up.
Very interesting views open from the tower and the observation deck near it.
View from the tower
Weather station at Cape Formentor (view from the tower)
Now about the lighthouse itself.
There is, as I already wrote, parking for approximately 20 cars, several viewing platforms, a self-service cafe with an outdoor terrace, a small souvenir shop, a free toilet on the territory of the cafe .
Tourists and "locals" on the cafe terrace near the lighthouse
One hour, in my opinion, is enough to get around everything.
Beauty is a subjective concept. I believe that both the long road and the time spent were worth the views that open from the lighthouse.
Journey to the Hamsa Caves.
Originally, we wanted to get into the Dragon Caves.
But apparently, the address was not quite accurately entered into the navigator. Yes, and at the entrance to Porto Cristo there were many signs to the caves. Trusting the navigator and signs, we turned to the Khamsa caves.
In front of the caves there is a large free parking lot for cars (at least 100 spaces in my opinion) and buses.
We arrived around 10 am and there was no line at the cashier.
At the box office they ask what country you are from and in what language you would like to receive information. The list of available ones includes Russian, Ukrainian - no.
I was unpleasantly surprised by the ticket price - 21 euros per person.
Right outside the entrance gate, a photographer girl met us and offered to take pictures, saying that the photos could be picked up after the tour was over.
We went down the stairs to the "inner courtyard" - a platform between the rocks. There are chairs on which you can sit before the tour, a bar with drinks and snacks, a toilet.
Tours start strictly on schedule. We started at 10:30. As far as I understood, this was the second tour of the day, and the first one started at 10:00.
Before entering the cave, everyone was given special devices with headphones, having previously specified once again in what language we want to receive information.
The tour starts with watching a film about the discovery and history of the caves. The film was shown in German, with headphones it was possible to listen to the translation into the chosen language. The volume is adjustable.
The film is less than 10 minutes long.
After the movie, the tour itself begins.
You pass through several grottoes, where stalactites and stalagmites are frozen in the most bizarre forms.
Thanks to the multi-colored illumination and imagination, you can see the figures of people, animals and some fabulous creatures. In my opinion, beautiful, interesting, emotional.
The guide's voice is constantly heard from the speakers in three or four languages, the most understandable of which for us was English.
In one of the large grottoes, we were shown another film.
It talked about the origin of the universe and lasted about five minutes.
If the first film was projected onto a screen, then this one was projected directly onto the wall of the grotto, which added mystery and emotionality to the plot.
Khamsa caves
Khamsa caves
Khamsa caves
Khamsa caves
At the end of the route, we ended up in a grotto with a small lake and an observation deck in front of it.
Pleasant music began to play and a boat floated out from behind a rock, in which a man was sitting. He skillfully steered the boat with the help of an oar.
The boat made a circle on the lake and froze.
At this time, the music changed, and a plot from some operetta began to be projected onto the wall of the grotto.
After the end of the excerpt from the operetta, the man sailed away on the boat.
The entire performance took about 5 minutes.
When visiting, note that the observation deck is narrow and people line up in three to four rows to watch the performance. If there are a lot of people on the tour, then it is difficult to see from the last rows, especially for children.
The tour was over.
At the exit, we were offered to buy photos taken at the entrance for 8 euros per photo.
Unfortunately, the quality did not match the price at all, and we refused to buy.
The whole tour took a little over an hour.
The conclusions after the visit are as follows:
1. You need to be very careful when planning a visit to the Caves on
Mallorca to get exactly where you want.
2. It is better to arrive in the morning: fewer people, there are free
parking spaces.
3. Khamsa Caves is an interesting place with very beautiful views.
4. The ticket price is too high for the proposed program.
5. Judging by the reviews of travelers, the combination of "price-quality" in Dragon Caves is more interesting than in Hamsa Caves .
After visiting the caves, I recommend stopping by Porto Cristo.
An interesting little town with a national flavor. You can just walk along the streets to feel the slowness and charm of life in the Spanish outback
Please note that with rare exceptions, there are no gas stations on the roads between cities. And in those that are, gasoline is more expensive than in settlements (in any case, it was like that on the roads we drove on).
The HERE We Go mobile application helped a lot in getting around Mallorca's roads.
On offline maps downloaded in advance, it was easy to build a route and find the way to the right place.
At the same time, it should be borne in mind that the names of settlements and attractions in English and Spanish may sound differently, and the application works correctly with Spanish names.
