Are you thinking about planning your next winter holiday? Not sure where to go? Zafiro Hotels suggests 5 different ideas to help you discover the real Mallorca. The island offers a lot more than just beaches. It’s full of charming locations and beautiful villages, and winter is the ideal time of year to visit them and get to know them better without the crowds.

Enjoy every corner of this amazing island. Read on and discover how!

Index

1. An island for gourmets
2. Paradise for sports fans
3. Spectacular scenery and villages
4. Mallorcan wine
5. Traditional festivals

An island for gourmets

Mallorca is more than just ensaimadas and sobrasadas, although both of them are totally delicious! Mallorcan cuisine is much more than that. The fertile Mediterranean land helps create a great range of balanced dishes using fresh local vegetables, succulent meat and freshly caught fish, always accompanied by the prime ingredient: delicious local olive oil.

You must not leave the island without having tried the famous pa amb oli (bread with olive oil), the traditional tumbet (Mallorcan ratatouille) or the delicious winter sopes mallorquines, a tasty stew full of fresh vegetables. The numerous restaurants on the island can help you discover these traditional dishes as well as much more innovative dishes such as those prepared by the Mallorcan chef Tomeu Torrens at his Can Ribera Restaurant by Can Amer. Fancy trying some of his famous lamb shoulder stuffed with aubergine and sobrasada or chicken stuffed with nougat? Bon profit!

Paradise for sports fans

Running, tennis, swimming, cycling, golf. Mallorca is a paradise for sports fans at any time of year. The good weather allows you to get outdoors practically every day and discover some of the most spectacular scenery on the island. That is also why it has become one of the top destinations in Europe for training: a perfect destination for both cyclists and triathletes.

Play golf in Mallorca. Golf is also another perfect sport to play on the island in autumn, winter or spring. Thanks to the warm weather all year round and a great choice of golf courses, Mallorca has become one of the top destinations for European golfers.

At Zafiro Hotels we are big fans of sports and all of our hotels offer specialist programmes and packages so you can enjoy your holiday to the full. Check out our wide range of special offers for sports fans!

Spectacular scenery and villages

Although there is not much snow around on the island in winter, if you’re lucky you might get to see a few snowflakes fall in some parts of the Tramuntana mountain range. With or without snow, the Sierra de Tramuntana offers a beautiful combination of nature, mountains, traditional agriculture, etc., so much so that in 2011 it was declared a World Heritage Site.

The Sierra is also home to some of the most beautiful villages on the island, such as Valldemossa, Deiá or Soller. Enjoy the peacefulness and pure mountain air as you stroll through the streets of these picturesque villages or hike through the mountains, and savour the solitude and beauty of the beaches if you make it down to the coast.

Mallorcan wine

If you are a wine lover, you are also in luck. The island’s Mediterranean soil has the perfect characteristics for growing grapes. Mallorca grows a range of very popular local and international varieties such as Manto negro, Callet, Fogoneu and Gorgollassa red grapes and Prensal, Moll, Giró ros and Malvasía de Banyalbufar white grapes. There are more than 70 bodegas scattered throughout most of the island, most of them boutique style and offering guided visits with tastings or pairings.

Making a list of the best wines in Mallorca would be very difficult as they are famous for their originality. Nevertheless, we would like to highlight Ses Nines from Binissalem, Nou Nat, Anima Negra or Vi d'Auba.

Traditional festivals

Mallorca is also home to many traditional festivals. January sees the San Antonio festival in homage to the patron saint of animals, and also celebrations for San Sebastián, the patron saint of Palma. The whole city celebrates with bonfires and free concerts all over the city in public squares.

These are just 5 experiences that you will love, but there are still a lot more we could suggest! Be inspired by our travel ideas in the flight + hotel section, planning and booking everything in advance so all you have to worry about is enjoying your trip.