Postcard from Majorca
Spent last week in sunny Majorca (aka Mallorca).
It was our first visit to the island which might surprise some people because Majorca has been a popular holiday destination for Brits for decades, but perhaps that’s what put me off.
The north of the island is said to be particularly beautiful but the majority of tourists tend to be found in the south or south east, near Palma, the capital and largest city on Majorca which is the largest of the Balearic Islands.
We were attracted by the short two-hour flight and the Ikos resort at Porto Petro, a small fishing village on the south east coast and a 45-minute drive from Palma Airport, but more on that in a minute.
First, I can report that despite warnings of possible long delays at European airports due to the new border and security rules for non-EU passengers, we had absolutely no problem entering or leaving Palma Airport using the new self-service kiosks.
Perhaps we were lucky. At Malaga, on the Spanish mainland, waiting times were said to be as much as three hours, while Greece is reported to have reverted to the old non-digital system, at least for the summer, to avoid excessive delays.
A word of praise too for Luton Airport. Although it’s a bit rough around the edges (and the baggage reclaim area is far too small for the number of incoming flights), the staff were universally friendly. (I’ve flown from Luton before and I’m sure I said something similar on that occasion as well.)
For my generation Luton Airport will forever be associated with the 1977 Campari advertisement featuring model and actress Lorraine Chase and actor Jeremy Clyde:
Clyde to Chase: “Were you truly wafted here from paradise?”
Chase (in her Cockney accent): “Nah, Luton Airport.”
To be honest, I never found it particularly funny and it certainly wasn’t in the same class as the iconic Cinzano ads starring Leonard Rossiter and Joan Collins, but I was thrilled nevertheless when, three decades later, Lorraine Chase turned up as a guest at a Forest party at Boisdale of Belgravia. She was extremely charming and even gave us a soundbite for a short video we were filming. (She appears at the end – click here.)
But I digress.
I would normally be rather miffed if, as soon as I went abroad on holiday, Britain enjoyed a whole week of good weather. On this occasion, though, as I explained here, I’m rather glad we missed the mini heatwave because in Majorca the temperature was a very tolerable 26 degrees. There was also a light breeze off the sea and we had air conditioning where necessary.
Ikos is a Greek company whose first resort opened on mainland Greece in 2015. Today the company has resorts in Corfu, Malaga, Majorca, and Crete, and in 2028 they will open another in Portugal. The Dassia resort in Corfu in 2019 was our first Ikos experience and we enjoyed it so much we went back, post Covid, in 2021. We’ve also stayed at Ikos Andalusia, which is an hour’s drive from Malaga Airport and 15 minutes from Estepona.
The Porto Petro resort was opened three years ago and although the facilities feel very familiar, every Ikos resort has a different layout according to the local landscape. The Andalusia resort, for example, is very compact so everything (pools, restaurants, bars and accommodation) is within easy walking distance. At Porto Petro the resort is built around a cove so it’s hillier and the facilities are further apart, but there are electric buggies that drive guests around if you don’t want to walk.
Most Ikos resorts have adult only pools and although, being half-term, there were quite a lot of young children at Porto Petro last week, we’ve never known any Ikos resort to be excessively noisy. Thankfully, there are no late nights discos – or any discos, for that matter. The absence of teenagers suggests there’s probably not enough for children of that age to do (which is a good thing, in my book!). Also, parents with young children can share a room, which is obviously cheaper.
Although the majority of Ikos guests are British, there were quite a lot of Germans at Porto Petro which wasn’t surprising because Majorca is a popular destination for Germans. One of the waiters told us that, in the apartment block where he lives in a nearby village, 80 per cent of residents are German.
Porto Petro was arguably the most multinational Ikos resort we have stayed in (customer-facing employees we spoke to included staff from Greece, Spain, France, Argentina, and England), and for that reason it lacked some identity. In contrast, and despite the international cuisine and other features it shares with every other Ikos resort, Ikos Dassia in Corfu was more clearly Greek – helped perhaps by the view of Albania across the water and the fact that it was a short drive (or boat trip) into Corfu Town.
Would we go back to Porto Petro? Yes, but next time I would try to explore the island a bit more. As things stand, my knowledge and experience of Majorca is not much greater than when we arrived. We did have a nice time, though, and the weather was perfect, so no complaints!
