Palma

Palma's not the Mallorca you've been sold. The charter flights land here too, but they don't stay; they drive off to the beach resorts at Magaluf and Palma Nova, leaving the city to the people who actually live in it. What's left is a small Mediterranean capital with a 13th-to-17th-century Gothic cathedral, a working container port, a 1920 food market that still does what food markets are supposed to do, and a restaurant scene in Santa Catalina that's quietly become one of the best in Spain. It works because it never tried to be Ibiza.

When to go

May or September. Twenty-five degrees, swimmable sea, none of the August nonsense. July and August are when the rest of Europe shows up; the city handles it but the prices triple and the cruise ships unload more people than the Old Town wants. April is shoulder-warm but the water's still cold. October is the underrated month: warm enough, the locals have their city back, and the kitchens have new menus.

What it's actually like

Walk the city. The Old Town behind the cathedral takes about three hours on foot: narrow streets, Arab baths, palm-shaded squares. Santa Catalina is where you go for dinner: the market, the bars, the places that opened in old fishermen's bars and never put up new signs. Don't drive into the centre unless you're masochistic about parking. The Tramuntana is half an hour inland if you want a day-trip; Deià is the village, Sóller is the bigger town, the train between them takes the long way round and is worth doing once.

The neighbourhood you want

Santa Catalina. Old enough to have texture, central enough to walk to the cathedral, alive enough at night to feel like a city. Hotels are small and good. El Jonquet next door if you want quiet. Don't stay in the Old Town itself unless you're locking in a specific boutique you've checked; it leans more towards apartments and tourist-circuit places.

Don't miss

Mercat de l'Olivar. The 1951 food market is still the proper one, and it's where you should go before midday. Sobrassada at Colmado La Almudaina: the spreadable paprika-cured sausage that's the island's identity food. Ensaïmada from any of the bakeries. Take the ensaïmada to Ca'n Joan de S'Aigo, founded 1700, and eat it with their hot chocolate. €2 for plain. Then walk it off in the Old Town.