From gentle to super active, residents and tourists with an interest in sports and keeping fit will find many and varied activities to take part in across the north of the island. For property owners, there’s another advantage to this increased interest in sporting holidays: more weeks of potential rentals in the off season when the climate of the island is better suited to strenuous exercise.
Mallorca now features 260kms of special cycling routes around the island making it one the top cycling tourist destinations in the Mediterranean. But it’s the north of the island where much of the action happens. Many international cycling teams base themselves around the bay of Pollensa and Alcudia–and with good reason because all of the top five tough climbs in the island are in the area including Sa Calobra, Coll de Femenia, Puig Major, Coll de Sa Batalla and Coll de Soller. Team Sky use the very testing Sa Calobra (whose official name Col de Cal Reis) as its unofficial pre-season testing ground.
The sport has gained traction well beyond the professionals, however, and it’s estimated that there are 150,000 cycle tourists travelling to Mallorca each year and the north of the island has a wealth of attractive routes for all abilities — including through the beautiful Valle de Axartell near Pollensa.
Families can take advantage of the numerous hiking and trekking opportunities afforded by the Sierra Tramuntana, too. From half-hour walks down torrents to pebble beaches on Formentor to more challenging ascents and descents — there’s something for everyone.
In a demonstration of the variety of fitness challenges and abilities that the north of the island caters for, Alcudia also hosts the Nirvana IRONMAN 70.3 Mallorca – a well-known training ground for triathletes from all over the world. The next event is scheduled for May 12, 2018.
Adrenaline junkies can opt to do a tandem paraglide off the top of Puigde Sant Marti, near Alcudia, through www.paraglidingmallorca.com.
The Robert Trent Jones-designed golf course at Alcanada is the closest thing to a links course on the island; it’s theonly one positioned by the sea. The 18-hole golf course was opened in 2003 andwas built in an environmentally sensitive area. The other option in the northof the island is the nine-hole course at Golf Pollensa which was opened in 1986. It offers views of the Tramuntana, the bays of Pollensa and Alcudia and the nature reserve at S’Abufereta.
Sailing enthusiasts of all shapes and abilities are catered for in the north with marinas in Puerto Pollensa and Puerto Alcudia, among others. Day boaters can take out traditional Mallorcan fishing boats or charter something considerably faster while amateurs can sign up for lessons from professional instructors.
About the author: Arabella Youens is a freelance editor and journalist based in London. Having studied at the Universidad Autonoma de Madrid and worked both for a summer in Palma and a year in Barcelona, she speaks good Spanish and covered the top-end property marketing the Balearics for over ten years while she was Property Editor of Country Life magazine. Today, she continues to write about property and interiors across a variety of titles including The Telegraph, Country Life, London’s Evening Standard, City AM, Homes & Gardens and Country & Town House.