There are these places that just blow your mind - Menorca is one of those places. One of a kind. And I have to admit that I did not know it existed until our own airBaltic revealed a new route from Riga to Menorca. I like adventures, I like to hop in to the unknown from time to time, and I knew right away – I am going to explore this tiny island I knew nothing about.
Actually the only thing I knew about Menorca before I went there is that there are so many beautiful beaches. In fact, there are over 70 beautiful, unique beaches along the coastline. So many to choose from. Obviously 1 week is not enough to explore them all, so we took our phones out, went through almost all of them to see what we would like to see more. I’ll get to that later.
Where to stay? Budget choice
We rented an apartment near the town of Ciutadella. It was very cheap (380 EUR including breakfast for 3 people) It had 2 bedrooms, a living toom with a kitchen area if you are up for some cooking. We had our own little terrace space and a shared pool. But there weren’t many people to share it with. If I am not wrong, there are 8 apartments, and in that time of the year (May) they weren’t fully booked. Apartments are called Cales de Ponent and there are actually different parts where you can stay – we didn’t stay in the main building, and we were glad that we didn’t. Although it was a nice place, and we had our breakfast there every morning, it was more crowded. Our place (Llebeig apartments) was quiet, more away from everything. It was near to Cala Santandria (a beach) and just 2km away from this very nice town called Ciutadella. Apartments were on the other side of the island if you look from the airport, and we had to drive for around 40 minutes, but it was totally worth it, as this area is less known and more tourists tend to look for hotels near the airport.
There were some restaurants near the apartments, some of them were next to the beach, some of them were located in a little restaurant/supermarket district just 10 minutes away from our place. I would say that I would choose to stay there again.
Cities we visited
We rented a car to drive around the island. That is an easy task as there are many car rentals around – almost all apartments and hotels work with one. You can also get to the most populas places like Cala Macarella, Ciutadella, Mahon by bus, but we found it more easy to do it with a car.
We went to Ciutadella which was such a pretty little town with lots of local clothing shops, restaurants, pretty buildings. You have to keep in mind that almost all of the food places are closed during the day. They close at 2pm and re-open at 7pm. There was this one day when we walked around for an hour looking for a place to eat, but no luck. Went to the Burger King and ate a burger instead of some paella. :D
Mahon (which is the capital of Menorca – that is were the airport is located) was also very pretty. But to visit it was not one of my highlights of this trip. There is a beautiful port, the old town is also pretty nice, but what really stood out for me – Binibeca. We went there after exploring Mahon, and my oh my what a gorgeous place it is! A tiny little village full of white houses. I cannot imagine what happens there when it’s the high season, because the streets are to small (if you can even call them streets) and the buildings are so close to each other. No wonder there are signs that ask for silence everywhere. And you got to respect that. Look at it from this side – if you lived there, would you want people to climb on your balcony, stand on your stairs, screaming, laughing, making photos? You can still make photos and explore this place, but you have to be respectful. Binibeca was definately one of my favourite places on this island.
Favourite beaches
The beaches.. ohhh. There are soo many of them! Our favourites were Cala Turquetta and Cala Macarella – I guess they are very popular too, but you can live with the tourists, because these places are AMAZING. I thought that Navagio beach in Zakynthos island was the most beautiful place ever, but these beaches.. wow! I have never seen a water so clear and blue. Perfect! You can climb high un the cliffs next to Cala Macarella to see the beauty. And you can also hike your way to the smaller beach called Cala Macaraletta.
The water was a bit cold in May, but we still went swimming, because the weather was very nice. And the hike to the beaches are pretty long, there are trees along the path and there is almost no wind. So after the long walk you won’t even care if the water is cold or not.
You can go to Cala Macarella by bus or by car, but they close the parking for cars in the middle of may due to the high traffic and the quantity of cars to protect the environment. We went there by car on the 14th of May, and it was closed to cars the next day. So keep that in mind, so you won’t be dissapointed when you try to access the beach by a car.
Best sunset spots
If you are looking for places to watch the sunset, I recommend a place called Pont D’ne Gil. Beautiful place with a perfect view of a cliff that ha san arch in the middle of it. So unique! Don’t forget to bring a bottle of wine!
Another amazing place for a sunset or just to chill during the day – a bar that is built in the cliffs. It is called Cova d’ne Xoroi and I have never seen anything like it in my entire life. The entry fee is 10 EUR per person, and it might sound like it is a lot, but you get the best view, the best experience, and a glass of a drink of your choice. I chose a glass of rose. Of course you can get there to watch a sunset, because I am sure that it is so magical and so romantic, but it gets crowded pretty easily. We went there right at the time when it got opened – at 3pm. But we were just lucky, as we didn’t know it opened at that time. If you want to skip the crowds, visit this beautiful place at day time.
We spent 7 amazing days on this perfect little island and I was super sad to leave so soon. But I will sure be back someday. This, as I like to call it, hidden gem is a wonderful place. Next time I would visit it during September – the weather would be nicer, and the water would be warmer. Buti f you don’t plan to swim and lay in the sun most of the time, and if you like to explore the island more, May is the perfect time. And oh, don’t forget to order sangria whenever you are eating somewhere – they have the most delicious sangria in every restaurant there is. Loved it!