Majorca is big enough that two people can come back from the same island having had entirely different holidays. One spends a week in a quiet bay with a medieval town behind it; the other spends it in a resort where the evening starts at eleven. Neither is wrong, but booking one while expecting the other is the most common way to be disappointed by this island.
The split that matters most is north against south-west. Alcudia and Magaluf are both well served, both on good beaches, and about as different in character as two resorts on one island can be. Everything else follows from which of those you pick.
The North: Alcudia
Alcudia has the longest sandy beach on the island, shallow enough that children can wade a long way out, and a walled medieval old town set back from the water with a Sunday market inside the gates. The port end has the restaurants, the bay end has the quiet. It is the part of Majorca that people return to annually without feeling they have settled for anything.
Zafiro Palace Alcudia
A few minutes from the port and the white sand, with swim-up rooms, a splash park and dining that goes well past the usual buffet. The golf courses in the area are close enough to build a week around if that is the point of the trip. It is the most polished thing in the resort without being remote from it.
Iberostar Waves Ciudad Blanca
Beachfront and central at the same time, which in Alcudia usually means choosing one. The splash park with water jets and slides handles the younger end, the buffet covers the fussy end, and the evening entertainment means nobody has to drive anywhere to find something happening.
VIVA Sunrise
A short stroll from the sand with a colourful splash zone, a kids’ club that families rate, and — unusually — rooms with their own plunge pool if you want the family option without the family-hotel compromise. It is also set up for cycling, which in this corner of the island is a serious draw rather than an afterthought.
The South-West: Magaluf
Magaluf has spent the last decade changing, and the version most people picture is increasingly out of date. The beach is excellent, the water park is one of Europe’s biggest, and a run of hotels has been rebuilt for people who want a late night available rather than compulsory. It is twenty minutes from Palma, which no northern resort can claim.
Innside by Melia Calvia Beach
Two blocks joined by a rooftop terrace with its own pool, open-air DJ sessions in the evening and a glass-bottom pool that is more fun than it has any need to be. It sits inside a shopping complex, so the walk to dinner is about ninety seconds. Firmly the grown-up end of the resort.
Hotel Samos
A large pool with real sunbathing space, a cocktail bar and a position so central that the strip is within dancing distance, as the hotel itself puts it. The rooms are modern and the point of staying here is everything outside them. Among the resorts on this coast it is the straightforward choice for a group.
Reading a Majorca Map Before You Book
Three practical things decide more than any photograph. First, distance from Palma airport: the south-west is twenty to thirty minutes, the north is closer to an hour, and that gap lands on both ends of the trip. Second, whether the beach shelves gently or drops away, which matters enormously with small children and not at all without them. Third, whether there is a walkable old town, because that is what turns a beach week into a holiday with something to look at.
Alcudia wins on the first two for families; Magaluf wins on the transfer and on everything after dark. Both appear in the same island listings, which makes comparing them more straightforward than the reputations suggest.
Making the Call
Settle the compass point before anything else — north for shallow water and a walled market town, southwest for a short run from the runway and a later finish. Jet2holidays shows both halves together. We unpick decisions of that kind at 2minuteread.