Balearic Islands Tourism Guide - Majorca Shopping, Arts, Crafts

Majorca Shopping Tips

Shopping Palma de Mallorca style is perhaps a little too pleasurable, i.e. watch your visa bill. Much to tempt indeed from exquisite little delicatessen, spices and fine liquor shops around C/.Sto. Domingo 1, Palma. Zapatos, to of course some of the best shoe shops in the world really, courtesy of the Camper Shoes influence. Find these on C/. San Miguel in Palma. Av. Jaume III. It's pretty exclusive this street, but accessible nonetheless and window shopping is welcome with very friendly service across the board. International fashion designers and jewellers such as Cartier are all here in Palma, but there's a bohemian flavour in the shopping suberbs around Placa Major. You'll find you're off the wall gift in Palma no problemo.

For food shopping and traditional Mallorcan fare push out into the many markets in key centres. Sample some Ensaimadas, the famous Mallorquin pastry. They know their sweet delectables in Majorca for sure. They make rather a lot of wine on Majorca as well. You can pick up some in Palma, but from source you'll find it's cheaper so stretch out to some of the best wine cellars in hotspots like Petra (birthplace of Junipero Serra!), or the Binissalem vine region, just up from Palma on the Inca road. Sunday markets at Consell and Binissalem come highly recommended or try the Sineu market every Wednesday morning.

Majorca Markets

Monday Caimari, Calvia, Lloret, Manacor, Montuiri, Soller. Tuesday Alcudia, Arenal, Artá, Campanet, Llubi, Pina, Porreres, Sta. Margalida, Soller, Can Pastilla. Wednesday Arenal, Andratx, Capdepera, Colonia St. Jordi, Lluchmayor, Petra, Puerto Pollensa, Santanyi, Selva, Sencelles, Sineu, Soller, Villafranca. Thursday Arenal, Ariany, Can Pastilla, Campos, Ciutadella, Consell, Inca, Portol, Ses Salines, San Joan, San Lloret, Soller. Friday Alarò, Algaida, Binissalem, Can Picafort, Lluchmayor, Maria de Salud, Es Pont Inca, Son Carrio, Soller, Son Servera, Palma am Plaza Mayor. Saturday Burger, Bunyola, Cala Ratjada, Costix, Esporles, Lloseta, Santa Eugenia, Sta. Margalida, Santanyi, Soller, Palma am Plaza Mayor. Sunday Alcudia, Binissalem, Felanitx, Lluchmayor, Muro, Sa Pobla, Santa Maria, Valldemossa, Pollensa, Porto Cristo.

For Flea Markets, check out every Saturday morning in Palma at the start of the "Avenidas" and in Campos. Sunday mornings in Binissalem, Consell, Inca and Alcudia.

Majorca Shopping Hotspots

George Sand, if she landed in Palma de Mallorca today would certainly find plenty to amuse herself in the shops in Palma. It's quite simply a shopping mecca. Quite big as Spanish cities go so you'll need a good street map for shopping in Palma. A lot of tourist info books on Mallorca point you to this shop and that, but pottering around Palma is best, as little gems pop up that you might otherwise had missed had you been on some rigorous military shopping exercise. It's a pleasure wandering around Palma anyway, just for the architecture, with plenty of charming cafes in many hub squares, large and small, to collapse in.

Shopping in Palma offers the full range, from top designer names to specialist ceramic shops, or clothes shops. Palma is a city conscious of it's style and edge, with age old architectural buildings, but a leaning somehow to the contemporary in both art and culture. You could spend some serious money here, and there are extremely expensive places to shop and frequent, but you can do the other bohemian thing as well, cooing over some of the best shoe shops on the planet. Camper shoes of course being prevalent, with their headquarters and history integral to Majorca.

The many art galleries and museums are cheap to get in, all with good shops I might add and check out the cafe come restaurant at Es Baluard, the superb contemporary art gallery on Placa Porta de Santa Catalina s/n in Palma has a fantastic terrace with superb views of Palma's port and across to Bellver Castle. Great coffee here too, and close to the main shopping area in Palma. Around the superb Museu d'Art Espanyol Contemporani behind Placa Major are a choice of little narrow cobbled streets lined with some pretty exquisite specialist shops. Looking for something quirky and different, you'll find it in this area. Just make sure you've got a good upto date street map on you when shopping in Palma. Get your bearings by some of the main attractions like the obvious one, Palma cathedral on the coast and one of the largest squares, Placa Major if you're pushing into the heart of the city. Palma is a prime shopping city!

Other little shopping gems around Majorca include hotspots like superbo Pollenca. There's some real one off clothes shops here, plus great cereamics, Mallorca wine and spirits shops, stationery shops coupled with some great cafes and restaurants. Pollenca eating out is particularly good on the vegetarian angle! A surprise good little shopping base for that off the wall gift is Santanyi to the south.

Majorca Resorts Shopping

Shopping in the Majorca resorts can be great for bargains. Look closely and you'll see many shops offering expensive perfumes for duty free prices. You'll find some bargains aka Clarins, Lancome and all the rest in these shops. If you're looking for arts and crafts, often times they can be cheaper purchased in the resorts, for example the Siurells, than in museum shops or in some of the bigger towns and cities.

Dig around in some of the Majorca souvenier shops in the resorts and you'll find a few pleasant surprises. Port de Pollenca and Port d'Alcudia being particularly good here. The best shopping of the North can be found in Soller. Lots of beautiful ceramics, jewellery and bakers all crammed round a bustling main square. Well worth taking the toytown train up to Soller if shopping is your bag!