DESTINATIONS

It would be easy to believe that the sunburn-and-sangria reputation of the Balearics is a deliberate smokescreen. Spend a few days on Majorca or Ibiza, and the louche image of these islands starts to look like a story put about by people who love the place so much that they want to keep it to themselves. Because the fact is, the four main islands of the Balearics — Majorca, Menorca, Ibiza and Formentera — are a sophisticated and utterly fabulous little corner of the Mediterranean. One of the first tourists to discover Majorca, the composer Frédéric Chopin, had it right when he said that it was 'the most beautiful place in the world'.

The Balearic Islands have a coastline and a landscape that are unrivalled anywhere in Europe. Their cuisine, like the language of the islands, is distinct from Spain's, and altogether more earthy. The cultural life here is as vibrant and variable as a box full of butterflies: you could easily fill every day with art and theatre, with wonderful music from old Baroque to rock'n'roll, with craft fairs and street performances and beach parties and wine tastings...

Majorca
The first place most visitors encounter is Palma, Majorca's busy metropolis. You might get lucky and arrive on a saint's day, when the balmy sky at night fizzes with bright bouquets of fireworks. And, fireworks or not, you are guaranteed a riot of colour at the splendidly eccentric Bar Abaco (calle San Juan, 1), where the courtyard is filled with exotic caged birds and extravagant tropical fruits, and the clientele is as dazzling as the cocktails.

No less spectacular in their way are the two great spas close to Palma. One is Puro Beach (purohotel.com) on Palma Bay, an achingly hip spot where you meditate in the morning, take a massage in the afternoon and greet the sunset with chilled Champagne and double-chilled music. A different kind of pamper experience is to be had at the Arabella Spa in the St Regis Mardavall Majorca Resort in Palma Nova. This is Europe's largest spa, and it is all about unadulterated luxury. Here you can enjoy an underwater massage or the ice cave, or take your pick from a long menu of Anne Sémonin scrubs, wraps and 'envelopments'.

Sooner or later you must get out of Palma and uncover the rest of the island. Above all, be sure to go to the mountainous north. Some of the island's best treasures are hidden here, in the rocky folds of the Tramuntana range. Among them is the little town of Sóller, with its exuberant church and perfect town square. It's an easy day trip from Palma — the best way to get there is on the charming Edwardian train that chugs across the plain and through the mountains each morning (sollertrain.com).

Any day out in Sóller should begin with a coffee on the square, where you can sit and watch the open-sided tram as it winds its way between the café tables and heads off through the lemon groves towards the port and the sea. Make a mental note to tram it to the port later — for lunch, maybe — but for now take a stroll down Sóller's main street, Calle de Sa Lluna. It is full of treats, not least of which is the bakery at the top end where you can buy the peculiar little local pizzas known as cocas. The coca de pebres with roasted red peppers is as red as a matador's cape — the coca de verdura, with its spinach topping looks like a slice of edible jade.

Further down the street is a shop where you can buy chunky brown Majorcan earthenware; then there's a deep and dark bodega lined with intriguing bottles, and a ferretería festooned with exotic pans and Spanish ironwork. My favourite building on the street is a house called C'an Prunera. It is a turn-of-the-century merchant's mansion, and its striking façade features strange curvy windows, like glazed f-holes on some vast stone cello. For years, C'an Prunera was a closed book but, in 2009, it threw open its doors as a new museum of Spanish and Balearic Art Nouveau — the style that it exemplifies so well.

Close to Sóller are two more highland highlights. One is Fornalutx, a tiny hamlet sitting snug in a crag high up the mountain. The square is barely larger than a suburban garden and lined with fantastic restaurants. Climb the steep steps up to the church and beyond for amazing views. Then, west of Sóller, there is Deià. This village was made famous by the writer Robert Graves, who lived in Majorca for many years and wrote I, Claudius here.

Deià has drawn flocks of visitors ever since, but few bother to visit Graves' house, which is some way outside the town. The home is just as he left it: his stout Russian samovar on a kitchen shelf, his study, lined with books and peopled with many little wooden boxes, and his old-fashioned printing press all alone in an adjoining room. It is a wonderfully evocative house and, despite its English ghosts, thoroughly Majorcan. Look around it, then wander back to the village for a special dinner at Es Racó d'es Teix (esracodesteix.es). If the afternoon sun is too hot, and you are too far from home for a siesta, you could pop into La Residencia for some afternoon tea (hotel-laresidencia.com). This wonderful hotel is the Platonic ideal of a Majorcan home — white walls, good art and honey-coloured flagstones throughout — and it is perhaps the biggest celebrity magnet in the entire Balearics.

The tiny mountain places can get crowded. For a quieter time, the eastern part of the island is the place to go. This end of Majorca is rugged, but not at all spartan. There are some great restaurants, including Genestar in Alcúdia (genestarestaurant.com), where one of the signature dishes is a stuffed turkey that is a surprising oblong shape, like a delicious brick in sauce.

Great dining is also to be had at Es Molí den Bou (esmolidenbou.es), which last year moved from Sant Llorenç and was rehoused inside the Hotel Sa Coma Playa. The location and the ambience may have changed, but the Michelin-starred food is still just as good. If you want to base yourself in the east there is nowhere better than Son Gener (songener.com), an 18th-century finca or farmhouse that is so thoroughly secluded you would think it was in hiding. But seek it out: Son Gener is a fabulously chic boutique hotel, with a rather fine spa and hammam attached.

Further north, close to the pretty town of Pollensa, is the rather surprising Hotel Son Brull (sonbrull.com). From the outside it is a large alqueria (grange). Local people used to say that Son Brull has as many windows as there are days in the year, and the imposing exterior leads you to expect something traditional. But once you pass through the doors you find yourself in a stunning, postmodern interior — walls that part like curtains, vast screens of glass and then (to keep you on your toes) a huge barn of a bar that looks like a Viking banqueting hall.

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