Santanyí

A town of golden stone

The stone is the story here. Quarries outside the town have supplied a fine-grained, honey-coloured sandstone for centuries, valued by masons for its even texture and the clean edge it takes when carved. It was carried to churches, manor houses and doorways across Mallorca, and once you know the colour you start to notice it far from the south.

In Santanyí itself it is everywhere: in the façades of town houses with their wooden shutters, in courtyard walls, in the steps worn smooth outside the church. The town grew as the agricultural centre for the farmland of the south, and it was walled against the corsair raids that troubled this coast for generations. Only fragments of those defences survive, but the old core still feels turned inward, a tight weave of shaded streets around one central square.

Around the Plaça Major

Everything begins in the Plaça Major, where the parish church of Sant Andreu fills one side of the square. It is a big, sober building of golden stone, largely of the eighteenth century, and inside is a celebrated organ by the Mallorcan builder Jordi Bosch, which came to Santanyí from a convent in Palma. Beside it stands the older Roser chapel, a Gothic remnant of the first church, plainer and more intimate.

A few minutes away is Sa Porta Murada, the one surviving gate of the old walls, a solid arch in the same warm stone. The streets in between reward slow wandering: carved lintels, small chapels, courtyards glimpsed through open doors. Santanyí also has an unusual number of art galleries for a town of its size, many showing contemporary work, and browsing between them fills a quiet hour on a hot afternoon.

Market mornings

Santanyí holds its market on Wednesday and Saturday, and on both days the stalls spread from the Plaça Major into the surrounding streets. Expect fruit and vegetables from the farms of the south, cheese, olives, sobrassada, almonds, baskets and linen, alongside clothing and crafts. Both days draw residents from across the south-east as well as visitors, so the town fills early.

Arrive soon after the stalls open, buy what looks freshest, then sit in the square with a coffee and an ensaïmada while the crowd builds around you. Our guide to Mallorca's markets explains what to look for, and the market days tool shows which towns are trading on any weekday if you want to pair Santanyí with another.

The coves within reach

The coast south and east of the town is cut into a run of narrow inlets, each with its own temperament. Most are small, many have limited parking, and in July and August they fill by mid-morning. Our guide to the best calas of Mallorca covers the wider picture; these are the ones closest to Santanyí.

• Caló des Moro: a tiny cove of pale sand between pine-topped cliffs, reached on foot. Famous and very busy in summer, best at first light or out of season.
• Cala s'Almunia: its neighbour, a cluster of fishermen's boathouses and slipways rather than a beach, with flat rocks for swimming.
• Cala Llombards: a sandy inlet below the village of Es Llombards, with rock ledges on either side and a calm feel on still days.
• Cala Santanyí: the town's own beach, a deeper bay of sand with holiday homes around it, and the sea arch of Es Pontàs just to the south.

Mondragó natural park

To the east, the Mondragó natural park protects a stretch of coast with two linked beaches, S'Amarador and Ses Fonts de n'Alis, together with pine woods, dunes and old farmland where carob and almond trees grow inside dry-stone walls. It is one of the gentler corners of the south: shallow water, a path along the low cliffs, and room to breathe even in summer if you walk a little.

Footpaths connect the beaches with the headlands, and in spring the park is full of wild flowers and birdsong. These coves face the open sea, so a strong Llevant or Xaloc from the east and south-east can make them choppy; on such days the wind beach finder shows which coast is sheltered.

Getting there and what to combine

Santanyí is about 45 minutes from Palma airport outside peak traffic, by way of Llucmajor and Campos. Parking in the centre is tight, especially on market days, so use the car parks on the edge of town and walk in, which takes only a few minutes. Buses link the town with Palma and the nearby coast, with thinner services outside summer, so check the current timetable.

The town makes an easy base for the south. Cala Figuera, the fishing harbour, is ten minutes away; Colònia de Sant Jordi and the dunes of Es Trenc lie to the west; the Cap de ses Salines lighthouse, at the southern tip of the island, is a short drive beyond Ses Salines. Along the way, villages such as Es Llombards, Calonge and S'Alqueria Blanca share the same golden stone and an unhurried pace.