At the island's northern tip, Alcúdia pairs a walled medieval old town with the Roman city of Pol·lèntia at its gates: layers of history you can walk through in an afternoon. A few kilometres away, Port d'Alcúdia is a resort port facing one of Mallorca's longest sandy bays.
The map
Tap a point for details
Alcúdia is two cities in one. The first is medieval: an old town of honey-stone streets ringed by walls raised in the late 13th century to defend against pirate raids, sections of which you can still walk. The second is Roman: just outside the walls lies Pol·lèntia, the city founded by consul Quintus Caecilius Metellus in 123 BC, for six centuries the most important in the Balearics. A short walk away, its 1st-century Roman theatre — the smallest surviving in Spain — still hosts performances.
The classic plan is to get lost in the old town and its walls, visit the Pol·lèntia site with its monographic museum, and — twice a week — wander the market that fills the historic centre. But Alcúdia offers more: the Museu Sa Bassa Blanca, an art house-museum on the outskirts; the climb to the Ermita de la Victòria, on the Victòria peninsula, with bay views; and, on the coast, Port d'Alcúdia, with its very long golden-sand beach, its promenade and the cruises that head out around the bay and its caves.
At the table, traditional Mallorcan cooking rules: tumbet (fried aubergine, potato and pepper in tomato sauce) or frito mallorquín. The big event of the year is the Festes de Sant Jaume, the patron, around 25 July, with a long week of events; at the port, Sant Pere gathers the fishing fleet in a procession of boats. To get here without a car, the TIB A32 bus links the airport with Alcúdia in about an hour. And note the market days — Tuesday and Sunday mornings, in the old town; the centre and port are walkable, but in summer the beach car parks fill early, so arrive in good time.
