In the Llevant, Mallorca's north-east, Artà is an inland town of traditional character — straight streets and honey-stone houses — crowned by a fortress-sanctuary on the hill. It's one of the island's most authentic, least touristy corners, and the gateway to the wild Llevant beaches.
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Everything in Artà looks upward, to the Santuari de Sant Salvador: a 14th-century complex ringed by a fortress wall with nine towers, reached via the Costa de Sant Salvador, a tree-lined staircase of about 180 steps rising from the centre. From the top, the views take in the town and the whole Llevant coast. It's the image that defines Artà and the best place to begin a visit.
But Artà's story is far older. On the outskirts, Ses Païsses is one of the best-preserved Talayotic settlements in the Balearics: a Bronze- and Iron-Age site (around 850 BC) with its central talayot, its houses and a cyclopean wall whose monumental portal is formed of slabs weighing up to eight tonnes. On Tuesday mornings, the weekly market fills Carrer Ciutat and the Plaça del Conqueridor, with a craft corner — pottery and basketry — in the Na Batlessa gardens. And near the coast, at Canyamel, wait the Coves d'Artà, spectacular caves cut into the cliff.
In the traditional register, Artà keeps alive llatra, the craft of weaving with dwarf-palm leaves. And its calendar has two great dates: the Festes de Sant Antoni, on 16-17 January, one of the island's most famous celebrations, with els dimonis running through the town amid torches and correfocs and the blessing of the animals; and the Festes de Sant Salvador, the early-August patronal fiesta, also with demons. To get here, a car is easiest (essential for Ses Païsses and the coast), though the TIB bus 411 links Palma with Artà and Cala Rajada. Come on a Tuesday morning for the market and climb up to Sant Salvador on foot.
