The question of high or low season is not so crucial in Menorca compared to tourist hotspots. Since the Balearic island is relatively small and large hotels are the big exceptions, tourism is kept within limits even in the high season.

Getting up early pays off

The most beautiful beaches and bays in Menorca are tiny and can only be reached with a rental car via small country roads and gravel paths. Cala en Calderer, a small sandy beach between craggy cliffs in the north of the island, or Calescoves in the south of the island, a small sea cove where they have put some concrete on the slopes in some places so that you don’t have to sit only on craggy rocks, have relatively small parking lots that are closed off as soon as they are occupied.

Therefore, it is worth getting up early to enjoy these or other beautiful beaches and sea bays, not only because of the intense sunshine, which you do not notice due to the strong wind that is almost constantly present. The water is clear and changes from dark emerald green to light turquoise.

Two other gorgeous beaches have slightly more ample parking: Cala Pregonda, a fine sandy beach to the north that can be reached after about a 20-minute hike from the parking lot, or the rock pool Cala de La Olla, which has the convenience of two metal ladders that make diving into the clear waters of the rocky cove more comfortable.

In the most beautiful places there is NOTHING

A backpack or large bag is worthwhile if you are heading to the beach. Beach bars, restaurants or a simple drinks kiosk are not present on the most beautiful beaches and bathing bays. That is precisely what makes them so appealing.
But in every place there are good bakeries that offer good bread and dumplings filled with vegetables or tuna. The island’s fruit is spoiled by the sun, so it’s easy to put together an interesting picnic for the beach.

Every day a new beach

The charm of the days in Menorca is to explore a new beach every day. With a little culinary creativity, a good co-driver and Google Maps, and good footwear, the explorations are great fun.

Many beaches are reached by a section of the Camí de Cavalls coastal circuit, which circles the island once over 185 km. For the rugged rocky beaches, where only in rare cases it is possible to enter the sea easily via a ladder, appropriate rubber shoes are worthwhile, even if they do not look really good on any foot.

Anchovies, mussels, lobsters …

The restaurants in Menorca have adapted to the international clientele, mainly from France and Great Britain, the majority of whom own or rent a finca on the island. The proportion of Asian-inspired fusion food on the menu is surprisingly high, even in simple tapas bars.

The mussel beds around Menorca provide very good mussels and geographically in Spain you stay as well with the excellent Anchoas del Cantábrico, which come from the north of Spain.

Calderata is the name of the Menorcan lobster stew, which you should try at least once if you like crustaceans and an expressive, creamy soup.

You can eat very well at many tapas bars and restaurants in Menorca. One restaurant has been mentioned in many travel guides and listed in the Michelin Guide for years. This made us skeptical at first, because too much praise can also be counterproductive.

When we finally tried it, after many other restaurants, GloriousMe was thrilled: fantastic fish dishes like ceviche in a taco with avocado mayonnaise, crab in oven-warm brioche, fresh cod, suckling pig braised over 18 hours on braised garlic, Menorcan entrecote.

We are happy to reveal the restaurant, run by a very dedicated team in the kitchen and service: Sesforquilles, Rovellada de Dalt 20, in Mahón, Menorca.

After we finally tried it out (don’t be put off by the pictures of the guest room on the homepage. In reality, the rooms in the parent house in the old town look much more appealing) we made several reservations there and were thrilled from the starter to the excellent desserts.
The signs to cheese dairies, which are designed in the same way all over the island, seem almost socialist. There, mainly hard cheese is produced, which is a very good menu ending, especially in the matured variant with herbs.

British heritage

Menorcan beef is served in good restaurants with excellent meat dishes. Here, the English occupation period seems to show after-effects, because as a rule, the short-roasted pieces of meat are served very English.

In 1708 Menorca, which has one of the world’s largest elongated natural harbors in Mahón and was thus an important strategic place for the control of trade in the Mediterranean, was conquered by Great Britain, later the island fell to France, became British again and and only in 1833 became the Spanish province of the Balearic Islands.

In the port of Mahón is the Xoriguer gin factory, with a history of over 250 years. The hip Lincolnshire bartender described the gin as “a bit rough.” It is traditionally used in the refreshing Menorcan Pomada cocktail, with lemonade and poked ice. However, GloriousMe suspects that the next gin start-up in Menorca won’t be long in coming.

From military hospital to art venue

The combination of former naval military installations already works perfectly at the Venice Biennale with the Akademia, the former naval dockyard. On Isla del Rey, one of the three islands in the port of Mahón, the Zurich-based Hauser & Wirth gallery is planning an art center to open in July 2021. A view of the area here.

Plans include exhibition spaces for contemporary art, an educational program, a restaurant and a garden, which Dutchman Piet Oudulf was hired to design. This combination has already proven to be a successful model for Hauser & Wirth in the English summer set. The completion is planned for 2021 and for GloriousMe an interesting further reason to travel then again to Menorca.

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