If there’s a place in the world I feel my happiest and most at home it’s Mallorca and the Balearic Islands – the light, colours, smells and fresh fresh food soothe my soul like nowhere else. Today, I wanted to get this post written up and shared before I forgot all the details of our trip to Port Soller, Mallorca. We’ve been lucky to go on lots of adventures this year from camping in Suffolk to our road trip in France. With each trip we’ve learnt so much about travelling with small children, from keeping them entertained to getting them fed and to sleep at night.
Port Soller, is ideal for small children, the beach is in a gentle bay with soft sand and calm sea, perfect for little swimmers. For adults the beach is lined with plenty of places to get coffee’s, snacks (and baskets!). The calm sea and relatively safe beach (you don’t feel you’re going to have your bag stolen if you’re not sitting next to it) means you can sit down and almost relax whilst little ones play. We love swimming pools but they are hard work, the beach makes life SO much easier plus it also almost guarantees a nap!
We learnt to keep this trip really simple, most days we went down to the beach until mid afternoon. Stanley and Milly napped on our walk back to the apartment and then we were able to make it out for dinner, which has never happened! On rainy days we headed up to the town of Soller, we visited six years ago pre children and loved going back. Not much had changed in the town although we were really excited to find new pockets that we hadn’t been to before and of course a park with swings. There is a cute old tram that runs from Soller to Port Soller which they loved looking at but weren’t fussed about going on – this suited us perfectly as we got around really easily with our hire car. Soller is a great place for shopping locally, I bought body oil in the Sunday market and there is a great shopping street off the main square that sells Mallorcan sandals, handmade baskets plus lots of foodie bits to bring home. The only disappointing place was Valdemosa, again we went six years ago but sadly social media has taken its soul away. There were too many people over dressed and posing for photo’s that’s made it loose its charm.
Stanley and Milly adapted to Spanish time really easily – late starts and naps meant we made it out for dinner post seven pm! Our favourite dinner was at a gorgeous place called Villa Luisa – delicious food for us all plus a beautiful setting and really lovely staff. Close by there is a great sandwich shop run by a father and son (I’m not sure what its called) but you’ll see it and it does the best tuna salads which you can bring back to the beach. There are also loads of supermarkets selling fresh bread, milk and fruit that open early – late which means you can always pick something up without over planning. We’ve given up trying to stick to our usual routine of bath then bed whilst away although we do try and get them separate bedrooms – poor Stanley gets to pestered by his sister we have to break them up!
I’ve written lots of posts about these beautiful islands over the year so I though I’d finish by sharing my tips for travelling with small children and I’ll add links to my previous posts below.
Fly from your closest airport and keep flight times as short as possible. It’s probably ok going long haul with just one but any more keep it short and sweet.
Keep toys to a minimum, we have over packed on so many trips that now I buy a few magazines with toys before we go and they also end up with a few (inexpensive) toys whilst we’re away.
Always have a steady stream of breadsticks handy.
Go hands free, it might not be the most fancy but I have used this back pack for all our holidays and everyday stuff. It carries two children’s things plus there is plenty of room for extra’s.
If you’re hiring a car – take your own car seats it makes it so much quicker at the airport.
Take an extra buggy, we only took one but with a big push up a hill I wish we’d take a second as they are still quite little.
Don’t worry about doing everything, our little ones are happiest when we’re just building sand castles together rather than trying to do anything fancy.
Comments
Did you enjoy reading my post? Please do leave a comment and let me know what you think, I love to hear from you.