The end of August is the perfect time to take a Menorca trip. The weather is still hot, yet people are winding down and starting to return to regular life. Mix that with the chill, relaxed vibes of Menorca and you have the perfect island getaway.
While I’ve been in Spain for almost four years, I’ll admit that I never really checked Menorca out. I took a trip to Ibiza maybe within a month or two upon arrival and recently spent a week in Mallorca. However I always thought of Menorca as the smaller, less exciting islands. However small and less-exciting was exactly what I was looking for.
Where is Menorca?
Menorca is one of the four Balearic Islands in Spain. It has a population of around 80,000 during the off season. It’s full of lush beaches, beautiful hiking and amazing people.
You can easily get flights to Menorca from other major cities in Spain. Since I live in Logroño, my boyfriend and I flew directly from Bilbao. You of course can also find flights from bigger cities such as Barcelona and Madrid
12 Things you have to do on a Menorca trip
1. Rent a car
While the island is small, it’s certainly not small enough to walk in a day. It takes about an hour to get from one side to the other. There are buses you can take to get from place to place, so the inability to drive shouldn’t stop you from visiting this amazing island. However renting a car really gives you that freedom.
A week or so before our trip, I used Skyscanner to find the best rental car deal. Skyscanner can be used for so much more than flights. The best deal I found was 105€ for a compact car for five days. Since I was only traveling with my boyfriend, we didn’t need a huge car. Furthermore, a smaller car is easier to park in cities (and there are a few on the island of Menorca).
We rented a purple, two-door Fiat that can seat four people. It was a stick shift, which made the price cheaper. In Europe if you can’t drive stick, rental cars will be more expensive. We rented through Click Rent.
Once you have a car, you will be free to explore all the beaches, calas and towns on the island!
2. Visit a cala
My biggest piece of advice is to get to whatever cala you want to visit early. On our first full day on the island, we tried to visit a cala around 12:30 p.m. and the parking was full! The next day, we came back to that same cala at 9:30 a.m. and got right in before the crowds (and in the case of that day, the rain!).
Cala is the word for cove in Spanish. If you’ve seen photos of Mallorca or Menorca online, you’ll recall the sandy beaches surrounded by rocks. They are not to be missed.
We went to Cala Turqueta, which is considered one of the most famous calas on the island. There’s a parking lot and a cafe next to the parking lot if you need drinks or a snack. Then it’s about a 20-minute walk down to the beach. The walk really wasn’t too bad!
I would definitely recommend walking around the cala as well. You can find some amazing views of the island.
3. visit a sandy white beach
On our first full day, we stumbled upon a beautiful beach. One of my biggest tips when traveling is to be open to surprises and changes. On this particular day we were hoping to visit a cala, but were turned away due to a lack of parking. So we ended up at Son Saura instead.
This is one of the “virgin beaches” they brag about with the clear blue waters.
Related: 5 Beach Day Trips from Granada
4. Go for a hike
Did you know that you can hike around the entire island? It would take you a few days, but it’s totally doable. If you’re like us and just want to relax while on the island, you can also hike a small part of it insetad.
The Camí de Cavalls is a route that loops around the entire island. You can hike it, run it or bike it. Whenever I go to a place, my eyes wander and my natural desire is to explore. I don’t like to leave any paths un-explored, so I always end up exploring the exterior of the beaches and calas, camera in-hand ready to discover hidden beauty. When we went to Son Saura, we stumbled upon Camí de Cavalls.
5. Explore Ciutadella at Sunset
When traveling to Menorca in the summer, the days get hot. You want to be at the beach soaking up the sun and swimming in the blue waters. However when the sun starts to go down is the perfect time to explore the beautiful city of Ciutadella.
Our apartment-hotel was only a 10-minute drive from Ciutadella, making it the perfect place to explore after a siesta. You absolutely can eat dinner in Ciutadella and there are many good restaurants! However we opted to save money by having a drink on a terrace and eating dinner back where we were staying.
Civitalis offers a free walking tour in Spanish if you’re interested in learning about the history of the city.
6. Explore Fornells
This is another cute town on the water. It’s a bit smaller than Ciutadella, but has a completely different vibe. Fornells has the classic all-white look and the most beautiful marina. We spent an afternoon here one of our days on the island, shopping and eating pizza.
The two things I’d recommend doing apart from wandering around are to visit are the Castell de San Antoni ruins and the Torre de Fornells. The castle (pictured above) makes for some great pictures! You can walk around the perimeter of it.
The torre is a great place to see the city from above. Unfortunately, I wasn’t feeling the best in the heat so we decided to head back to where we were staying.
7. Do a kayak excursion
When traveling to a place like Menorca, it can be easy to just go to the beach everyday. So I like to explore the island in different ways. One great way is to do a kayak excursion.
If you’re like us with not much kayak experience (or upper body strength in my case), a guided tour is the perfect thing to do. We found one for 35€ each with Menorca en Kayak. We did a two-hour excursion from Es Grau.
I think my favorite thing about the experience was stopping at the beaches. We stopped at two private beaches for a swim.
Our kayak excursion was located in a natural park! On our way out, we stopped and explored it a little bit. The views and photos I took were breathtaking.
8. explore white villages
Another one of my favorite things about Menorca were the adorable white villages. The one you will hear everyone talking about is Binibeca. This supposed fishing village (I say supposed because our tour guide told us it wasn’t an authentic fishing village) is maybe a 15-minute drive from Mahon. Since we stayed on the opposite side of the island, we saved this cute little town for our last day.
I would recommend Binibeca for exploring (especially if you can at sunset). However we went around lunch time and only found one over-priced restaurant. We ended up eating in the next town over.
Another adorable white village we explored was Ferreries, a cute town on the interior of the island. We had a drink in the center and explored a little bit. Chuchi (my boyfriend) and I really enjoyed just walking around.
9. Explore Mahon
We left Mahon to the last day. Since it’s super close to the airport, it’s an easy way to spend the last day of your Menorca trip, especially if you stayed on the other side of the island like us. We walked around, did some shopping (there was an outdoor market a lots of little shops) and had a drink.
If you want to learn a bit about this historic city on a budget, take a free walking tour.
10. Watch the sunset from Pont en Gil
I am definitely a sunset-chaser when I travel. Luckily, an island like Menorca is full of spots to catch the sunset. One of my favorites was only a 20-minute walk from where we stayed.
Pont d’en Gil is this cool natural bridge located on a corner of the island. It was crowded, so make sure you get there with enough time to park and enjoy the sunset. I would recommend wearing good shoes. It is a bit rocky.
11. Have a little history lesson
I was also really impressed with all the historical sites you can explore on a Menorca trip. Right around the corner from our apartment-hotel, there was this old tomb you could walk down into. This one was called the Hipogeo Torre del Ram.
Another place we stopped at was Naveta des Tudons. This is one of the most famous pre-historic monuments on the island of Menorca. This monument was thought to be built around 1000 AD. It costs 2€ to enter, but is definitely worth it!
12. Have dinner overlooking the beach, watching the sunset
When traveling for a week, I like to have a few nice meals out instead of going to restaurants every night. You save money. Plus it forces you to plan and really think about the best place to go. I knew that when I found Ivette Beach Club on Instagram, I had to eat dinner there at sunset one night!
I called them on our first night and snagged a 7:45 p.m. reservation for our last night on the island. Definitely call ahead and make a reservation because this spot is popular!
Ivette Beach Club overlooks Cala Morell. We didn’t get a chance to actually swim in Cala Morell, but I read that there’s a natural pool there. I suppose I’ll have to check it out the next time I’m in Menorca.
We ordered a few dishes to share. I was in love with their potatoes and sobrasada (a typical meat in Menorca) with honey. We also got a plate of cheeses (Menorca is known for cheese) and a salad. Since dinner is a smaller meal here in Spain, I’m used to eating less for dinner so it was perfect!
Where we stayed
We found an adults-only apartment hotel within walking distance of several calas and only a 10-minute drive from Ciutadella. It included a small kitchen, TV, sofa bed, bedroom with two twin beds next to each other and a full bathroom. It also had a balcony. The space also included a communal outdoor pool and a small cafe (where I typically had my morning coffee). The only downside was that there was no ac. They did provide a fan and honestly, nights were a lot cooler than days.
Well that’s basically all we did on our Menorca trip. The only thing I’m sad we didn’t do was visit Hort Sant Patrici, a winery and cheese farm on the island. You can tour it and sample the goods. I suppose it’s another thing to see the next time I’m on the island.
I hope you know that Menorca is a must-visit on your next Spain trip.
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