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Travelling along the south coast eastwards from the capital Palma, the first resort you'll arrive at is called C'an Pastilla. This close proximity to Palma and the Son Sant Joan International airport, would possibly explain why this was also one of the first resorts to be "discovered" by the Brits during the onset on tourism in the early 1960's, and quite by coincidence this was also the first resort on the island that I visited almost 25 years ago.

Although the close proximity of C'an Pastilla to the airport does have the benefit of a very short transfer time, usually around 15 to 20 minutes, it does however also mean that many visitors are likely to experience some degree of aircraft noise during their holiday here.

At its nearest point the resort is only a matter of a few hundred metres from the perimeter of the airport grounds, and it will certainly be worthwhile checking the comments of previous visitors to the resort before making your final choice of accommodation.

In all fairness to the authorities who run the airport, in order to minimise the disturbance, whenever possible aircraft do tend to approach from over the sea, and as a consequence landings are somewhat quieter than takeoffs.

For those visitors who wish to make the resort transfer by hire car, although the overall distance between the two points is very short, it is nevertheless surprisingly easy to completely miss the C'an Pastilla junction altogether and find yourself heading towards the centre of Palma.

In an attempt to avoid this, as with the other resorts on the island, we have put together the basic route for this journey, complete with links to maps where appropriate, and this is available from the Route Map link on the left hand frame of this page.

If for whatever reason you prefer not to drive, and don't have the benefit of a tour operators coach transfer, there are always plenty of taxis available from the ranks outside of the arrivals hall, although on occasions you should be prepared to queue.

In theory at least, these taxis should all operate on a fixed price basis, typically charging around 12 euro for the short journey into C'an Pastilla, however experience has shown that this "fixed price" may vary slightly depending upon the number of suitcases, the time of day or night of the journey, and of course the number of passengers carried.

Also an important consideration for families with small children, is that these taxis do not as a rule carry child seats, therefore children may have to sit on their parent's knee for the journey. If this is a cause for concern, we strongly recommend that you make arrangements for a pre-booked taxi to be waiting for you, and clearly specify at the time of booking that a child seat is needed for the journey.

As we said earlier, this was one of the first resorts to be "discovered" on the island, and much of the town really only dates back to the early 1960's, when as a small fishing village, it began to adapt to meet the increasing tourist boom, and it has to be said that many of the buildings and facilities still date from that period.

C'an Pastilla consists of little more than a narrow main street, with the small parish Church of Sant Antonio de la Playa set among tightly packed side streets which lead down to the very picturesque harbour and the Club Marítimo San Antonio de la Playa marina, which is the home to a number of yachts and other pleasure craft.

The town itself is built at the western end of a 2.1/2 mile stretch of beach called "Playa de Palma", which is joined by a wide promenade to the resort of Arenal in the east. If you don't fancy the walk between the 2 resorts, a popular Mini Train runs along the promenade which is a convenient way to get around.

For those of you who have never visited the island before, Arenal is very popular with the German 18 to 30's who are looking for all night clubs and bars, and is certainly not suitable for a family holiday or anyone wishing to get some sleep before dawn. Arenal has over the years continued to expand its influence over this area of Playa de Palma, and we wonder how much longer C'an Pastilla will be able to resist this German invasion.

At present however, C'an Pastilla still retains a very strong British ex-pat flavour, and is most likely to suit those looking for sea, sun, and PG Tipps tea, although, we feel it to be almost inevitable that it will also at some point in the very near future succumb to the sea of neon and the lure of the German Euro.

On a more positive note the beach of Playa de Palma is very popular and shelves gently into the sea. A feature of this stretch of coastline is the 16 or so "Balnearios" which run from C'an Pastilla to Arenal. These small beach huts usually have toilets, showers, and a kiosk selling cold drinks and snacks, and prove to be a useful aid to navigation around the resort. By the end of your holiday, you'll inevitably be telling others "have you been to the bar in front of Balneario 3", or "the best place to catch the bus is at Balneario 2" etc.

Regrettably, in recent years the beach at Playa de Palma has had a bit of a problem both from litter and from "Lookie Lookie Men" selling "genuine" designer watches which are almost certainly fake, and may not even be working at all, although in its defence the local council have now recognised these problems, and will hopefully address them.

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