Mal Pas Beach Reivew

It’s all about mixing it up on your beach holiday, you can’t possibly spend 7 days relaxing on the same beach every day, that just wouldn’t be productive so take a wander out of Alcudia and you’ll be rewarded with these two beautiful little coves 2 minutes walk from each other.

Located in the affluent little Alcudia suburb of Mal Pas are these two beaches of deep white sand and turquoise water. Small but not insignificant both of these beaches have all the amenities you’ll need for a day on the beach, each has a life guard station, toilets, beach shower, bins, snack bar, sun loungers and parasols. Both of the beaches look out over the Pollenca Bay, towards Cap de Formentor and out to sea, best of all however these two beaches succeed where many others in the north of Mallorca fail, they have waves! Actual real waves, OK they’re not big enough to surf or cause any damage, but they are certainly big enough to jump into and bob over in the proper tradition of beach going - a big hit with kids old and young.

Sant Pere beach is the first one you’ll come to, 100m long and enclosed on either side by shelves of rock, this beach is the most accessible of the two with a wooden walkway leading down onto the beach from the main road where some free street parking is available, but if your good on your legs you should access the beach from the Carrer de la Caleta and you’ll add to your day by descending to the beach via a little stone stairway walled on either side with headily scented honeysuckle. Deep white sand abounds on this beach and the sea has a sandy bed all the way out although is occasionally churned up with seaweed. The rocks enclosing the little cove make for great climbing, snorkeling and crabbing. This beach has all the amenities of the other with the added bonus that the snack bar has attitude, with chalk signs that declare ‘no Wi-Fi – talk to each other’.

Sant Joan beach is a short scramble over the rocks to the left of Sant Pere or a 5minute walk back to the road and around. Access to this beach is trickier with stone steps down or a rough path through sand dune and brush, again limited street parking is available. This beach is longer but narrower than the other with the strip of sand stretching around in perfect thin crescent, giving you a much wider patch of sea to explore. The sand is again beautifully white and deep and the seabed here is even clearer than next door. Matching amenities with Sant Pere, this one’s café opts for elegance instead of attitude with its covered seating area and white gauzy curtains floating in the breeze.

Small though they are, both beaches tend to remain fairly quiet as the area around them has not been overly built up, private villas dot the coastline but as yet there are no towering hotels overlooking them, or swarming the beach. These beaches remain if not secret then at least underestimated by Alcudia’s beach going populous. If you need any thing during your day here there is a pharmacy located just back up the road towards Alcudia along with a couple of pubs you will have passed on your way in. Alternatively walk right along the coast from the beaches and you’ll come quickly to the town of Bonaire with its walled marina, supermarket and souvenir shop and scattering of restaurants overlooking the boats there’s also a dive school if you fancy it. If you stay on the beach for lunch just be aware that neither snack bar takes large bills or credit card.

No bus runs to Mal Pas but it couldn’t be simpler to reach whether you’re walking cycling or driving, it is sign posted from the centre of Alcudia and you simply take Calle de Xara out of town which swiftly turns into Camino del Mal Pas which leads you straight to the coast. If you chose to walk it is a lovely one, on a wide tree lined road with a good pavement passing alongside small farms and fields housing friendly goats and angry turkeys.

Live like a local and head to these little known pretty coves, Sant Pere has the better beach, Sant Joan has the better sea but you don’t have to bother to choose, you can spend your day meandering from one to the other at leisure and decide on your favourite when the day is over.

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Find our pick of Mallorca's best beaches here.