Cala Pudent

The water is what people walk in for. The inlet bends inland in a long S, so swell never reaches the far end of it, and the bay lies glass-clear and still over fine sand. Snorkelling is the point here: fish and shell crabs move across the sandy bottom in full view, and rays come into the shallows. Around the shore there are low green hills and rocky headlands, no buildings and nobody selling anything, and with no road reaching the sand the beach stays quiet. The coast path in has its own reward — the open north coast stays in sight most of the way, and the contrast with the developed beach you set out from is immediate.

• Nothing on site. No shop, no bar, no toilets, no bins — bring water, food and something for shade, and carry your rubbish back out.
• No road in. The only way on foot is the coast path from Son Parc, and the walk runs from a little over half an hour to about an hour.
• Footwear. Rock and low scrub underfoot; flip-flops get people there, walking shoes make it less work.
• Not for wheels. Pushchairs and wheelchairs cannot get down to the beach, and there is no step-free route.
• No shade. None on the path and none on the sand. The beach you start from at Son Parc has big trees; Cala Pudent has nothing over it.

You arrive in Son Parc and the last stretch is yours on foot. The coast path starts from the beach there, Macar de Sa Llosa, and runs east over rock and through low Mediterranean scrub; the walk takes from a little over half an hour to about an hour. No road reaches Cala Pudent, so nothing can be driven closer than the car parks at Son Parc, which sit a bit over a kilometre away in a straight line. The other way in is by water: small rental boats and kayaks out of Fornells use the inlet as an anchorage, and it is a popular one.

Best: early in the day, and outside the middle hours in high summer.

Avoid: midday, when the walk in is at its hottest.

There is no shade on the path and none on the sand, so the sun is on you the whole way and the whole time you are there; the bay is open at any hour, and an early start costs nothing. The island fills up in August, and while the walk keeps the beach from ever being crowded, the inlet is a popular anchorage for small boats.