Illa del Rei - Illa de l'Hospital

Lizards run across the stone underfoot, and they live nowhere else but this island. The rest of the interest is in what the volunteers have done: the hospital stood abandoned and roofless, and it is now almost fully restored, room by room, with the work still going on and more to see each time. Inside, artefacts and displays explain what the island was used for and how it fits the wider history of the port. There is an art exhibition as well. And there is the position itself — you are standing in the middle of Maó harbour, with the water and the town on every side, which is a view no shoreline in the port gives you.

• Still a building site in places. Restoration continues and rooms can be closed off — on a bad day the ground-floor windows are as far in as you get.
• Tours are guided. They run in Spanish and Catalan, in English and in German.
• Facilities on the island. There is a café, and the toilets are free.
• Boat access only, and not step-free. There is no bridge, the entrance is not wheelchair accessible, and there is no accessible parking on the mainland side.
• It works for children — lizards everywhere and open ground to walk, but keep them clear of the water's edge.

There is no bridge and no road in. You cross the harbour from Maó by boat, and the crossing is paid on top of anything else the visit costs. Cars stay on the mainland: the nearest free public car park sits about 540 m from the island in a straight line, and a bus stop carrying the island's own name is about 116 m away, also in a straight line across the water. Once you step off the boat, everything is on foot among the hospital buildings and along the quayside. Check when the boat comes back before you cross — the return, not the museum, is what sets how long you stay.

Best: a weekday evening opening, when the light across the harbour has softened and the boats over are quieter.

Avoid: the middle of the day, when the site closes for a few hours, and Sunday afternoons, since Sunday opening is morning only.

In August the harbour is at its busiest and the boats across fill up; spring and autumn give the same water and the same buildings with fewer people and a cooler crossing.